Abstract
Each year the American Federation of Aviculture, Inc. (AFA) holds an election to fill vacant positions of voting members of the Board. The Board is the governing body of the corporation that sets the Policies and Procedures for the organization, does planning, oversees finances, and resolves issues. This elected Board consists of President, l " Vice President, 2nd Vice President, Secretary, Specialty Vice President, and a Regional Director from each of the 11 regions of the USA. Terms are two years and expire on alternate years.
Board members receive no compensation and no reimbursement of travel expenses. They graciously donate their time and work to support the American
Federation of Aviculture because they believe in the need for this organization and recognize AFA's accomplishments with education, conservation, disaster relief and monitoring legislation.
The nomination and election process starts when the President appoints a chair of the committee. The Chair, l.eslie Gillis, recruits committee members, contacts incumbents to determine if they wish to run again, tries to find AFA members willing to run for positions and sends a letter to each of the members of the House of Delegates to recruit candidates. AFA needs your help to identify good people that are willing to assume the role and responsibility of Regional Director. Currently several Regional Director positions are unfilled. Anyone willing to run for any position should contact Leslie Gillis at SecretGardenAviaries@earthlink.net.
The committee collects biographies from each of the candidates, listing their qualifications and submits the list of candidates to the Boa rd of Di rectors.
The ballot, the statement of the candidate's qualifications for the position, an envelope marked "BALLOT''. an addressed envelope for returning the ballot and voting instructions are mailed to each delegate on or before June 1. Ballots must be postmarked by June 24 and received by June 30. Only delegates that are current AFA members will receive a ballot. Only delegates residing in the region may vote for the Regional Director candidate in that region.
In order for your vote to be counted, you must follow the directionsl Your ballot must be postmarked on or before the stated date or it is disqualified. In order to be counted, ballots must be clearly marked. Ballots not clearly marked will not be counted for the office for which the voter's choice shall be in doubt. No write-in votes will be counted. The committee chair and two or more members of AFA validate and count the ballots in such a manner that the voter's identity is not revealed with the ballot. In order to accomplish this, you put your ballot in the envelope marked "BALLOT''. then put that envelope in the self-addressed envelope. On the return address portion of this envelope, you must print and sign your name and write your title (i.e. Delegate of Love Your Bird Club). All delegates may vote for non-regional offices, (President, Vice President. Etc.), as well as Regional Director for their region or Specialty Vice President if they are a delegate for a specialty organization.
Any member of the House of Delegates may attend the counting. The chairperson stacks all unopened envelopes to be validated, opened and counted. The envelopes are validated by checking the printed name and position held against the voter eligibility list supplied by the AFA business office. Once it has been determined that the voter is eligible, the outer envelope is opened and the inner envelope containing the ballot removed and placed with other ballots sorted regionally, and the process of validation is complete. Then the inner envelopes are opened and the ballots are counted, first by region then for non-regional offices. If validation or ballots are in doubt, the Chair calls either the AFA attorney, Larry Ring, or the AFA Parliamentarian, Bob Chambers to help resolve the issue. Ballot counters sign and date documentation of each issue and its resolution and documentation is retained with the ballots. The chairperson and AFA members then count the votes.
If two or more candidates receive the same number of votes...