TVEA Rules and Ethical Conduct in Campaigning
To be meaningful, an election must be free and decided by informed voters. Freedom in election, however, necessarily includes freedom to destroy the process, the freedom to make irresponsible claims or promises or derogatory rewards, to advertise excessively, to try to win votes by any device or tactic; in short, to win without regard to the ability of the candidate or to the issues involved.
Although people accept control of tactics in other contests, controls in the election process are likely to be suspect, viewed as limits of freedom of election. To minimize this danger, the electorate should adopt a minimum of rules well thought through and as clear and specific as possible.
Every person in the electorate should have a keen sense of ethical conduct. Each candidate, supporter, or voter has a serious responsibility to make the democratic process work. The voter has an obligation to expose and reject any candidate who, or whose supporters, violates ethical conduct and in so doing damages the fragile ideal of a free election. Although the self-discipline needed to establish and maintain such a sense of conduct is difficult, discipline is preferable to detailed rules. In Simplicity, in understandability, and in adaptability, it is far superior.
Though lacking in specific rules, ethical conduct need not be a loose or vague concept. Clear, honest, conscientious answers to relevant questions should define ethical conduct in a wide variety of political situations, in which any set of specific rules is likely to be incomplete or cumbersome or both. Examples of such questions are the following: Is a certain statement relevant to the issues involved? True? Free of campaign designed to inform? Are campaign promises sincerely made and feasible? Can the candidate, when elected, reasonably expect to be able to fulfill campaign promises? Do the candidate and supporters avoid making irrelevant statements about opponents?
To perform its functions, TVEA’s Executive Board must be made up of members who, though they may differ in point of view, respect and admire their colleagues, who rise above personal enmities and who, as a body, have a spirit of striving to achieve the goals of the profession. Since overzealous campaigning is likely to strain or damage these good relations, every person in a campaign should assiduously follow the dictates of ethical conduct and the rules for election campaigning.
CampaigningAll TVEA members and/or others involved in a campaign must follow the TVEA Rules and Ethical Conduct in Campaigning.
It shall be the responsibility of the candidate to contact the Chair or Designee of the Elections Committee to request time on the Agenda to address the Representative Council during a scheduled monthly meeting.
Each candidate may provide a written statement of 50 words or less to accompany the announcement of candidacy by the Elections Chair.
TVEA may offer to include additional candidate statements in its monthly newsletter as long as each candidate has equal opportunity to respond.
All campaign flyers/materials must include a disclaimer stating: “The views and opinions expressed are those of the candidate and not necessarily those of TVEA.”
All material designed to support a candidate must be signed by the candidate.
A sample campaign flyer/material shall be approved by the Elections Committee prior to public distribution of any flyer to ensure rules for elections campaigning are followed.
The Association will not disperse or pay for campaign materials. Each candidate shall provide for his/her costs for campaign materials and their dispersal.
The use of the Association logo shall not be allowed on campaign material.
Candidates are not allowed to use TVUSD email for campaigning.
Candidates may begin campaigning once the TVEA Rules and Ethical Conduct in Campaigning is returned signed by the candidate to the Elections Committee and Candidates are announced.
Campaigning shall end when voting begins.
All candidates shall have the same opportunity to place campaign materials in teachers boxes at each site.
Vote Requirements
A majority vote of the ballots cast shall be required to win an election.
In the event that no candidate receives a majority of votes in the election, a run-off election shall be held.
The candidates in a run-off election shall be the candidates receiving the two (2) highest numbers of votes in the election.
When there are only two (2) candidates for an office, the candidate receiving the higher number of votes cast (majority) shall be declared elected.
In the event these election procedures are deficient in one or more areas, TVEA defers further processes to the CTA Guidelines for Chapter Election Procedures.
