Board Elections/Absentee Ballot Procedure

The annual election for the expired board seats will be held at our next monthly meeting on April 16th. Below you will find short biographies for the declared candidates, Harry Fullerton and David Stanford.

Absentee Ballot Procedure

Elections for the board of the Boston Prime Timers will take place at the member meeting on Saturday, April 16th 2016. Members in attendance who have not submitted a valid absentee ballot may vote at the meeting. Members in good standing who wish to vote via absentee ballot must adhere to the following procedures:

  • The office will prepare printed ballots showing the names of the official nominees plus a space for write-ins. The voting packet will consist of a printed ballot, a small envelope and a large envelope. The small envelope will fit inside the large envelope and will be serialized. The printed ballot itself will not have any mark that would enable tracing it back to the voter.
  • If you wish to vote via absentee ballot, contact the office for a voting packet.
  • Vote for no more than six (6) nominees. Ballots with more than 6 votes will be considered invalid and won’t be counted.
  • The nominating committee will present a slate of candidates via the Prologue. You may vote for any of those men or any other member.
  • If a member not on the slate of candidates receives enough votes to be elected, he must consent to the election.
  • Do not write your own name on the ballot or place any marks on it that could identify it as coming from you.
  • Enclose your ballot in the small envelope supplied as part of the voting packet. Seal the small envelope. Do not write your name on the small envelope. Any small envelopes received by the office showing a decipherable name will be set aside.
  • Enclose the small envelope in the large envelope supplied in the voting packet. Do not enclose anything else in the large envelope (it will not be opened like regular office mail; see below). Write your name on the large envelope.
  • Seal the large envelope. The words “ABSENTEE BALLOT” should appear on the large envelope; it should have been pre-printed, but if missing, write those words. This will alert the office staff to deliver it to the clerk (see below) unopened.
  • Either mail the outer envelope to the office, or hand deliver it to the office. The office address is 566 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. If you need to contact the office, the phone is (617) 447-2344.
    Your ballot must be received in the office by 2:00 PM on Friday 4/15/2016. Late absentee ballots will be considered invalid and won’t be tallied. Note that we mean “received”, not “postmarked”.
  • If any outer envelopes are received as opened, or if the office staff accidentally opens an outer envelope, the member will be contacted to ask that he submit another. The invalid receipt will be destroyed.
  • One person will be designated as responsible for receiving and handling the absentee ballots (the clerk). Bob Adams has agreed to fill this role.
  • The clerk will maintain a record of the members who have submitted absentee ballots, based upon the name on the outer envelope.
  • The clerk will record receipt of the outer envelope against his log of voting packets sent. He will open the outer envelope and remove the inner envelope, unopened.
  • The clerk will handle the absentee ballot inner envelopes in a secure manner, for example under lock and key, or always in his personal possession.
  • The clerk will call, email, or write each member who submitted an absentee ballot, to acknowledge receipt. If you don’t hear from the clerk in a timely manner, it is your responsibility to follow up, not the clerk’s.
  • When the votes at the member meeting are ready to be tallied, the clerk will open each absentee ballot inner envelope, and place the inner contents mixed with the ballots from the meeting. If any identifying marks are found on the inner contents at this time, the ballot will be set aside and not tallied.
  • Members arriving at the welcome desk to sign in for the member meeting will be supplied an official paper ballot, but only if they are not on the absentee ballot list supplied by the clerk.