ARTICLE VI - STATEWIDE OFFICER ELECTIONS
Section 1. Elected Statewide Officers are the Union President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Executive Director.

Section 2. Statewide Officers are elected for two (2)-year terms, by the membership statewide.

Section 3. The Board or Executive Committee shall designate the open period for nominations for Union President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer and Executive Director. Elections will be held following the biennial session of General Council. Nomination forms will be made available to all eligible members statewide at least fifteen (15) days prior to the opening of nominations. Statewide Officer nominations shall be opened in conjunction with those of Directors and Assistant Directors with notification being provided at the same time, but will be closed at 5:00 p.m. the second evening of the General Council in regular session.

Section 4. In addition to the safeguards and procedures specified in Article III, GENERAL ELECTION REQUIREMENTS, Section 8, of the SEIU Local 503, OPEU Bylaws, the following rules shall apply to the conduct of Statewide Officer elections:
(a) All duly nominated candidates shall be invited to submit campaign statements, as submitted on the nomination form, not to exceed 400 words in length, for a Voters' Guide, which shall be published by the Union as a special section of the 503 VOICE in the edition preceding General Council.
(b) Additional copies of this Voters' Guide shall also be made available free of charge to Locals for distribution to their memberships and, at actual cost, to duly nominated candidates, for distribution at General Council or otherwise.
(c) All duly nominated candidates shall, at their request, at any time thirty (30) days' prior to the mailing of ballots through the deadline for receipt of ballots, be provided, at actual cost, with up to three sets of membership mailing labels, e.g., sorted for statewide, regional, and/or Local memberships. Provision of these labels shall be conditioned on a candidate's statement not to reproduce such labels, release them to an outside party, or use them for any other purpose.
(d) All duly nominated candidates shall be given equal opportunity to post campaign materials on all designated Union bulletin boards in SEIU 503-represented worksites.
(e) All duly nominated candidates shall be given equal access to all Union meetings and conferences, provided that the opportunity to make campaign presentations shall be consistent with the agenda and protocols for such meetings and conferences.
(f) Members shall not be given free use of Union resources (e.g. copy machines, video equipment) to promote any member's candidacy for Union office. When approved by the Board, use of Union resources may be allowed on an equal basis with reimbursement for the actual costs involved.
(g) Each nominated candidate for statewide office of SEIU Local 503, OPEU may submit a candidate statement to be mailed with the ballots to members of the Union eligible to vote in this election. This statement shall be, limited to one (1) uniformly formatted statement of five hundred (500) words or less and a photo (if supplied). “Uniformly formatted” includes hard copy typed or handwritten, any word processing format on disk, e-mail, faxes and any other electronic copy. Photos cannot be faxed.
(h) All duly nominated candidates shall be required to file reports detailing all campaign contributions totaling twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or more from a single contributor, and all expenditures totaling twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or more to a single source, during an election period. Such reports shall be filed with the Union's Accounting Department no later than one week prior to the mailing of ballots (for contributions received and expenditures up to two (2) weeks prior to the mailing of ballots) and no later than two (2) weeks after the deadline for receipt of ballots (for all contributions received and expenditures through this deadline). Such reports shall be made available for inspection by any Union member at Union Headquarters and at all branch offices of the Union.
(i) Ballots shall be collected and counted by an outside firm retained by the Union for this purpose. Election results shall be certified by the Union Secretary-Treasurer, or designee, who will secure all ballots, envelopes, tally sheets, and other election materials according to Article III, GENERAL ELECTION REQUIRMENTS, Section 9 of the Bylaws.
(j) Ballots for election of Statewide Officers shall be mailed within four (4) weeks of the close of General Council.

Section 5. All candidates running for statewide office, even if running unopposed, shall be presented to the statewide membership in the form of a single ballot. In addition, ballots must have a space for a write-in candidate for each office.

Section 6. If there are more than two (2) nominees for an office, the candidate receiving a plurality of the votes shall be deemed the winner.

Section 7. Ballots, envelopes, election results, and tally forms shall be available for inspection by any active, staff, or retired Union member at the Union Headquarters office for a period of one (1) year following the election.

Section 8. Statewide Officers will be installed at an appropriate ceremony on the Friday immediately preceding the first, regularly scheduled, full meeting of the Board following completion of the vote tally.