Attention Members:
Election time for positions on the NAHJ Board of Directors is upon us again. We would like to encourage regular and student members in good standing willing to work on strengthening our 1,500-member organization to run for office. Lifetime members who also fulfill the requirements needed to sit on the board of directors are also welcome to run for office.
The positions to be elected this year are as follows:
President
Vice-President, Print
Vice-President, Broadcast
Vice-President, Online
Secretary
Financial Officer
At-Large Director, General
At-Large Director, Spanish-Language
At-Large Director, Academic
Student Representative
The term for all offices is two years, except for the Student Representative, whose term lasts one year.
As a board member, you will re required to attend three board meetings a year, typically held in three different cities for at least two days, including a board meeting during the annual convention. You will also be required to be on occasional conference calls with the board and spend time doing committee work.
Nominating Procedure
For each position, the candidate must submit nominating petitions with 25 signatures from regular, lifetime and academic voting members in good standing, which can be faxed in. Petitions submitted by email must come directly from the members nominating the candidates. Petitions for the Student Representative position should follow the same produce, but nominating petitions should should be from student members in good standing. Nominating petitions should be faxed to (202) 662-7144 and email petitions should be sent to membership@nahj.org.
All petitions MUST be received in the NAHJ national office by Tuesday, May 29 by 5 p.m. EST. To run for office, to submit valid nominating petitions and (or) to vote in the election, you must be a member in good standing by Monday, June 11, 2012.
Please ensure that your petitions are turned in well in advance of the May 29 deadline. The membership status of those who sign the petition will be verified. If a person who signed is not a member in good standing, that signature will be ruled invalid. If there is time, the candidate can forward additional signatures to meet the requirement, but all signatures must be submitted by the deadline.
All petitions should include the printed name, signature and contact e-mail or phone number of each member endorsing the nomination.
A sample petition submitted by email could read as follows:
I (STATE YOUR NAME), of (COMPANY THEY WORK FOR OR OTHER FORM OF IDENTIFYING EMPLOYMENT) support the candidacy of _________________ for (position) ____________________ in the 2012 election of the NAHJ Board of Directors. This statement counts as my virtual signature and I have included my full contact information below.
A sample petition submitted by fax could read as follows:
I (STATE YOUR NAME)________________, of (COMPANY THEY WORK FOR OR OTHER FORM OF IDENTIFYING EMPLOYMENT)____________________ support the candidacy of _________________ for (position) ________________ in the 2012 election of the NAHJ Board of Directors.
(Under this, SIGN name, DATE the signature, WRITE CONTACT email and phone number. Then fax it.)
A sample petition submitted by fax with more than one signature could read as follows:
We, the undersigned, support the candidacy of __________________________
for (Position)_____________________________ in the 2012 election of the NAHJ Board of Directors.
(Under this, PRINT name, SIGN name, STATE their employer, DATE the signature, WRITE CONTACT email and phone. Then it should be faxed.)
Elections procedure: Once nominating submissions are received and the ballot is set with the official candidates, all members will be notified by mail and email of the details of the election and the ballot. The elections will be held by electronic ballot, but members who request a paper ballot will receive one. Regular, Academic and Lifetime members will be eligible to vote for all positions. except the Student Representative position. The elections will officially open Monday, JULY 16, 2012 and will close at 5 p.m. (PST), on Friday, August 3, 2012. The results will be announced that evening at the NAHJ Hall of Fame Gala a the UNITY 2012 Convention & Career Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.
REMINDERS:
- Deadlines are the date and time by which the document must be RECEIVED by the national office. A postmark is not sufficient.
- Verify the validity of the signatures with the national office well in advance of the deadline to allow yourself sufficient time to secure additional, valid signatures to ensure you meet the election requirements. For a list of current members, contact Linda Hall at (202)662-7460 or at membership@nahj.org.
- You may want to submit more than the signatures required to ensure you have enough.
