Information for candidates
FAIR ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
Section 1 – General Election Procedures
Definitions
A candidate shall be defined as any member of the College Republicans who submits a statement of candidacy to the FEC by the specified deadline. All candidates must meet the constitutional requirements for office. Any candidate who fails to meet the requirements for office will be notified by the FEC and permitted to run for an office which he/she is eligible and to amend their statement to reflect the new office sought.
A write-in candidate shall be any member of the College Republicans who fails to meet the definition of candidate stated above.
Candidate Statements
All candidate statements must be submitted to FEC@gwrepublicans.org by 5:30pm EST on Friday, November 27th. Candidate statements submitted and the names of candidates shall be confidential until that deadline.
Candidate statements shall not exceed 200 words. Statements that exceed 200 words will be truncated.
Candidate statements shall be emailed out to the CR membership after the submission deadline.
Any candidate who submits a statement after the deadline shall not appear on the ballot.
In order to be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of valid votes cast for their position. If no candidate receives a majority, a run-off election shall be held between the 2 individuals receiving the most votes. A valid vote shall be defined as a vote cast for an individual eligible to assume office.
All candidates shall be held responsible for the actions of anyone who is campaigning on their behalf.
A candidate violating these rules shall be subject to removal from the ballot or other sanctions imposed by the FEC.
Section 2 – Campaigning
No candidate may campaign at any CR-sponsored functions/events, except as permitted below:
Candidates may distribute literature/palm cards about themselves at the Election meeting only. This material must be submitted to the FEC for approval no later than 5:30pm EST on Friday, November 27th. Electronic copies may be sent to FEC@gwrepublicans.org. The FEC shall review the literature only to ensure that there are no personal attacks or false and misleading statements.
No resources of the College Republicans may be used for campaign purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, the CR listserv and the CR office. The only exception is that all candidates will be provided with a list of the paid members eligible to vote in the election.
While candidates are permitted to contact CR members, if any member reports to the FEC that they are being harassed or are contacted after informing a candidate that they no longer wish to be contacted, the candidate making such contact may be removed from the ballot.
Section 3 — Additional Rules
3.1 The Committee reserves the ability to create additional rules. The Committee will notify the candidates if new rules are created.
Special Election Procedures
The FEC intends to follow these procedures for running the election night meeting:
Literature Distribution:
Candidates may distribute literature at the election meeting. However, any such literature must have been submitted to the FEC in accordance with the election rules and approved or it may not be distributed. The FEC will not approve literature the night of the election meeting.
Speaking Limits & Questions/Answers:
Candidates will be allowed to give a one-minute speech. After all the candidates have spoken, they will be asked two questions, and will have one-minute to answer each.
Procedures for Questions: In order to ensure that all questions are directed at all candidates running for a position and do not include any personal attacks or false and misleading statements, the FEC will collect all questions from the audience, randomly choose 2, screen them for the criteria listed above and then ask them to the candidates. If no questions are received, the FEC may pose its own questions.
Ballot Counting
The FEC will count the ballots for those races which have 3 or more candidates first. If no candidate receives a majority in any of those races, the FEC will conduct a run-off election between the 2 candidates receiving the greatest number of votes. All run-offs shall be completed prior to the winner being announced.
Eligible Voters
Only paid members of the CRs who have paid their dues by Friday, November 27th, 2009 shall be eligible to vote. Any member who is not listed as a paid member shall not be eligible to cast a vote. If they wish to appeal, they must show documentation to the FEC that they became a paid member of the CRs prior to the constitutionally mandated deadline. The membership list shall be presumed to be accurate, and the burden of proving it to be inaccurate is with the member contesting his/her status.
Members must be present at the election meeting to vote. Absentee ballots, votes via email or other means, etc., shall not be permitted.
