Balloting is now under way for the 2022 election of executive officers and group leaders for the NJ Chapter of the Sierra Club. All current members are invited to participate. Members will receive solicitations via email in October for online voting. The deadline for receipt of ballots is November 14 (e-ballot or paper). Votes may be cast using the mail-in paper ballot in the print edition of this newsletter (see page 2 for the ballot).
Your votes are essential to help select leaders who best represent the interests of Club membership!
Three seats are open on the Chapter’s Executive Committee (ExCom). ExCom members are volunteers who meet on the second Saturday of each month for discussion of state, regional, and other environmental issues. ExCom coordinates committees on sustainability and conservation issues and makes policy decisions, initiates legal actions, endorses candidates for public office, and hears reports from staff and volunteer officers.
ExCom consists of nine at-large members, three of whom are elected each year. They serve three-year terms. This year’s ExCom candidates were selected by Nominating Committee members Renée Pollard, Allen Swanson, and Joanne Pannone. Candidate bios and photos are on page 2. There were no petition candidates this year.
Please vote for three at-large ExCom members and the leadership of your regional group. Representatives of individual groups within the NJ Chapter participate in ExCom meetings and decisions.
The NJ Chapter has 12 groups, and their geographic territories are described in the Group News section of this newsletter (pages 6-9). If you receive the print version of the newsletter, your group number is listed on the top line of your address label. This will help you determine which group ballot you should vote.
To vote using the paper ballot included with the print edition of this newsletter, clip the entire ballot on the heavy dashed line and return it in your own stamped envelope to the NJ Chapter address provided in the ballot instructions.
Note that a properly clipped ballot will include the front-page mailing label. This will verify your membership. Your address label also indicates whether you have a joint or single membership.
To the right of candidate names on the paper ballot there is a second column of boxes. This enables another person to vote if you and they have joint Club membership. If you are an individual member, just check the box nearest the candidates of your choosing.
If the Sierra Club has your email address in its records and you have authorized emails from the NJ Chapter, you will receive a ballot by email in October. Click on the link provided in the email and follow the instructions for voting. Joint members who choose the online voting option must vote separately. Please cast only one ballot (e-ballot or paper).
Note: Club rules require nominating committees to nominate at least two more candidates than the number of executive member seats that are open. Some ballots include those “extra” candidates as write-in spaces. Candidates who are written in must be Sierra Club members and we must be able to contact them.
The 2022 NJ Chapter ballots with instructions are above.