Elections

Elected Offices
Nominee Requirements
Nominations
Election Proceedings
Time Frame

Elected Offices

The offices of Commanding Officer (CO) and Executive Officer (XO) are elected positions. More information on the duties of these offices can be found in the department descriptions.

It is up to the membership to determine if an election is necessary. Otherwise, the CO and XO will continue to serve in their current roles without the need for a formal election. This section outlines the requirements for the elected positions and what is required in the event of an election.

Nominee Requirements

When Athena was a STARFLEET chapter, we needed to meet the following requirements for CO and CO:

18 years of age or older (for legal reasons)
STARFLEET member in good standing with an active membership
Have taken and passed Officers Training School (OTS) from STARFLEET Academy
Have taken and passed Officers Command College (OCC) from STARFLEET Academy

Currently, since Athena is no longer a STARFLEET chapter, the only requirement is that the CO and XO must be over 18 years old for legal reasons.

Nominations

Nominations can occur in the following ways:

State the nomination at the meeting
Find another member who can hand-carry the nomination to the meeting
Send a letter to the Athena Post Office Box stating the nomination

Electronic mail nominations are not encouraged since sometimes messages get lost.

Nominations must contain the name of the nominee and the office that the person is being nominated for.

The Nominee must accept the nomination before being considered a candidate for the election. All candidates are required to submit a statement (no more than a few paragraphs) stating why he or she feels qualified for the position. The submissions must be received by the election committee by no later than one week after the end of the nominations period.

Election Proceedings

After the nomination period has closed, each of the candidates has one week to submit a statement (no more than a few paragraphs, no manifestos, please) stating why he or she feels qualified for the position. This information will be compiled into a mailing that will go to the entire Athena membership. The postage-paid ballots (one per Athena member) will be included in that mailing along with a date that they must be returned.

The postage-paid ballots will be sent to the house of a neutral third-party. The crew will decide on the third party at a meeting just before or during the nomination period. Unless there is a very heated election in progress, the third party will most likely be an Athena member.

The results of the election will be announced within 2 weeks of the end of the balloting period. The designated third-party will be responsible for tallying the ballots received and announcing the results.

For each position, a simple majority of the ballots received will determine the winner. There will be a run-off election if there is no clear majority.

Time Frame

Under normal circumstances, nominations will be accepted starting at the October meeting and ending at the November meeting. The balloting period will run through most of December with results announced in late December or early January.

In the case of the office of CO or XO becoming vacant, an election for that office will occur at a time to be determined by the crew at the next scheduled meeting. An "Acting" officer will fill the position until the election.

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