The election of trustees shall be by mail in districts where there is more than 1 nominee. This election shall be conducted by an independent and outside entity selected by the Board. The entity so chosen shall, within 25 days after the report of the Nominating Committee, prepare and mail an official ballot for each district in which more than 1 person has been nominated in accordance with Section 4 Article IV and shall cause to be published in 1 or more newspapers of general circulation in the district where an election is to occur, a notice to members that the ballots have been mailed and the time in which the marked ballots are to be returned and such other information as may be required by the Board of Trustees.
No person other than the member, or spouse of a member, to whom the ballot is directed, shall mark, vote, or return the ballot.
No person shall, directly or indirectly, pay, give, promise to pay, or give, anything of monetary value to any member in exchange for the vote of said member for any candidate for trustee.
The Board of Trustees shall investigate any allegation of violations of the voting procedure made by any member and shall use such methods of investigation it deems appropriate. If the Board of Trustees deems that voting procedures were violated by or on behalf of a candidate who receives the most votes, the Board of Trustees, by a vote of 2/3 of its membership, shall disqualify such candidate, and the candidate receiving the next highest number of votes for which there is no finding of a violation of the voting procedures shall be elected.
Each ballot shall contain a notice which contains the following statement:
“Only the member to whom the ballot is addressed, or spouse, may mark, vote, or return this ballot. No person shall pay, give, or promise to pay or give anything of monetary value to any member in exchange for the vote of the member.”
In the event you are aware of any violation of the voting procedures or if you have any questions about the voting procedures contact:
Business Directory
South Central Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc.
1399 Happy Valley Road
P O Box 159
Glasgow, Kentucky 42142
(270) 678-2111
It shall be addressed to the entity and shall contain a certificate to be signed by the voting member certifying compliance with these provisions. Any ballot returned without being properly signed shall not be counted. The entity shall mail an official ballot to each member within a district electing a trustee.
The member shall cast his ballot by returning it to the entity by mail. Only the official ballot will be provided to each member and no vote shall be cast except on the official ballot so provided. Trustees shall be elected by a plurality of the members voting. All ballots shall be returned no later than 20 days after the ballots were mailed, and any ballot postmarked after midnight on the 20th day after mailing to the member shall not be counted.
The ballot shall include a statement containing the date after which the vote shall not be counted unless postmarked before the date prior thereto. The entity shall tabulate the ballot properly voted and certify the results to the President in a sealed envelope at 4:00 pm on the fifth business day following the close of voting and a representative of the entity shall report the results in the Board of Trustees meeting room at the Corporate office in Glasgow, Kentucky to the candidates, the President, and the Trustees.
The President shall publicly report the results of the election during the annual meeting. In districts where there is only 1 nominee for the Office of Trustee in accordance with Section 4 Article IV, then said sole nominee shall be duly declared by the Chairman of the Board at the annual meeting to have been elected.
In the event the election results in 2 or more candidates receiving the highest and equal number of votes (tie), and 1 of those candidates is an incumbent trustee, the incumbent shall be declared as having received the highest number of votes, but if 1 candidate who received the highest and equal number of votes is not an incumbent, the election entity, in the presence of the candidates who have the tie vote, shall determine the winner by putting a number of slips of paper in a receptacle equal to the number of candidates who received the tie votes; the slips of paper shall be blank except for 1, which shall have ‘winner’ written on it, and the slips of paper shall be folded and prepared so that they appear identical and in alphabetical order according to the candidates’ surname, the candidates shall draw the slips of paper from the receptacle in a manner so that they cannot see the slips of paper, and the candidate which draws the slip with “winner” written on it shall be declared by the election entity as the candidate which received the highest number of votes and the elected Trustee.
The entity shall record and report to the Board of Trustees any allegations of voting violations received by it.
(December 19, 1996; February 22, 2001; July 26, 2001; March 9, 2006; March 23, 2006; March 27, 2008, October 28, 2010, October 6, 2016, October 29, 2020)