Election Rules for Council | Ontario Bar Association

General
1. These are the rules approved pursuant to subsection 29(7.2) of the OBA By-laws for the conduct of an election for elected Council positions.
2. Terms used in these rules have the same definition as in the OBA By-Laws.
Chief Electoral Officer
1. As soon as possible after April 15^th and, in, any event, before June 2^nd, the President shall appoint a Chief Electoral Officer who:
  1. is a member of the Canadian Bar Association;
  2. is not a candidate for an elected Board position or an elected Council position in the current election year; and
  3. does not currently serve, but has previously served, on an OBA or CBA council, board, committee or practice-section executive.
2. The Chief Electoral Officer shall:
  1. determine any additions, deletions or amendments to the list of voters;
  2. determine whether a candidate has breached these rules and if so, may determine and impose such remedy as the Chief Electoral Officer considers to be appropriate;
  3. inform the OBA Executive Director of any determination made under subsection (b);
  4. on his or her own initiative, or if so requested by a candidate, the President or the OBA Executive Director, provide a pre-ruling on the interpretation and application of these rules in which case such pre-ruling shall be shared with all candidates in form that shall not suggest the identity of a person who made such a request;
  5. within 1 month after the conclusion of an election for one or more elected Council positions, provide to the OBA Board and the OBA Executive Director a written report that sets out:
    1. the names of all candidates for each elected Council position;
    2. the name of any candidate who withdrew prior to the conclusion of voting;
    3. the name of the successful candidate for each elected Council position;
    4. the aggregate number of voters who cast ballots in the election;
    5. the details of all substantive determinations, rulings, pre-rulings and other decisions or interpretation assistance provided to candidates made by the Chief Electoral Officer during the election;
    6. any observations or recommendations regarding the election process that the Chief Electoral Officer considers appropriate for such a report; and
  6. perform all of the functions of the Chief Electoral Officer outlined in these rules
3. The determinations, rulings, pre-rulings and other decisions of the Chief Electoral Officer shall be final and shall not be subject to review or appeal in any forum. Each such determination, ruling, pre-ruling or other decision shall have binding effect as if it was part of these rules. Despite the foregoing, the Chief Electoral Officer may amend or reconsider any such determination, ruling, pre-ruling or other decision, but shall not be required to do so.
Candidate Representatives
1. Each candidate for an elected Council position for which an election is held may appoint one OBA member as that candidate’s representative by sending an email to the Chief Electoral Officer with the representative’s name and the email address and phone number at which the representative is to receive communications from the OBA and the Chief Electoral Officer
2. A candidate’s representative:
  1. may communicate with, and receive information from, the Chief Electoral Officer on the candidate’s behalf;
  2. may perform all of the other functions of a candidate’s representative outlined in these rules; and
  3. may make any decision that the candidate may make in the course of the electoral process, and thereby bind the candidate to that decision, other than a decision to withdraw, which may only be made by the candidate.
3. The OBA and Chief Electoral Officer shall copy any candidate’s representative appointed in accordance with section 6 on all communications to the candidate who made the appointment.
Election Events
1. OBA all-candidate meetings, election debates and other election events shall only be initiated, advertised and administered by the OBA, exclusively or in partnership with organizations selected by the OBA in its sole discretion. The OBA will send an email notice to all candidates for the relevant positions and all those candidates will be permitted to participate.
2. Candidates or groups of candidates may organize events to promote their campaigns, provided that all communications concerning the event, including the name of the event, invitations, notices, logos and décor make it clear that the event is a campaign event and not an official OBA event. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, no such event may be styled as a candidate debate or all-candidates meeting and may not use any current or past OBA or CBA logo, name, trademarks or other intellectual property except as permitted herein.
Use of OBA and CBA Name and other Intellectual Property
1. The Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association logos may only be used on official CBA/OBA publications and social media accounts. Candidates may not use any logo or graphic image that might possibly be confused with a current or past OBA/CBA logo on any signs or social media accounts or in any campaign publications or other campaign-related material. When candidates re-post or “like” postings from the official CBA/OBA social media accounts or the CBA/OBA website, the logo may at that point appear on the individual’s social media posting. This is an acceptable use of the logo.
