The Foreign Service Journal, December 2012

58 DECEMBER 2012 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA NEWS and programs; or 2) as a confidential employee to one of these management officials within two years prior to taking office in AFSA, is precluded from participating in labor- management issues while serving on the Governing Board. Post-AFSA restrictions: In addition, employees who have participated in collective bargaining while serving on the AFSA Governing Board may not serve: 1) in a management position in Washington that involves labor management relations or the formulation of personnel policies and programs; or 2) as a confidential employee to such management positions, for two years after leaving AFSA. Members should consider these restrictions before deciding whether to run for AFSA Governing Board positions covered by these restrictions. Please direct questions regarding this issue to Sharon Papp, General Counsel, by e-mail: papps@state.gov. 5. Nominations may be submitted individually or in slates. To qualify as a slate, a proposed slate must have a minimum of four candidates from at least two constituencies. Slate designations will be noted on the ballot. 6. All nominations must be submitted in writing by letter, cable, fax or e-mail. All written nominations must be addressed to the AFSA Elections Committee, 2101 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20037. To be valid, they must, without exception, be received at this address no later than 5 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2013. Members overseas can send “AFSA channel” cables marked for delivery to the AFSA Elections Committee. They must be received in the State Department’s Communications Center within the same time limit. Faxes can be sent to (202) 338-6820 and e-mail sent to election@afsa.org. Alternatively, nominations can be hand-delivered to an AFSA Elections Committee representative who will be in the AFSA office, Room 1251, Department of State, from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Feb. 1, or to an Elections Committee representative at AFSA headquarters, at 2101 E Street, NW, during that same time period. 7. A nominee can indicate his or her acceptance of a nomination by appending a letter to the letter of nomination or by appropriate notation on that letter, or by communicating with the AFSA Elections Committee at the addresses, fax and e-mail noted above. Otherwise, an authorized representative of the AFSA Elections Committee will communicate with each nominee (excluding members who nominate themselves) as quickly as possible after the receipt of each nomination to determine whether the nominee wishes to be a candidate. Any member who so accepts the nomination must confirm his or her acceptance in writing through one of the channels described above to the AFSA Elections Committee. Any nominee whose written acceptance of nomination is not received by the AFSA Elections Committee will be considered to have declined candidacy. ELECT I ON CAMPA I GN 1. All candidates nominated under the procedure outlined above will be given the opportunity to submit campaign statements for dissemination to the AFSA membership with the election ballots. Further information regarding such statements and editorial deadlines will be contained in the “Instructions to Candidates,” which will be posted by the AFSA Elections Committee on the AFSA Web site at www.afsa.org/ elections by Dec. 10, 2012. 2. The AFSA bylaws provide that, should candidates wish to mail supplementary statements to the membership, the association will make available to them on request, and at their expense, the membership mailing list or address labels. Further information on this and other campaign procedures will be included in the “Instructions to Candidates” mentioned above. VOT I NG Ballots will be distributed on or about April 15, 2013, to each person who is a regular AFSA member as of March 15, 2013. Candidates or their representatives may observe the ballot distribu- tion process if they so desire. Each member may cast one vote for President, Secretary, Treasurer and, in addition, one vote for a constituency Vice President and each Representative position in the member’s constituency. Votes may be cast by voting for candidates listed on the official ballot, or by writing in the name(s) of member(s) eligible as of March 15, 2013, or by doing both. To be valid, a ballot must be received by 8:00 a.m. on June 6, 2013, at the address indicated on the envelope accompanying the ballot or by online vote. More detailed balloting instruc- tions will accompany the ballots. Board, continued from page 57