You are on page 1of 4

|

Ateneo Student Catholic Action ELECTORAL CODE

I. The Commission on Elections The Commission of Elections (ComElec) is composed of appointees tasked to implement and execute the processes necessary for the transitioning to the succeeding Executive Board (EB) of the organization. The outgoing senior Membership Coordinator appoints three senior non-EB inducted members to be part of the Commission. In the event that the Membership Coordinator is a non-senior, the President must be the one to choose the appointees. In the event that neither the President nor the Membership Coordinator are non-seniors, the senior EB members must decide amongst themselves who to be the one to choose the appointees. In the event that there are no senior EB for that school-year, the Business Moderator will be the one appoint the Commission. The appointees must appoint among themselves the ComElec Chair. In the event that there are less than three senior non-EB inducted members, an undergraduate non-EB inducted member may fill the role, but cannot become the ComElec Chair. In the event that the inducted community is all in the Executive Board, the Membership Coordinator becomes the de facto ComElec Chair with two other EB seniors as part of the Commission. The roles of the Commission should be: (a) (b) (c) (d) Review and execute the procedures of the election Prepare the list of candidates Prepare the list of qualified voters Prepare the Miting de Avance and other educational materials regarding the elections so as to help members make an informed choice. (e) Prepare and distribute the ballots (f) Count the votes (g) Declare the Executive Board II. Election Procedures A month before the elections, the Membership Coordinator must appoint the three members of the Commission from the inducted community. They must then do the following: (a) Review and plan the procedures of the elections.

Ateneo Student Catholic Action (b) Send out the details of the Filing of Candidacy, Miting de Avance and Elections through the Secretary-General using the official organization account/s. (c) Leave in the organization room a copy of the application form and an online copy for prospective participants. (d) During the Filing of Candidacy, the appointees must prepare a secure container for the application forms. At least one appointee must be in-charge of guarding the forms container. (e) Before midnight, the Commission must release to the community the official list of candidates through the Secretary-General. (f) During the Miting de Avance, the ComElec Chair must be the one presiding over the event. In the event that the Chair is not available, the other appointees must take charge. (g) During the elections, the Commission must choose a secure location where the inducted community can vote. Preferably an activity room must be chosen for the elections. The Commission has the task of providing for the following: 1. The list of qualified voters with a corresponding number to the order of when they voted. 2. Ball pens and ink for the thumb mark. 3. Folders to protect the privacy of the person voting. 4. A secure ballot box. 5. The ballot containing the space to write the number, list of official candidates and an area for the thumb mark. (h) The elections will last for a day, starting from the earliest time the rooms can be opened at 8:00AM until 6:00PM. The appointees are in-charge of supervising the whole process, with each one assigned to identify the voter, assign a number, place the thumb mark and watch over the whole process. Because of the duration of the elections, other non-EB inducted seniors can volunteer, but only when they are not candidates and have undergone an orientation at least a day before the elections. In the event that there are none, the senior EB members may volunteer to help in the process. (i) The appointees must also be the ones to send out invites and remind the inducted community to vote. (j) Voting must strictly end at 6:00PM, corresponding to the time dictated by the school. (k) Only the appointees are tasked to count the votes. (l) The procedure for counting are as follows: 1. The first appointee is the one to open the ballot box and call out the names of those voted. The ballot is then passed to the next appointee 2. The second appointee tallies the results upon called out by the first appointee. Upon receiving the ballot, the second appointee must re-check and review what was tallied. The ballot is then passed to the ComElec Chair

Ateneo Student Catholic Action 3. The ComElec Chair then looks at the ballot and calls out loud the votes, to which the other appointees review. The Chair then places it down in a secure location. 4. The cycle continues until the last ballot. 5. When all of the ballots have been counted, the ballots will then undergo the same process in order to check for discrepancies. 6. When the second round is finished, the Commission finalizes the final list of winners. (m) Before midnight of that day, the Commission must relay the results to the SecretaryGeneral who then posts it to all the official organization accounts.

III. Qualifications For the election to be successful, the following qualifications must be met: (a) At the most twelve (12) and a minimum of ten (10) winners, otherwise a failure of elections. (b) At least 2/3+1 of the inducted community must have voted to declare the elections valid. (c) The candidate must garner at least 2/3+1 of the votes of the inducted community to be considered valid. (d) In the event that more than twelve have garnered a 2/3+1 vote of the inducted community, the ones with the highest will be considered valid. IV. Failure of Elections A failure of elections occur when the minimum of ten winners have not been met due to the qualifications not being met. Hence, a run-off election will be held, at the most one week after the elections. The number of winners will only be determined if they meet the qualifications and can reach to the maximum number of twelve. The candidates are primarily the inducted members who did not run before. Those that lost in the first elections can only run if there are no other inducted members that did not run beforehand. All procedures will still apply. V. Violations Candidates and voters can incur violations if they do the following: (a) Candidates not physically present during the Miting de Avance

Ateneo Student Catholic Action (b) Cheating, whose definition corresponds to that of the Loyola Schools, during the voting process (c) Candidate promoting oneself during the election day (d) Disrespectful behavior to any ComElec member, candidate and voter Should any qualified voter incur any of the violations, they are automatically barred from voting and, if a candidate, automatically disqualified.

You might also like