Voting Guide
Nominations for Department Officers shall be from the floor on the first day of the General Session. Nominating speeches shall be limited to three (3) minutes each. No more than two (2) seconding speeches shall be made for each candidate, each of which shall not exceed one (1) minute.
Voting for all elected Department Officers shall be by special order of business on the day set for adjournment of the convention by official ballot. The results will be announced as soon as practical after tabulation and review.
Official ballots are provided upon registration to any Posts so registered based on paid delegate strength. All official ballots are the responsibility of the Chairperson of each delegation and shall not be replaced for any reason under any circumstances.
How does the Department come up with the delegate strength? Each Post shall be entitled to two (2) delegates and two (2) alternates, and one (1) additional delegate and alternate for each additional one hundred (100) members or fraction thereof over and above one hundred (100) members, provided that the per capita membership fee is paid fifteen (15) days prior to the Department Convention. Additionally, according to Section 6, Article V of the Department Constitution, each member of the Department Executive Committee and each Past Department Commander shall be a delegate. Therefore, the Post that they are a member of will receive one (1) additional vote per member of the Department Executive Committee and/or Past Department Commander.
Each Post will receive one (1) official ballot for every paid delegate, except for paid Past Department Commanders. The vote of any delegate absent and not represented by an alternate shall be cast by the majority of the delegation present from the Post.
Section 6, Article V of the Department Constitution provides that Past Department Commanders to be eligible to cast a vote, must be present on the floor of the Convention and be in good standing in their Post. On the final day of the Convention, prior to the election of Department Officers, the Secretary of the Convention (the Department Adjutant) shall provide all registered Past Department Commanders with their official ballot.
Those candidates having an endorsement on file at the Department forty-five (45) days prior to the date of election will be printed on the ballot.
The ballot shall provide for a write-in candidate for each office, should one be nominated off the Convention floor.
Electronic voting shall begin at 11:00 AM on electronic scanning equipment provided by the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. All delegates or alternates shall complete their ballot and provide said ballot to the Chairperson of the Post delegation. The Chairperson and up to one other legionnaire of the Chairpersons choosing shall cast all votes of the Post delegation. All electronic voting shall be completed by 1:00 p.m. Posts that are in line at 1:00 PM will be allowed to cast their ballots. Once all the votes have been scanned the election is closed and the tally begins.
A team of election officials will oversee the election process. These officials shall consist of an employee of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office, the Department Assistant Adjutant, and the Department Assistant Judge Advocate or a representative appointed by the Department Commander in his/her absence.
The election officials will examine any ballot rejections to determine the intent of the ballot. If a ballot reflects votes for two (2) candidates for the same office, that ballot will have that one (1) office’s vote nullified and the balance of the ballot cast as presented. Should duplicate ballots be presented, the scanners will reject those votes and nullify both ballots presented.
The election officials will supervise the vote tally collected by the scanners. The results will be placed in an envelope which will be presented to the Secretary of the Convention (Department Adjutant). To win, a candidate must receive at least fifty percent (50%) plus one (1) of all votes cast in the election.
Should a candidate not receive at least fifty percent (50%) plus one (1), then a second vote for that office shall proceed by a floor roll call vote of Post as soon as practical after determining that no candidate was elected to the position to be filled. The process will repeat until a candidate is elected.
Should the vote be a floor roll call vote, the Chairperson of the Post delegation, or their designee, shall stand at a provided microphone when called upon, announce the Post number and the number of votes cast for each candidate.
In cases of a tie vote, a roll call of Posts for the purpose of casting their votes for the tied candidates shall continue until one candidate receives at least fifty percent (50%) plus one (1) of the votes cast, the roll call is complete or until there shall be only one candidate for a particular Department office.
All official ballots will be retained as permanent record of the Department for a period of two (2) years.