8.1     There shall be a Nominations and Elections Commission, consisting of five Commissioners elected by the General Assembly in the fall semester.  The Commissioners shall serve two-year terms.  Two of the Commissioners shall serve coterminous terms and the remaining three shall serve coterminous terms.  The terms of these two groups of Commissioners shall not be coterminous.  The Executive Board in making up the ballot for the Nominations and Elections Commission shall endeavor to include a nominee who is a member of the Executive Board and a nominee who is not a member of the Executive Board.

8.2     The Nominations and Elections Commission shall be charged with soliciting nominations for all elective offices including:  Officers and Executive Board members,

Nominations and Elections Commissioners, MTA Annual Meeting & NEA Representative Assembly Delegates, and the Contract Negotiating Team.

All authorized delegates and alternates to the MTA Annual Meeting and the NEA Representative Assembly shall be nominated and elected in accordance with the by-laws of those organizations.

8.3     The Commission shall solicit nominations from the entire membership; and shall actively seek to take into account campus-wide representational allocations.

8.4     The list of candidates running for office shall be presented at the spring General Assembly at which point further nominations may be made from the floor.  At the end of this General Assembly, nominations shall be closed.

8.5     Elections shall be by secret ballot and conducted by the Commission one week following the spring General Assembly with the polls open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Absentee ballots may be cast.  Members who are unable to cast a ballot during the day of the elections may request an absentee ballot from the Nominations and Elections Commission.  Such requests shall be in writing.  All ballots must be received at the MSP office by the closing of the polls on the day of the elections.  Voting by proxy is not allowed.

8.6     When a vacancy occurs on the Nominations and Elections Commission, the Executive Board shall fill such vacancy by election of an interim member, subject to ratification by the membership at the next duly called General Assembly meeting.