Delegates to GSU’s biennial policy convention will elect the union’s president, two vice presidents and general secretary as well as the five person board of directors of the GSU Defense Fund. Accordingly convention delegates who wish to be a candidate for any of these offices are asked to be guided by the following procedure approved by GSU’s executive Committee:

1. Candidates for president, vice-president and general secretary must be delegates to the GSU biennial policy convention where the elections are being held and may be nominated by another delegate or they may nominate (volunteer) themselves for office and need not have a nominator.

2. Candidates for the GSU Defense Fund board of directors need not be delegates to the GSU policy convention, but they must be GSU members in good standing. Candidates may be nominated by another GSU member or they may volunteer themselves for office and need not have a nominator.

3. Since GSU’s 2021 policy convention will consist of in-person delegates as well as delegate participating remotely via a video link, the following election and voting process has been adopted for the 2021 GSU policy convention.
4. Delegates to the 2021 policy convention who wish to be a candidate for an elected office(s) are asked to do the following:

– to announce their candidacy ahead of time,
– to identify the office(s) they are running for,
– to provide a brief bio, and
– to provide a photo of themselves.

Candidates who wish to have their information distributed to convention delegates ahead of time are asked to send their announcements and information to GSU’s Assistant General Secretary by email to Lynn@gsu.ca for arrival by March 10, 2021.

Candidate information received by March 10, 2021 will be circulated to all of the delegates in advance of the convention call to order on March 18, 2021.

5. Candidates who do not announce in advance will still be able to declare their candidacy during convention on March 18 at 4:00 p.m., but they will sacrifice the advance opportunity to connect their information with delegates.

6. Since the 2021 policy convention consists of in-person and video link delegates, all voting in the elections will be conducted electronically. This will allow instant and confidential tabulation of results.

7. Beginning with election of president, the delegate chairing the convention session at 4:00 p.m. on March 18, 2021 will declare nominations to be open and will identify the candidates who have announced their intention to run for the office in advance of convention.

8. The chairperson will ask if there are any additional candidates and will then ask each candidate to confirm that they are running for the office in question.

9. Each candidate will be given an opportunity to speak to convention delegates for two minutes before the election process proceeds.

10. If there is only one candidate for an office they will be asked to confirm their candidacy and, after ensuring there are no other candidates, the candidate will be declared elected by acclamation.

11. If there are two or more candidates for an elected office there shall be an election in which delegates cast a secret ballot in favour of the candidate(s) they choose.

12. In elections with three or more candidates for the position(s) in question the candidate with the lowest vote total will drop out of the next round of voting.

13. An election will be declared once a candidate(s) has received fifty (50) percent plus one of the votes cast.

14. The elections will be conducted in descending order starting with the office of president. The election for each office will be completed before moving on to the next.