Information on Elections from the UUA Secretary
Absentee Voting
Under the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) bylaws, congregations that have met the certification requirements for sending voting delegates to General Assembly (GA) can vote in the election in two ways:
- By submitting completed absentee ballots. Absentee ballots with instructions and biographical information about the candidates will be mailed to congregations in early March and must be returned by June 15.
- By sending delegates to vote on site at General Assembly on Saturday, June 25. All GA delegates who have voting credentials that were not used to vote absentee will be eligible to vote on site.
A congregation can use a mix of both of these methods if it wishes. For example, if a congregation will be sending some but not all of its delegates to General Assembly, the congregation can vote absentee for any of the delegate slots that won't be used to send delegates to General Assembly. However, the system prevents double-voting, so if a congregation is eligible for three delegate slots and submits two completed absentee ballots, only one General Assembly delegate from that congregation will be allowed to vote on site.
When discerning how to vote in the election (absentee or on site), congregations have wide discretion in determining whether and how to instruct their delegates. For example, a congregation could hold a congregational meeting to discuss the election and then could direct its delegates to vote for particular candidates. Or the congregation could appoint delegates and allow those delegates to vote their consciences. More detailed instructions for voting will be included with the ballot mailing in early May.
Voting by Ministers/CREs
Under the UUA bylaws, in addition to its member delegates, each certified member congregation is entitled to be represented at General Assembly (including voting in the election, absentee or on site) by the ordained minister or ministers in full or associate ministerial fellowship with the Association settled in such congregation (including affiliated community ministers), and by the director or directors of religious education having achieved Credentialed Religious Education—Masters Level status by the Association and employed in such congregation.
In addition, each certified member congregation is also entitled to be represented at General Assembly by any minister emeritus/a of such congregation in ministerial fellowship with the Association and by any director of religious education emeritus/a (having achieved Credentialed Religious Education—Masters Level status by the Association) designated as such by a vote at a meeting of the member congregation not less than six months prior to the General Assembly, provided that any such minister has been settled previously in such congregation, and any such director of religious education has been previously employed in such congregation.
All delegate credentials and absentee ballots for each congregation's ministers and credentialed religious educators (including ministers/DREs emeritus/a) will be mailed to the congregation in early May.
Further Information
For all questions: contact Tom Loughrey, UUA Secretary (secretary @ uua.org).
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Last updated on Friday, July 22, 2011.
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