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Board of Trustees
Procedures

Procedures for Nomination and Election of Trustees

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The basic working procedures for the BoT are defined in the SRT By-Laws. These internal procedures provide additional roles for the preparation and conduct of such meetings.

1. Trustee Positions to be Filled

The Board of Trustees will advise the Nominating Committee of the number of Trustee positions to be filled by vote of the individual members at each annual election. The Board may also advise the Nominating Committee of its desires with respect to the backgrounds of individuals to be nominated in order to achieve the balance of experience and qualifications required by the provisions of the SRT By-Laws, Article II, Section 2, which provides that "the Board shall seek to have among the Trustees representative individuals from industry, from educational and nonprofit organizations and from government."

By provision of the SRT By-Laws, Article II, Section 1, only Regular Individual Members of the Society shall be eligible to serve on the Board of Trustees.

1.1 Terms of Trustees

As per the SRT By Laws, Article II, Section 1, each Trustee shall hold office for a term of three years.

The election process shall endeavor to ensure that one third of the elected Trustee positions are open for election every year.

1.2 Casual vacancies

Where a casual vacancy exists on the Board of Trustees which is to be filled by an elected Trustee in the next election, the vacancy shall be deemed to be filled by the candidate elected with the least number of votes in the election. The Board will determine the period of office for the casual vacancy to be one term of office at it relates to the provisions of the SRT By Laws.

Where multiple casual vacancies exist the elected candidate with the least number of votes will be deemed to fill the casual vacancy with the shortest period remaining, the elected candidate with the second smallest number of votes will be deemed to fill the next shortest casual vacancy, and so on.

A casual vacancy is defined to have occurred where a Trustee does not complete the three year term of office, and the casual vacancy is defined to exist until the expiration of the three year period associated with the original incumbents' election.

1.3 Date of Election

The Board of Trustees will annually adopt a timetable for Trustee elections. The election date shall be not less than 40 days prior to the next Annual Meeting of the Society.

1.4 Use of Electronic Mail

All communications concerning the nomination and election of Trustees shall be in the form of electronic mail except the ballot, which shall be in the form of first class postal mail. Members of the Society who are not reachable by electronic mail may participate in the nomination process by postal mail.

2. Nominating Committee

The Board of Trustees will annually appoint a Trustee Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee will consist of 7 individual members of the Society, where 5 members shall constitute a valid quorum. The Chair of the Nominating Committee shall be a member of the Board of Trustees. At least 2 members of the Nominating Committee shall be individual members of the Society not currently serving in any elected or appointed capacity in the Society.

2.1 Nominations by Committee

The Nominating Committee will notify the members of the Society of the procedures for nominating individuals for election to the Board of Trustees, and will provide a minimum period for receiving nominations of 30 days. The number of individuals nominated shall exceed the number of Trustees to be elected.

The Nominating Committee will notify the voting members of the Society of the names of individuals nominated by the committee for election to the Board of Trustees not less than 105 days prior to the date established for Trustee elections.

2.2 Nominations by Petition

Additional nominations for election to the Board of Trustees may be made by petition filed with the Chair of the Nominating Committee no later than 30 days following the notification of individuals nominated by the committee. Petitions may be filed electronically. The Nominating Committee shall specify the number of signatures of voting members required for petitions, which shall be at least fifty voting members of the Society, or 1% of the total number of voting members of the Society, whichever is greater.

Provision of a member's name, SRT membership number, and email address (if available) is acceptable as a valid signature for the purposes of signing a petition to support a petition candidate, subject to verification where the petition candidate achieves the necessary quota.

2.3 Candidates for Election

The Nominating Committee will provide the names of a completed slate of candidates for election to the Elections Committee not less than 74 days prior to the election date.

3. Elections Committee

The Board of Trustees will annually appoint an Elections Committee composed of three voting members of the Society which will be responsible for establishing and supervising elections. The Chair of the committee may be a Trustee, or Trustee Emeritus, with the qualification that the selected Trustee is not standing as a candidate in the election.

3.1 Eligibility to Vote

All individual members of the Society in good standing are eligible to vote. An individual member is in good standing if his or her annual dues are not more than 60 days past due on the date of closure of the membership roll. The membership roll of eligible votes shall be closed on the close of business of the same day as the final day for filing of Petitions.

3.2 Ballot

The Trustee election shall be conducted by written ballot of the individual members, which shall be mailed to each member of the Society listed in the membership roll of eligible voters. The mail shall be posted not less than 60 days prior to the date of the election.

3.3 Voting

Each voting member will be entitled to as many votes as there are Trustee positions to be filled by vote of the members. A voting member may cast one vote for each position to be filled, but cannot cast more than one vote for any one candidate. A member may use fewer than the total number of votes available if he or she so chooses.

3.4 Receipt of Ballots

Postal, fax and secure electronic return of election ballots are considered to be a valid return of the voting ballot. All ballots for Trustee elections shall be received by the Chair of the Elections Committee by 5 pm local time on the day prior to the date of the election, at the place established by the Elections Committee for delivery of the ballots.

3.5 Counting of Ballots

The counting of ballots will take place on the election date, at a time and place established by the Elections Committee. At least two members of the Elections Committee shall be present at the counting of the ballots. The committee will establish procedures to ensure the privacy, validity and accuracy of all ballots.

3.6 Certification of Vote

The Elections Committee shall certify the results of the annual Trustee election to the Board of Trustees within 10 days following the election, forwarding a list of the candidates and the number of votes each candidate has received.

3.7 Publication of the Result

Only the vote counts of the elected candidate Trustees and the total vote count is to be published, while all candidates and the Board of Trustees be provided with the full details of the election result.

3.8 Challenges

No challenge to any Trustee nomination or election procedure or result may be brought except by an individual member in good standing. Any challenge must be addressed to the President of the Society with a recital of the reasons for the challenge, and must be received within 20 days of the election date. The President, after consultation with the Chairs of the Nominating and Elections Committees and the members of the Board of Trustees, shall advise the author of the challenge of the Board's decision, which shall be final, within 40 days of the election date.

4. Assumption of Office

The term of office of elected Trustees shall commence at the adjournment of the next Board meeting following the completion of the Election process. The term of office for departing Trustees shall end at the adjournment of the next Board meeting following the completion of the Election process. The Board meeting is defined as having one agenda, which may extend over several days. The new Board may convene an organizational meeting after the completion of the meeting of the outgoing Board.

5. Summary of Election Timetable

The minimum time required for the Trustee election process is 175 days. The minimum intervals for each step within this process is as follows:

Process	Minimum Interval
Nominations Announcement
Open Nominations Period
Open Petition Period
Nominations	30 Days
Close Nominations Period
Announce Nominated candidates
Petitions	30 days
Close Petitions period
Membership Roll
Close roll of voting members
Candidate List	1 day
Complete Candidate list
Prepare Ballots	14 days
Mail ballots to members
Election Period Opens
Elections	60 days
Election Date
Count Ballots	10 days
Certify Election result
Challenge period opens
Challenge period	10 days
Challenge Period closes
Response to Challenge	20 days
Board response to Challenge
SRT Board of Trustees Annual General meeting