La. Admin. Code tit. 32 § VII-10101

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section VII-10101 - Election Procedures

A. The Louisiana Deferred Compensation Commission (the "commission") developed the following procedures for the election of participant members to the commission, revised August 16, 2005. These procedures shall remain in effect until amended.

1. On or before the first day of January of each year, the commission shall appoint a nominating committee consisting of three to five participants, no two of whom are employed by the same department of state government and none of whom are members of the commission. Public notice of the appointment of the nominating committee shall be given in the same manner as that required for giving public notice of meetings of the commission. All participants shall be notified by means of a notice mailed to them by either the fourth quarter statements or via direct mail that an election will be held, and the method by which the election will be held.

2. The nominating committee shall submit to the commission the name of at least one participant for each vacancy that has occurred and the name of at least one participant for each term that is about to expire. Only participants who have been participants for more than two years prior to the date on which the term begins may be nominated.

3. Upon the receipt of the report of the nominating committee, the commission shall notify personnel officers of the receipt of the said report and shall request personnel officers to notify participants (by posting a notice in appropriate places or by other means) that the said report has been received and that additional nominations may be made by petition.

4. A participant may be nominated by petition if the petition contains the signatures of 12 participants and is received by the commission chairman or his/her designee prior to the deadline set forth in the notice supplied to personnel officers pursuant to Paragraph 3 above. Only participants who have been participants for more than two years prior to the date on which the term begins may be nominated by petition. Petitioning participants' signatures must be accompanied by a statement signed by the nominee in which the nominee expresses his or her willingness to serve if elected.

5. In the event two or more participants are nominated for a position on the commission, the commission chairman shall conduct a drawing to determine the order in which candidates' names will appear on the ballot. All nominees for a position shall be invited by the chairman to attend the drawing. Each ballot shall contain, in addition to the name of the nominee(s), a statement containing no more than 200 words, which statement shall be prepared by the nominee and shall contain biographical information and/or a statement concerning the nominee's position on one or more issues pertinent to the deferred compensation program. If and when the commission determines that the use of photographs of the nominees on the ballots will be feasible, the chairman shall provide all nominees with the opportunity to submit suitable photographs of themselves for use in preparation of the ballots.

6. A participant shall be eligible to participate in an election if that participant receives a first quarter statement of his account with the Louisiana Deferred Compensation plan during the year in which the election is held. The commission may elect to distribute the ballots to the eligible participants via the first quarter statement, or via direct mail. The commission may also contract through a third party vendor to provide vote collection services, including electronic votes utilizing an Interactive Voice Response ("IVR") telephone voting system, electronic votes utilizing the Internet and also paper ballot votes. Election services include the production of election materials, mailing services, barcode system services, election ballot processing and counting using automated scanning, and other related services. If the voting process is sent via the statement or mail, each ballot shall be accompanied by a ballot envelope (clearly marked with instructions that the completed ballot shall be placed therein and the envelope sealed), a mailing envelope on which is printed the name and address of the commission's designated return address, and a signature slip.

7. The commission may require that the participant's signature appear on the signature slip together with the last four digits of the participant's Social Security number. The signature slip and the ballot envelope shall be placed in the mailing envelope. The signature slip must not be placed in the ballot envelope. The mailing envelope shall be mailed or delivered to the commission at the address printed on the mailing envelope.

8. The commission or the commission chairman, if authorized by the commission, shall appoint a ballot counting committee and the commission chairman shall invite all nominees to be present for the ballot counting.

9. The deadline for return of ballots and the date on which ballots will be counted shall both be fixed by the commission or by the commission chairman, if authorized by the commission.

10. Prior to counting the ballots, the ballot counting committee shall make such verification as is deemed appropriate. The committee shall verify that each ballot has been submitted correctly. Any ballot not submitted correctly will be deemed invalid. If a third party vendor is contracted for vote collection services, the ballot counting committee shall examine and verify the database representing the final vote tally.

11. No nominee shall be required to receive a majority of the votes in order to be elected. The nominee receiving a plurality of the votes cast shall be declared elected. In the event two or more nominees receive the same number of votes, the winner shall be chosen by the toss of a coin.

12. Upon completion of its work, the ballot counting committee shall submit a written report to the chairman concerning the result of the election. The chairman shall make public the result of the election at the next commission meeting.

La. Admin. Code tit. 32, § VII-10101

Promulgated by the Department of the Treasury, Deferred Compensation Commission, LR 32:124 (January 2006), Amended LR 501012 (7/1/2024).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 42:1301-1308 and IRC §457.