Each Chapter conducts one annual meeting a year, mainly to elect officers and to receive an accounting from the Executive Officers. The date is at the Chapter’s convenience, but must occur before January 1. The fiscal year is January 1 to December 31. New officers elected take office on January 1. The quorum for this meeting is five percent of voting members. No allowance is made to reimburse travel or accommodation for members attending the Annual meeting.Many Chapters plan a social event of some type following the Annual Meeting. This is left to the discretion of the individual Chapters.To maintain continuity in executives, it is recommended that during even years, the Chapter elect the President, 2nd Vice-President and Treasurer/Secretary (or just Treasurer depending on makeup of executive in that Chapter) and, during odd years, the 1st Vice-President and Secretary. Elections for Councils are held at the Annual Meetings or by mail.If a Chapter decides to hold the election of officers by mail, the Nominating Sub-Committee prepares a slate of officers who are presented to the Chapter Executive. A deadline for receipt of returned ballots is set and communicated to members. A return envelope is provided for the ballot. No photocopies of the ballot are permitted. A ballot is prepared and sent by mail to all voting members six weeks prior to the annual meeting. The results are announced at the Annual Meeting.If the elections are held at the Annual Meeting, a slate of officers, prepared by the Nominating Sub-Committee and reported to the Chapter President, is presented to the voting members in attendance. Nominations for each office must be received from the floor. If there are no nominations from the floor, the person presented on the slate is elected. If a vote is required, participants may decide to vote by secret ballot or by a show of hands. Usually, a secret ballot is used. Voting members are asked to write one name per office on the ballot; any other marks result in a spoiled ballot. The ballots are collected, placed in an envelope labelled with the office. (i.e. President) When all ballots are collected, scrutineers, who may be elected from among the voting members, leave the room and count the ballots. If the vote is by a show of hands, the winner is declared on the spot.In either the mail ballot or the secret ballot method, a motion is required to “destroy the ballots” on a given date. They are usually kept for three months.
