NTAD SECOND AMENDED ENDORSEMENT PROCEDURE – August 3, 2020
I. Mission Statement
The purpose of North Texas Asian Democrats (NTAD) endorsing political candidates is to support those candidates that the organization has identified as being particularly qualified for office, being particularly supportive of issues important to Asian-American communities, and/or being particularly supportive of engagement of voters in the Asian-American communities. Once endorsement choices have been made:
i. NTAD will include the names and/or likenesses of endorsed candidates in promotional materials for elections.
ii. NTAD will facilitate privileged participation in any outreach events in which NTAD is involved.
II. Eligibility to Participate in Endorsement Proceedings
A. Membership
NTAD membership begins on January 1st of each calendar year and ends on December 31st of each calendar year. To participate in NTAD's endorsement proceedings, one must be a member in good standing at least 10 days before an endorsement proceeding. If the endorsement proceedings occur in January, NTAD will make an exception to allow individuals who were members in good standing the previous year to be eligible to participate in endorsement voting. This exception applies only to votes to choose candidates for endorsement.
B. Candidates
i. Candidates for office are eligible for endorsement from NTAD if they have voted in the most recent Democratic Primary or have signed an Oath of Affiliation with the Democratic Party.
ii. Candidates are not required to be members in good standing with NTAD to be considered for endorsement.
iii. Candidates who wish to participate in voting must follow the same eligibility requirements as any NTAD member.
III. General Rules
A. Timing of Endorsement Voting
i. A vote to endorse in an election may occur anytime after the filing period for that election has closed and before the first day of voting for that election.
ii. The NTAD Board will determine which races that NTAD will endorse in.
iii. In any race that NTAD is endorsing, if there is an uncontested primary, such candidate will be endorsed.
iv. All voting must occur within one meeting session of the general membership, whether it be the regular general meeting time or special meeting time. Any special meeting time for an endorsement vote must be announced to membership at least 15 days prior to the designated special meeting time.
B. Method of Voting for Endorsements
i. Voting for NTAD's endorsement will be by secret ballot.
ii. All eligible candidates will be included on a printed ballot with space to make a mark by each eligible candidate's name. Candidate names will be grouped by office on the ballot and the name of each office will be either be accompanying each applicable name or the name of office will be part of the demarcation of the grouped candidate names.
iii. A candidate will only receive the endorsement of the organization if a candidate of a race receives a super-majority of the eligible votes present at the meeting for endorsement voting. A super-majority is determined as follows:
a) Out of the number of eligible members present at the meeting for endorsement voting, the threshold to earn the endorsement is 65% of the vote with no rounding.
b) If the 65% threshold is not met, then the decision for that race will be considered “No Decision” and NTAD will not endorse as an organization in that race.
c) If there is three or more candidates under consideration for a race, and the 65% threshold is not met, then there will be a runoff between the top two vote-earning candidates for that race. If in the runoff, neither runoff candidate passes the 65% threshold in votes, then the decision for that race will be considered “No Decision” and NTAD will not endorse as an organization in that race.
d) Ballots will be counted by at least two of the elected officers of NTAD. Any officers running for any public office that NTAD is considering for endorsement must not participate in vote counting. The complete vote totals will be published at the same club meeting that the votes are cast. The published vote totals will indicate how many votes each candidate received. Any runoffs will occur immediately after the original round of voting, using blank runoff ballots that eligible voting members will use to write the last name of their preferred runoff candidate or “Abstain”. Similar to the process described before, any undervotes on a runoff ballot will considered an abstention for that race and counted in the determination of final vote tallies.
C. Results of Endorsement Voting
i. All ballots will be sealed in an envelope at the end of the meeting and held for no less than 30 days in case there is a challenge to the results. NTAD's officers will choose amongst themselves who will hold the sealed envelope for 30 days.
ii. The results can be verbally announced at the meeting, but there must be a complete written or printed result of all voting that is available immediately after the vote tabulation to all present at the endorsement voting meeting and to others later upon request. The complete written or printed result of the voting will have a detailed vote tally that includes a tally of all votes cast for candidates in each races, including abstentions for each race.