The by-election is being conducted according to our constitution. The relevant rules have been extracted with timeline below.
- Members of the SHA who wish to stand in this election please contact the returning officer by midnight 31st August 2023 by email at admin@sochealth.co.uk
- Please use the subject line ‘By-election’ and send your 300 word election address and, if you wish, a passport size photo as an attachment.
- Please make put your name in BLOCK CAPITALS as you wish it to appear on the ballot. We suggest FIRST NAME SURNAME.
- If you don’t receive an acknowledgement from the admin account within one working day please contact chair.sha@gmail.com.
Interim Electoral Meeting will take place Thursday 21st September at 7pm by zoom. At the meeting the ballot results will be announced. We propose to move to a Special General Meeting which will decide on constitutional changes in line with our status as a registered company, to streamline administration services and, given the relentless attacks on the NHS, allocate additional funding for campaigning functions.
7c) Where one of the director positions is vacant, that position may be filled on an interim basis by a majority vote of the Central Council. Where there are six months remaining before the Annual Meeting, the Directors or a petition of members including 10% of the fully paid up members may call an Interim Electoral Meeting on four weeks’ notice to members, which shall take place by Zoom or on a similar electronic platform. The Interim Electoral Meeting shall elect a replacement for the director in accordance with the rules laid out in clause 6(e), provided that references to the Annual Meeting shall be understood as references to the Interim Electoral Meeting.
6e) Where a position is to be elected under this clause 6(e), the election shall be conducted as follows.
(i) Four weeks prior to the Annual Meeting, in the notice of the Annual Meeting, members will be invited to stand for positions elected at the Annual Meeting. Nominations shall close three weeks prior to the Annual Meeting.
(ii) In the notice of the Annual Meeting, nominees will be invited to submit a 300 word election address and photo which will be distributed to all members if they wish. Branches are encouraged to organise hustings to which all candidates to a particular position must be invited and be given equal access to members.
(iii) Elections prior to the Annual Meeting shall be conducted by secret electronic ballot of all fully paid up members, whether or not present at the Annual Meeting. When elections are for a single position on an individual basis, such as Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, each Vice-Chair, and each Auditor, they shall be conducted using the first past the post system on a one member one vote basis. Where elections are for multiple positions, such as all-member Central Council members, they shall be conducted using the multiple non-transferrable vote plurality-at-large bloc voting system on a one member one vote basis, in which each voting member is permitted to cast votes for as many candidates as there are positions vacant, and positions shall be filled by the candidates with the most votes. This system shall not for the avoidance of doubt include any element of proportional representation or transferrable or preferential votes. Voting in the election shall be open for at least two weeks, concluding on the day before the Annual Meeting.
(iv) The Returning Officer shall be a person appointed by the Central Council who is not standing in the elections.
v) The Returning Officer shall declare the results within three days after the ballot closes, and those elected shall take office on that day.
vi) A candidate or candidates may appoint a person as a scrutineer, who shall be permitted to confirm that nominations were validly received and votes were validly tabulated by reference to any output of the electronic ballot software; provided however that no scrutineer shall be permitted to observe how individual voters voted.