You are on page 1of 5

Queensland African Communities Council

Management Committee 2015-17


ELECTION POLICY
Final for use 20152017 Management Committee elections
Purpose
This document outlines the electoral protocols and process for the Queensland African
Communities Council (QACC) Management Committee positions. The policy is based on the
QACC constitution.
The Management Committee
The Queensland African Communities Council Management Committee acts as a board for
QACC and oversees the conduct and operation of QACC.
Management Committee positions
Clause 14.1 of the constitution states that the Management Committee shall consist of a:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Vice-Secretary
Treasurer
Vice-Treasurer
Community Relations Officer
Social Affairs Coordinator
African House Coordinator
Events Officer
Members and Volunteers Coordinator
Clause 14.2 of the constitution allows the Management Committee of the day to define the
roles of the committee positions. After consultation with QACC financial members, the
Management Committee in 2012 defined the roles of the three members representatives.
Accordingly, the following are the positions to be contested at the elections for the 2015-17
QACC Management Committee:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Vice-Secretary
Treasurer
Vice-Treasurer
Community Relations Officer
Social Affairs Coordinator
Members Representative (Members and Volunteer Coordinator)
[Type text]

Page 1

Members Representative (Events Officer)


Members Representative (African House Coordinator)
The role descriptions are included in this document and can also be downloaded from the
QACC website.
Electoral Officer
The Electoral Officer must be appointed by the Management Committee at least seven (7)
days before the election process set out below is scheduled to begin. The election process
cannot begin until the Electoral Officer is appointed.
The Electoral Officer must be absolutely independent of QACC and its activities, and must
declare any association, personal or professional, with all QACC financial members. The
Electoral Officer can be from any sector or industry and preferably have experience in
undertaking a similar task. For this years election the Electoral Officer is ------.
Independent observers
Independent observers will be invited to observe the election process. An independent
observer can be nominated by the Management Committee, the Electoral Officer or any
ordinary member (including those standing for a position in the election).
Independent observers must be absolutely independent of QACC and its activities, and must
declare any association, personal or professional, with all members of QACC. Independent
observers must be appointed at least 14 days before the AGM.
Who can stand for the elections?
To stand for any of the Management Committee, a person:
must be an ordinary member (i.e., an individual member or affiliate member) or a
representative of an organisational member of QACC, as per sections 6, 7 and 14 of
the QACC constitution. All standing members or members representatives must have
met all their financial obligations of being a QACC member under the constitution at
the time of their nomination (must be a current financial member of QACC by
Sunday, 6 December 2015.
must not hold an elected leadership position in an African community association if he
or she wishes to stand for President, Vice-President, Secretary, Vice-Secretary or
Treasurer or Vice-Treasurer. They must resign from leadership position of that
African Community Association or organization with evidence of letter a from that
association or organization confirming the status.
can nominate for one position only on the Management Committee at any given time
must retire from all previously held positions on the Management Committee on
election day
must not have previously served on the Management Committee in the same position
for three consecutive years that he or she is to be nominated for
must declare all conflicts of interests in holding a Management Committee position to
the Electoral Officer

