GAO ANALYSTS MESSAGING CENTER

 Election Notice, Time Table, and Rules

 

Based on a tally of ballots conducted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, bargaining unit employees at GAO approved an Interim Council structure.  By this notice the Election Committee sets forth a time table and other rules for these elections. 

 

Role of Interim Council Members:  Council Members will be responsible for drafting a Constitution and Bylaws for ratification by GAO bargaining unit employees, and representing the interests of bargaining unit employees with GAO management and Congress until permanent officers and representatives can be elected pursuant to that Constitution and Bylaws.  Due to the volume of work, it is expected that the Council's work will be supplemented by GAO employees who are not elected members of the Interim Council, but are designated by the Council to assist on projects, tasks and committees on an as-needed basis.  Council members and other GAO employees acting as designated union representatives will be allowed to use a reasonable amount of GAO duty time, known as "official time" to conduct representational activities involving GAO management.  IFPTE will also provide legal, legislative and administrative support and representation training to the Council and other designated union representatives as needed.

 

Timetable:

 

Friday, November 16, 2007 - no later than 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST):  Nominations must be received via email to gaonominations@ifpte.org (Nomination Form attached.  NOTE:  Nomination form may attach to reply email as a .pdf or .xml data file). 

 

November 17-21, 2007:  The Election Committee will validate candidate eligibility pursuant to the Interim Council structure adopted by bargaining unit employees, and prepare a Voter Guide, including a compilation of the candidates' "Statements of Qualifications/Interest" that were submitted during the nomination period (see attached Nomination Form) and voting instructions, for distribution to all bargaining unit employees.  Candidates are not required, but are STRONGLY encouraged to submit these statements.  Candidates are urged to use these statements to describe their experience, knowledge of the issues, willingness to serve, and motivation for seeking an Interim Council position.  The Election Committee reserves the right to delete from the candidates' statements material that is inappropriate for distribution as a part of a union-sponsored Voter Guide (e.g. material that the Committee has a good faith reason to believe is defamatory, obscene, or sexually explicit, or constitutes racial, ethnic, religious, gender, sexual orientation/gender-identity, or disability harassment).

 

Monday, November 26, 2007:  The Voter Guide will be distributed via email to bargaining unit employees' GAO email addresses.

 

Monday, December 3, 2007:  Ballots will be distributed via email to bargaining unit employees' GAO email addresses.

 

Monday, December 10, 2007 -- no later than 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST):  Ballots must be returned via email to gaoballots@ifpte.org.  Only ballots received via email addressed from bargaining unit employees' GAO email addresses will be counted.

 

Election Rules:

  1. No union or employer resources (e.g. telephone, copy machine, fax, and email) or union or employer paid time may be used in connection with any candidate's campaign for election to the Interim Council.  This means that candidates and their supporters may not use their GAO work hours or GAO resources, such as GAO email accounts to campaign for election to the Interim Council.  This rule has its basis in the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), and will be a governing rule in permanent elections.  For this reason the Elections Committee has adopted this rule for the Interim Council election.
          
  2. The Election Committee deliberated over the idea of holding a GAO-wide candidates' forum, but logistical problems prevent it.  As a result the Voters Guide will be the primary union-sponsored campaign tool.  Candidates may distribute flyers or other materials produced at the candidate's expense, so long as no GAO duty time or union paid time and no GAO or union resources, e.g. email, fax, copy machine, are used.

  3. No employee may be candidate for more than one Interim Council position.

  4. PDP employees who have graduated from the PDP program but have not yet been permanently placed within a team continue to be eligible to run and vote for 5 PDP representatives as well as the 9 At-Large positions, but are not eligible to vote for the Team or Field Office positions.  The 5 PDP candidates receiving the most votes will be elected to the Interim Council.  Employees who are not PDPs, as defined by this rule, are not eligible to vote for PDP representatives.

  5. If more than one ballot is received from any eligible voter, only the ballot bearing the earliest send time and date will be counted.

  6. Challenges to the conduct of the election must be submitted by email to gaochallenges@ifpte.org no later than 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), 5 work days after the date the election results are announced.  Concerns about possible election violations of these election rules may be submitted to gaochallenges@ifpte.org at any time during the course of the election process.  The Election Committee will seek to remedy alleged violations that are brought to the Committee's attention during the course of the election.  Post election challenges will be promptly investigated.  If the Election Committee determines that there has been a violation of these election rules, the Committee will then determine whether this violation "affected the outcome of the challenged election", and if so that election will be rerun.  People wishing to allege a violation of the election rules may contact the Election Committee at gaochallenges@ifpte.org.