Nominating Committee Chairman Search

[Gordon Birkhimer]

Bill Steele will be stepping down as the Nominating Committee Chairman. I would like to thank him for his work and effort in conducting the election. The search is on for a new individual to take the reins and oversee the work of this important committee. The NC Chairman will select at least two committee members to assist with the effort. The work of the Chairman and the committee is outlined below:

APPENDIX X
POLICY FOR CONDUCT OF NSS ELECTIONS
Amended 08-15-08:9, 07-27-07:22, 11-05-05, 08-04-03
(Refer to Act 02-403)

1. Section IV, Paragraphs A and B of the Bylaws of the National Speleological Society shall apply.
2. The Nominating Committee is encouraged to solicit candidates for director from a broad geographic and interest base.
3. The Nominating Committee shall verify a person is eligible to be a Director before nominating the person to be a candidate for election or accepting his petition to be a candidate.
4. The ballot shall not be marked by the Nominating Committee so as to preclude a secret ballot.
5. NSS elections for Director shall be confidential. Members shall not be required to include their name or NSS number on ballots.
6. The Nominating Committee shall solicit platform statements and personal photographs from each of the candidates. The Nominating Committee may establish rules governing their scope and form. If provided, they shall be included with election material mailed with the ballot.
7. The election material accompanying the ballots shall include nothing besides voting instructions, the biographical information and platform statements submitted by the candidates, the meeting attendance records of incumbent director candidates, and a list of the present directors, with their names and states of residence. The list of directors shall indicate which incumbents' seats are being filled by the election and which have terms that continue beyond the current year.
8. NSS election ballots shall be mailed separate from the NSS News.
9. No candidate for Director may receive marked ballots nor be a teller.
10. Interim results of elections shall be secret and known only to the official teller of the election.
11. Final election results shall be announced first to the candidates, then to the Board of Governors, and subsequently to the Society membership. The candidates and the Board of Governors will be informed of the election results no less than 40 days proceeding the current year NSS National Convention.
12. The chair of the Nominating Committee will make available at the convention, for review by any of that year's candidates, the final tallying sheets for the election and all ballots. Following the convention, the Committee's records and ballots will be sent to the Archivist and should be kept in the archives for not less than two year.
13. When required, the President may put a Bylaw or act referendum, along with a pro and a con position statement, on the ballot to be voted on. The same general procedures for the Directors election shall apply to the Bylaw or act referendum, except that the final results shall be given first to the President for action, then to all the other members of the Board.
14. Each year, a complete, original copy of the ballot will be mailed to the NSS Archivist, in care of the NSS Office, to be placed in the NSS Archives.

Please refer to the NSS Nominating Committee web site http://www.caves.org/committee/nominating/index.htm for more information on the operation of the Nominating Committee.

Gordon Birkhimer

[Gordon Birkhimer]

Please disregard the Nominating Committee Chairman Search post because Bill Steele has agreed to continue as the Chairman.

Gordon