Please click here to download
Vecinos Election Policy Manual
I. Introduction
Article 12 of the Regulations of Asociación de Vecinos de Akumal Norte A.C. (“Vecinos”) allows the Vecinos Board of Directors (“Board”) to appoint a Vecinos member who is not a candidate for office in the forthcoming election as Director of Elections (“DOE”), and to establish this Election Policy Manual. This manual must be available on the Vecinos website.
II. Independence of Director of Elections
Once appointed by the Board, the Director of Elections shall operate independently without Board review of their decisions or actions.
III. Candidacy for Board positions
1. Call for Candidates
The President shall send a call for candidates to all members through the Vecinos email system two months prior to the Ordinary Meeting as required by Bylaws Article 17. Candidate submissions will be due not later than one month prior to the Ordinary Meeting. The notice will detail the open positions and the qualifications for serving.
2. Candidate Screening
The DOE and the Nominating Committee shall screen candidates to ensure that they are members who have been admitted at an Ordinary Meeting, are up to date on Vecinos dues as required in Regulations Articles 6 and 7, have submitted a Letter of Accession, and comply with requirements under Mexican law to serve on the Board of an Asociación Civil. All candidates who pass the screens above will appear on ballots for the office for which they submitted their candidacy in accordance with Bylaws Article 17 and Regulations Article 13 and will receive an electronic copy of the Election Policy Manual.
3. Incumbent Board Members as Candidates
An incumbent Board member whose term is not expiring may run for an open Board position different from the one they hold, but they must resign their current position effective March 1st so that members have an opportunity to vote on candidates to fill their position for the remainder of their term.
4. Candidate Profiles
Candidates may submit profiles which shall be published on the Vecinos website and otherwise distributed by Vecinos as soon as possible after the candidate slate is finalized, but in no case later than 15 days before the election. Candidates may submit requested changes to their profiles to the DOE between the time profiles are submitted and the election. Candidate profiles must be biographical and factual, and should not mention other candidates or members. Profiles and changes will be posted as submitted unless, in the sole judgment of the DOE, they do not comply with this section. In such cases, the DOE will return the profile or change to the candidate for further editing, but in no case will the DOE make changes to candidate profiles.
IV. Campaigning
1. Bulk Emails
Candidates and members may communicate with members as and how they see fit subject to the electioneering rules in section IV.3, but bulk emails are discouraged. Bulk emails are annoying to many members and not all members have access to bulk email lists. Vecinos cannot share its email list with candidates because doing so would violate the Vecinos Privacy Policy.
2. Election Community Forum
Vecinos will establish a Community Forum for the election on its website. In place of bulk emails, candidates and members are encouraged to establish topics on the forum and make posts as they like, subject only to the Vecinos forum policy as posted on the Vecinos website (www.vecinosakumalnorte.org/community-forum-policy). The DOE will be the moderator of the election forum, and the DOE’s decisions regarding forum policy violations will be final and not subject to appeal.
3. Electioneering
All electioneering material, whether printed or electronic, must identify the author(s) by name. Electioneering material may not use the Vecinos logo and may neither state nor imply that Vecinos is endorsing or opposing any candidate, nor state nor imply that the candidate list is anything other than the official list published on the Vecinos website. Electioneering of any kind, including distributing or placing flyers, posters, or other material, is strictly prohibited within fifty (50) meters of the Ordinary Meeting.
V. Eligibility to Vote
1. Payment of Dues
Members must have been admitted at an Ordinary Meeting and, pursuant to Regulations Articles 6 and 7, they must be up to date on all dues assessed since March 1, 2023 to be eligible to vote. The deadline for online dues payment is 72 hours prior to the Ordinary Meeting, but dues may be paid in person, in cash (pesos only), at the Ordinary Meeting.
2. New Members
For new owner-members to receive ballots, their applications must be formally reviewed and accepted by the Board in accordance with Regulations Article 14(a) at or prior to the last Board meeting before the Ordinary Meeting. For new converted honorary members to receive ballots, they must be nominated by the Board for conversion to full membership in accordance with Bylaws Article 9(c) at or prior to the last Board meeting before the Ordinary Meeting. All new members must be admitted by the members at the Ordinary Meeting for their ballots to be valid. Required documentation must be submitted and required initiation fees and dues must be paid in full at least 24 hours before the start of the last Board meeting before the Ordinary Meeting, the date and time of which will be posted on the Vecinos website.
VI. Ballots and Voting
1. Ballot Submission
Completed ballots may be submitted in person at the Ordinary Meeting, online, or by proxy. In all cases, the attendance of the member or their proxyholder must be recorded at the Ordinary Meeting, either in-person or online, for their ballot to be valid.
2. Proxies
Proxies must be signed and dated using the Carta Poder language specified by the DOE. Proxies will be accepted if submitted upon check-in at the Ordinary Meeting or earlier, but members giving proxies are requested to submit proxies to both the DOE and the proxyholder at least 24 hours in advance to allow for a smooth check-in process at the meeting. All proxies must be provided to the lawyer supervising the Ordinary Meeting by the DOE or the proxyholder. Scanned and photographed proxies are acceptable if they are signed and dated by the member assigning a proxy.3. In-Person Ballots
In-person ballots will be identified with codes to protect the anonymity of members while preserving the ability of the DOE to follow up appropriately on disputed ballots. Proxyholders who do not vote online (which is preferred and encouraged) will be issued a ballot for each member for whom they hold a proxy. Proxyholders will be informed of which ballot code corresponds to each member for whom they hold a proxy via a Post-It note, a list, or other means. Proxyholders are responsible for ensuring that the correct ballot is used for each member for whom they hold a proxy.
4. Online Ballots
Links to online ballots will be distributed by email to eligible voters no later than 24 hours prior to the Ordinary Meeting, but the links will only be active during the designated voting period on the day of the Ordinary Meeting. Proxyholders are encouraged to vote online using the election key of members for whom they hold a proxy, regardless of whether the proxyholder attends the meeting in person or online.
5. Multiple and Spoiled Ballots
If a member submits ballots both by proxy and directly, the direct ballot shall be counted. If a member submits ballots both online and in-person, the ballot the DOE, in their sole discretion, determines to have been submitted last shall be counted. Ballots that vote for fewer than the allowed number of candidates are valid. Ballots that vote for more than the allowed number of candidates will be discarded for the position that was overvoted but will be valid for other positions that were voted correctly. Invalid ballots cannot be corrected to become valid after voting has closed.
VII. Resolving Tie ElectionsIn the case of a tie vote that affects which candidates will be appointed or which will be appointed for different term lengths, Article 16 of the Vecinos bylaws calls for the President of the Board of Directors to cast the deciding vote.
VIII. Confidentiality
The DOE will manage the online, in-person, and proxy balloting process to ensure absolute confidentiality of voter rolls and individual votes. No member’s dues or Letter of Accession status shall be released to any candidate or third party prior to the Ordinary Meeting.