2. The OBA name can be used in connection with a campaign only if it is in the context of the position sought (eg “Vote Sam for OBA Council” or @rasheed4obacouncil) or one that is currently previously held. The use of the OBA or CBA name must not tend to give the impression that the candidate is endorsed by, speaking for, or representing, the OBA or CBA, nor may any candidate suggest directly, or by implication that his or her candidacy is endorsed by the OBA or that the candidate speaks for or represents the OBA or CBA.
3. Candidates must be familiar with and abide by the CBA Social Media Policy where applicable.
Voters List
1. No more than five business days following the Executive Director’s receipt of the list of Nominees, the Executive Director will send an email to all nominated candidates listing the candidates for each elected Council position and advising that a voters’ list will be made available to any nominated candidate upon request.
2. Requests by candidates or their representatives for the voters’ list shall be made to the Executive Director and the Executive Office Lead by email.
3. Following a request from or on behalf of a candidate, the Executive Director will, within five business days, provide the candidate with a list containing the name, telephone number and email for each eligible voter in that candidate’s election.
4. Use of the voters list must comply with all applicable privacy legislation and other laws governing the use and disclosure of personal information (including but not limited to the Canadian anti-spam legislation). Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, each candidate shall take all appropriate steps to protect the confidentiality of this data, and:
1. may use the list exclusively for the purposes of campaigning for the relevant elected Council position;
2. shall not provide the list or a copy thereof in any form to any other party. This includes ensuring that distribution lists are not available to recipients of mass emails (eg. Emails must be sent using bcc rather than putting the distribution list in the “to” or “cc” fields;
3. shall store the list in an encrypted form;
4. shall destroy all copies of the voters lists, including all paper and digital copies and distribution lists, within three business day after the results of the election are reported to the candidate; and
5. if a candidate utilizes the services of a commercial email distribution service or other service provider that may require the voters’ list in order to provide its services, the candidate must ensure that the service provider is bound to a confidentiality and data destruction policy that provides protection to the voter data that is equal to or better than the protections described above.
Election Results
1. As soon as possible after the expiry of time set for the return of ballots as determined in accordance with the by-laws, the Chief Electoral Officer will supervise the download of the certified results provided by the electronic balloting and voting system service provider (e.g. Simply Voting). Once satisfied that the results are complete and accurate, the Chief Electoral Officer will report the results to the OBA First Vice President and OBA Executive Director. One of the Chief Electoral Officer or the OBA First Vice President will immediately notify each candidate, by telephone or email, as to whether or not they have been elected or that here has been a tie. Neither they, nor any other agent or representative of the OBA shall disclose the number of votes received by any candidate except in accordance with these rules.
2. Each candidate for any elected Council position shall, by June 7th, provide the Chief Electoral Officer with an email address or telephone number at which they can be reached on the date set for the close of ballots.
3. In the event that a winner cannot be determined because two or more candidates for any elected Council position have received an equal number of votes:
  1. the Chief Electoral Officer will notify those candidates of:
    1. the time of a meeting to be held at the OBA offices or via video conference as soon as possible in order to determine which of the tied candidates will be the elected candidate;
    2. the right of each candidate to attend the meeting or to have a candidate representative attend in lieu of the candidate; and
    3. the procedure to be used to break the tie, which shall be established at the sole discretion of the Chief Electoral Officer.
  2. The candidate who is chosen in accordance with the process established by the Chief Electoral Officer will be the elected and all other candidates for the relevant position will be notified that they were not the successful candidate;
  3. The fact of the tie and the details of the procedures referred to in paragraph (a) (iii) shall be communicated only to the First Vice President, the Executive Director, all of the candidates for the relevant position (whether they are involved in the tie or not) and any candidate’s representative who attends the meeting referred to in paragraph 20(a)(i) and they shall not communicate that information to any other parties.
1. A candidate for a given elected Council position shall be informed of the number of votes received by each candidate for that same position if the candidate seeking that information:
1. makes the request by email to the Chief Electoral Officer no more than seven days after the date on which the candidate was informed of whether or not they had been elected; and
2. provides an undertaking, in a form satisfactory to the Chief Electoral Officer, not to disclose to any other person the number of votes received by each candidate and the ranking of the non-elected candidates.
1. The Chief Electoral Officer shall provide the information requested in accordance with section 21 no more than five business days after the date on which the request was received.