Delegates
Your union web source on convention business

Details on delegate count, elections
Watch your mail at home and check the Election Notice listing (PDF) from the Spring 2007 issue of the Public Employee Quarterly magazine to find out when your chapter's delegate elections will take place.

Article VIII of the OCSEA Constitution sets forth the formula for determining the number of delegates each chapter can send to the Convention. This language addresses:

• Chapter counts
• Other counts
• Elections

Pursuant to the Constitution, the official count of delegates for this year’s Convention cannot be certified until June 22, 2007. Because it would be extremely late for Chapters to wait until June 22 to elect their delegates for an Aug. 23 - 25 convention, we are advising chapters of the probable number of delegates they will be entitled to send.

Chapters should proceed to elect delegates to the OCSEA Convention—pursuant to the AFSCME Elections Code and our constitution and By-Laws—based on the estimate of probable delegates indicated below. View the Elections Procedures Manual.

Another mailing confirming the number of delegates the chapter is entitled to send to Convention will be mailed out on or about June 25, 2007. [ top ]

Chapter Count If the number of delegates your chapter is entitled to increases as a result of the July 25 membership count, the Chapter President will be required to certify the credential(s) for additional delegate(s). However, if the delegate count decreases, the Chapter President will be required to designate which delegates will not be

Based upon the union’s March 2007 membership records, each chapter president will receive his or her current membership count, determining the number of delegates each Chapter is entitled to send to the Convention.

Chapters whose current membership hovers around the “100s” mark have the greatest potential for a change in final delegate count.

As stated above, if the number of delegates you are entitled to changes as a result of the June 22 certification, you will be notified in an August 2007 mailing to the Chapter Presidents and Secretaries. You may rely upon the foregoing numbers unless you are notified to the contrary. [ top ]

Other Delegates In addition to Chapter delegates, the OCSEA Officers, Board Members, Assembly Presidents and District Council Presidents are delegates to the Convention. If an Assembly or District Council President is unable to attend the Convention, the Vice President shall be the delegate. [ top ]

Delegate Elections All delegates to Conventions must be elected pursuant to the same rules that apply to the election of any OCSEA/AFSCME Officers. This means that all eligible members must be given written notice of the election by mail to their last known address at least 15 calendar days prior to the secret ballot election.

To assist you in getting this notice out to your members, a notice request form (online form) is generally sent in the March mailing. Complete the online form, or complete the paper form and send it to OCSEA, Information Technology Section, 390 Worthington Rd. Suite A Westerville, Ohio 43082-8331, or fax it to 614-865-4777. Upon receiving your timely request, the union office will mail out the notice and deduct the cost of the mailing from your next rebate.

Keep in mind the union office must receive requests for election notice mailers 23 days prior to the date of the election to get your mailing out on time.

NOTE: Notices that cannot be mailed at least 15 days in advance of the election will not be mailed. [ top ]