QACC ELECTION POLICY

Page 2

must declare his or her availability to fulfil the requirements of the position for the full
24 month period.
Who can vote?
To vote for the Management Committee, a person must be:
an ordinary member, organisational member (one (1) representative), associate
(affiliated) member or life member of QACC, as per sections 6 and 7 of QACCs
constitution. All voters must have met all their financial obligations of being a QACC
member under the QACC constitution on Election Day. The last day for accepting
new membership applications and payments is Sunday, 6 December 2015. Existing
QACC members who are not election candidates can renew their memberships on
Election Day and vote.
New membership applicants on the day of the election cannot vote.
present at the AGM on the day of the election or appoint a proxy who is present at the
AGM. A proxy must present to the Electoral Officer at the AGM a signed proxy form
from the QACC member, as well as the proxys Photo ID card (this is the ID of the
person attending the AGM), before the vote is held. For organisational members,
please make sure you nominate a representative to attend and vote on your
organisations behalf.
Where the representative is not your President, he or she must present a proxy form signed by
the President.
Visit the QACC website (www.qacc.com.au) or email the Secretary at qacc@qacc.com.au to
find out how to become a member.
When elections can be held
As directed by the constitution, clause 25.5, Management Committee elections will be
held during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday 12th December 2015,
12noon at African House, 10 Jean Howie Drive, Morningside
Nominating for the Management Committee
Section 14 of the QACC constitution states the following process for the nominations.
Any two members (nominator and seconder) of QACC may nominate another ordinary
member to serve as a member of the Management Committee
The nomination must be in writing and signed by the nominated member and the
nominating members. The nomination is to be lodged with the Electoral Officer by the
nomination deadline, Sunday, 6 December 2015.
The Electoral Officer must provide a list of the candidate's names and the position they
are standing for to all members at least seven (7) days before the AGM.
If there are no (zero) nominations for a particular position, nominations can be taken
from the floor on the day of the AGM before the election. The nomination must
comply with the first point under this section.
Submitting your nomination
Completed and fully signed nomination forms must be lodged by 5pm on Sunday,
6 December 2015 to qacc@qacc.com.au by;
Email
QACC ELECTION POLICY

Page 3

To qacc@qacc.com.au (Subject line: QACC Management Committee nomination)


Please ensure you email the signed nomination forms (all pages). Forms that are not signed
will not be eligible. If you dont have access to a scanner, Officeworks provides this service
for a small fee.
To ensure all applications are received on time, we encourage you to email it and include a
delivery and read receipt on it.
The election
Using section 14 of the constitution as the guide the following is the process for the elections.
Nominees will have the choice of addressing members before the vote takes place.
Each nominee (who chooses this option) will have 2 minutes for their address.
Nominees for President will have 5 minutes and nominees for Vice president will have
3 minutes each.
In the interest of time and fairness, nominees will be stopped once their time is up.
The speaking order will be done as below:
positions with one nominee only will go first, followed by positions with two or more
nominees
speaking order is to be arranged alphabetically by first name
Vice Presidential nominees will be the penultimate speakers, followed by Presidential
nominees.
Elections will be conducted by secret ballot.
Balloting lists must be prepared containing the names of the candidates in alphabetical
order by first name.
The Electoral Officer will conduct the election, ensuring that all eligible members
present and the proxies of eligible members are free to cast their votes
Independent observers shall be invited to observe the election process as per the
conditions set out under the relevant section above
The Electoral Officer will be the receiving officer for the ballots and will count them
and announce the results before the end of the meeting.
Where there is a tied result for first place for a position, the tied nominees will be
required to address the members and then a run-off vote will be held with just the tired
nominees.
As ballot papers cannot be produced for the run off, the voting will be done by voting balls,
where each nominee will be allocated a ballot box and members will vote by placing their
voting ball into the box of their desired candidate. This will be done behind a curtain, to
ensure it is a secret ballot. However the Election Officer will observe the ball placements to
ensure accountability.
Where there is only one (1) nomination for a position. The nominee will be
automatically elected to the position.
The Electoral Officer will open the floor for any QACC financial member to appeal the
election outcomes. Appeals are to be documented, discussed and resolved at the meeting
before the results are formally declared.

QACC ELECTION POLICY

Page 4

Appeal process
Any financial member who wishes to appeal after the final results have been declared
can do so by directly appealing to the Electoral Officer within 24 hours.
The Electoral Officer and any independent observers will consider the appeal within 24
hours of the appeal being lodged and notify all financial members of their decision. If
their decision is a recount of votes, then the Electoral Officer and independent
observers must notify all financial members of the results of the recount.
If there are no appeals, ballot papers will be destroyed within 48 hours of the election

QACC ELECTION POLICY

Page 5

You might also like