Election Grievance
We believe in free and fair elections, and are fighting for NNEA members' right to democratically elected representation.
What happened:
On Friday, May 6, as the first ballots were delivered to building reps for distribution to their members, we were surprised and deeply concerned to find several serious problems with the ballots and candidate information sheet. The amount and severity of these mistakes suggest the NNEA leadership lack the knowledge and expertise to carry out a fair election.
Overview of our concerns:
Our primary concerns are summarized here and can be read in greater depth further down the page.
Ballots were sent out without envelopes that would protect members' right to a secret ballot, guaranteed in the NNEA and VEA bylaws, and protected by Virginia state law (§ 40.1-54.3. Right to vote by secret ballot on labor organization representation). A properly administered secret ballot election protects members' privacy and ensures the election results are not manipulated. Minimal instruction was provided to building reps about their role in administering the election, other than that they should distribute and then collect the ballots. Lastly, three of the eight candidates currently serve as building reps, and relying upon them to be election officials poses a serious conflict of interest and reasonably casts doubt on the legitimacy of the election.
Extensive typos and grammatical errors were made in two candidates’ statements, misrepresenting their ideas and tarnishing their reputations and candidacy. The Election Committee requested that candidates submit handwritten statements, then made careless, inaccurate guesses when transcribing the candidates' words, and condensed the statements without the candidates' permission. In sum, this unfairly diminishes these capable, effective candidates in the election, and reflects poorly on the spelling and grammar skills of all involved, whether they earned that reputation or not.
The current election process relies on several incomplete systems, creating a situation where many members will not get the opportunity to vote in the election. There are currently multiple NNPS work sites that lack building reps to act as defacto election officials, and communication from NNEA leadership about the election has been minimal and unclear - with incomplete and inaccurate contact information - meaning that some NNEA members have no idea there is an election or how to participate in it.
How we are addressing this:
We wrote a letter outlining our concerns and proposed remedies to the NNEA President and Vice-President, as well as VEA leadership - the President, Vice-President, and Executive Director - asking for the VEA to step in, stop the questionable election process, and administer an election that members can be confident is a legitimate, fair process. We sent the letter on the morning of Monday, May 9, and VEA leadership has referred our case to the VEA Elections & Campaign Practices Committee.
In full transparency, we are sharing our letter here so that members can learn about the serious problems with this election, and what we are asking for to fix this situation and ensure that NNEA has democratically elected leadership. If you would like to sign your name to this letter, please submit your name below or email nnea.vcore@gmail.com.
Our desired outcome:
We are requesting that the VEA put a stop to the current election taking place, and require a new, fair election take place - one that conforms to best practices for a secret ballot, as required by NNEA and VEA bylaws and state law, and is administered by either the VEA or a professional parliamentarian.
What can you do?:
Please consider adding your name to the letter we have sent to NNEA and VEA leadership. The more people who call on them to address this, the likelier we are to get a swift and just resolution. You can submit your name on the form below or email nnea.vcore@gmail.com.
Talk to other NNEA members you know and bring these problems to their attention.
Vote! Though we hope that this current election process is halted, we still need to proceed with the understanding that it may be upheld and that we will have to wait until we hold the positions we are pursuing on the Executive Board in order to enact policies for democracy and good governance in the NNEA.
