(As it appears in Article III, Section 9, of the Cooperative's bylaws)
Section 9. Nominations and Elections
The areas to be served by the Cooperative shall be divided by and at the discretion of the board of directors into nine (9) director districts, and not less than ten (10) days nor more than fifty (50) days prior to the date of the annual members’ meeting, and in accordance with the mailed notice to each of the members therein affected, district meetings shall be held at which eligible candidates for the office of director from each respective district shall be nominated, and the names of the two (2) candidates receiving the greatest number of votes (including the number of votes cast for each of them) shall be certified to the annual meeting members.
Members seeking to run for the Board of Directors shall, not less than five (5) business days prior to the district meeting in which there is a director election, submit to the corporate office a completed candidate packet, as provided by the Cooperative, by which the Cooperative will verify said member’s qualifications to be an eligible candidate for the director position as articulated in Article III, Section 2.
At the annual meeting not more than one candidate from each district shall be elected to the board of directors.
Election of directors shall be determined on the basis of a plurality of the votes properly cast.
Notwithstanding anything in these Bylaws or applicable procedural rules to the contrary, a candidate who is the only qualified nominee for a seat up for election may be elected at the annual meeting of the members by motion adopted or by a voice vote, show of hands or other appropriate means.
The Secretary of the Cooperative shall include in the notice of the annual members’ meeting and notice of district meetings, a statement of the number of directors and terms thereof, to be elected.
Notwithstanding anything in this section contained, failure to comply with any of the provisions of this section shall not affect in any manner whatsoever the validity of any election of directors.
In case of a tie vote, the tie shall be broken by the Chair flipping a coin.