National Constitution Article VII

Article Summary: Article VII of the National Constitution defines the process by which National Officers are nominated, elected, and installed, as well as the filling of vacancies on the National Council.

ARTICLE VII: ELECTION OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

Section 1: Term of Office

Members of the National Council shall be elected by a majority vote of the voting Members of the Grand Chapter at the regular meeting of the Grand Chapter for a term of two (2) years and until their successors are installed.

Section 2: Nomination Procedure

A call for nominations shall be issued by the National Office at least one- hundred and fifty (150) days prior to the Grand Chapter meeting at which the general elections shall be held and nomination application materials shall be made available to all Members. Nominations to National Council for general elections may be made by any Member in good standing and shall be held open until one-hundred and twenty (120) days prior to the Grand Chapter Meeting at which general elections shall be held. At that time, nominations shall be closed and no further nomination applications or parts thereof shall be accepted.

Section 3: National Council Nominee Qualifications

A nominee for National Council must be registered for the Grand Chapter session during which they are running. Failure to do so will remove the nominee from consideration.

Section 4: Election Procedure

Elections of the National Council shall be conducted at a meeting of the Grand Chapter with quorum. General and special elections for National Council shall be conducted according to the following procedure:

1. The candidate for each National Council position shall be given the opportunity to deliver a speech to the Grand Chapter. The order in which the candidates speak shall be determined by the drawing of lots. Immediately following each candidate’s speech, the candidate shall be given the opportunity to answer questions posed by the Grand Chapter. During each candidate’s speech and the following period of questions, no other candidates for the National Council position shall be present.
1. If a candidate has registered for the Grand Chapter Meeting and is not able to physically attend, they shall have the options of submitting a written speech which shall be read by a Member of the candidates choosing who is also registered for Grand Chapter, submitting a video to be played to the Grand Chapter, and/or calling into the meeting via telephone or video chat. The candidate shall be responsible for making arrangements for any of these options and for overcoming any related technological challenges. There shall be a period of questions allowed.
2. After all of the candidates for each National Council position have been given the opportunity to speak and answer questions, the Grand Chapter shall enter a period of pro/con debate. The merits of each candidate shall be discussed in turn, in the order previously determined by the drawing of lots.
3. Following debate, a vote shall be conducted by ballot. All ballots shall include an option to vote for ‘none of the listed candidates’. These votes shall be tabulated along with all the votes for listed candidates.
4. The Chair shall appoint Tellers of Election who are members of the Fraternity or National Staff. The Tellers of Election shall not be candidates for National Council or Delegates or Alternate Delegates of the Grand Chapter. The Tellers of Election shall report the result of each vote to the Chair. The Chair shall announce the result of each vote. Following the determination of a winner, the Tellers of Election shall report the election result of the vote to the Chair. The Chair shall announce the result of each election.
5. For each Officer election, or set of elections where more than one candidate may be elected, each Delegate shall receive one ballot where they shall vote for up to the number of open positions by selecting their preferred candidate(s) or the option ‘none of the listed candidates.’ The votes shall be in unranked order and a candidate may only receive one vote per ballot. Delegates may use as many of their available votes on ‘none of the listed candidates’ as they choose.
6. Should any number of candidate(s), equal to or less than the number of positions, receive votes on a majority of the first round ballots they shall be announced as an Officer-elect. If more candidates than the number of open positions receive a majority of votes on one ballot, then the candidate(s) with the most votes shall be announced as an Officer-elect.
1. The candidates for a run-off vote, if allowed, shall be determined as follows:
   1. If the election is for a single open position with more than two candidates and none of the candidates receive votes on a majority of the first round ballots, a run-off vote shall be held consisting of the two candidates who received the most votes.
   2. If the election is for more than one position with more candidates than open positions, and any number of those positions are not filled by enough candidates receiving votes on a majority of the first round ballots, a run-off vote shall be held. The run-off shall include a number of candidates equal to the number of open positions plus one.
   3. A run-off vote shall not occur in any other circumstances.
   4. A tie-breaking vote shall occur if needed to determine the candidates moving into the run-off vote.
2. Each Delegate shall receive one run-off ballot where they shall vote for up to the number of open positions by selecting their preferred candidate(s) or the option ‘none of the listed candidates.’ The votes shall be in unranked order and a candidate may only receive one vote per ballot. Delegates may use as many of their available votes on ‘none of the listed candidates’ as they choose.
3. Only one run-off round of voting shall occur.
7. A tie breaking vote shall occur only if a tie breaking vote would give a candidate the majority needed to win a majority or if otherwise specified in this Section.
8. Any position not filled under this Section shall be considered vacant after the installation of the newly elected National Council and filled by the vacancy policy in Article VII, Section 6.

Section 5: Officer Installation

Each Officer-elect shall be installed by the Officer Installation Ceremony at the National Convention Awards Banquet during the same calendar year in which they were elected. In the event an office remains vacant following elections at a Grand Chapter Conference, the interim Officer shall be installed by the Officer Installation Ceremony at a time following the vote of temporary appointment.

Section 6: Vacancies

Vacancies in the National Council, except in the case of the office of the National President, shall be filled by the following procedure:

1. If the vacancy occurs at least 90 days prior to the regularly scheduled meeting of the Grand Chapter, the National Council shall fill the vacancy by temporary appointment from within the eligible membership of Phi Sigma Pi as prescribed in ARTICLE VI, Section 6. Appointees shall be installed by the Officer Installation Ceremony immediately upon accepting the appointment, and shall serve until the vacancy is filled by election at the next regular meeting of the Grand Chapter, and the appointee's successor is duly installed.
   1. If a general election for the vacant office is on the agenda for the next regular meeting of the Grand Chapter, the vacancy shall be filled by general election as prescribed in ARTICLE VII.
   2. If no general election for the vacant office is on the agenda for the next regular meeting of the Grand Chapter, a special election shall be held to fill the vacancy at the next regular meeting of the Grand Chapter. Nominations for the vacated National Council positions to be filled by special election shall be opened immediately upon the occurrence of the vacancy at which time a call for nominations shall be issued and nomination application materials shall be made available to all Members. Nominations shall remain open until sixty (60) days prior to the date of the Grand Chapter Meeting at which the special election shall be held. At that time, nominations shall be closed and no further nomination applications or parts thereof shall be accepted.
   3. Special elections shall follow the election procedure outlined in ARTICLEVII, Section 4. The Officer-elect shall be installed by the Officer Installation Ceremony immediately following the special election whenever possible, and shall serve the remainder of the term of office, until the Officer's successor is duly installed.
2. If the vacancy occurs less than 90 days prior to the next regular meeting of the Grand Chapter and a general election for the vacant office is on the agenda, the vacancy shall be filled by general election as prescribed in ARTICLE VII.
3. If the vacancy occurs less than 90 days prior to the next regular meeting of the Grand Chapter and no general election for the vacant office is on the agenda, the National Council shall fill the vacancy by appointment from within the eligible membership of Phi Sigma Pi as prescribed in ARTICLE VI, Section 6. Appointees shall be installed by the Officer Installation Ceremony immediately upon accepting the appointment, and shall serve the remainder of the term, and until the appointee's successor is duly installed.

Section 7: Presidential Vacancies

Vacancies in the office of the National President shall be filled from within the membership of the current National Council, by a majority vote of the National Council. The resulting vacancy shall be filled according to the procedure outlined in ARTICLE VII, Section 5.