LAA Presidential Aspirant Abraham G. Massaley has welcomed the resolution from the Saturday meeting convened by the ULAA Eminent Persons Council (UEPC) in Philadelphia especially the decision to review the National Elections Law of the Union during the upcoming Board meeting in Detroit, Michigan, a press statement issued last night said.

Mr. Massaley commended members of the Eminent Council and the parties to the April 12, 2008 meeting for disagreeing to agree in order to save the Union. Mr. Massaley said he is delighted that the full Board will meet in Detroit on May 3, 2008 to review the National Elections Law, which has been one of the sticky disagreements in the current conflict and also consider other unsolved matters. 

Accordingly, the ULAA Presidential Aspirant is proposing to the National Board of Directors to abolish the Delegate System of Election in ULAA replacing it with the One Person One Vote System. Mr. Massaley is recommending that the ULAA National Elections commission (ECOM) organize, supervise and conduct the 2008 ULAA general election on the same day in all ULAA member chapters throughout the United States.

He urged the Board to give serious consideration to this proposal during its deliberations in Detroit, saying that progressive changes are needed to our laws to make them conform to existing realities. Mr. Massaley is the drafter of the 2002 and 2004 ULAA Election Law.

The ULAA Presidential Aspirant said at least a member of the ULAA Elections commission should be physically present at each polling center on Election Day to conduct and supervise the election at that center. He said the commission with the consent of the ULAA Electoral Panel should appoint Election Magistrates to conduct elections at polling centers where commission members will not be physically present.

He proposed that the ULAA Board levy a special fee on every member of a ULAA chapter who will register as a voter to participate in the general election. Mr. Massaley said he is optimistic that even the chapters will generate membership registration fees from non-members who will desire to participate in the ULAA electoral process, noting that this process will financially benefit ULAA and ULAA member chapers.

Under this proposal, Mr. Massaley said the Chairman of the Commission should designate at least two commissioners who will be responsible for the registration of v oters in each ULAA chapter. He said the designated commissioners should be assisted by Election Magistrates who will collect completed voter's registration forms in chapters with no resident ULAA ECOM member, for submission to the designated commissioners. He said the voter's registration fee should be paid to the Treasurer of the local chapter with original receipts submitted to the designated commissioner(s) in charge of voter's registration for that chapter.

Mr. Massaley said the chapter should submit, in the form of money order or certified check, all monies received from the voters registration exercise to the Union before the publication of the final voters roll from each chapter. The ULAA Presidential Aspirant noted that ULAA should be in a very comfortable financial shape to underwrite the entire electoral cost given the increased revenue it will generate from the exercise thereby posing no financial burden on any chapter.

Mr. Massaley said the commission should publish (electronically) a preliminary voters’ list from each chapter at least six weeks prior to Election Day to allow chapter members and candidates to protest to the commission against the inclusion or omission of names. He also said chapter members and candidates should be allowed to appeal to the ULAA Electoral Panel against the inclusion or omission of names on the final voters’ list from each chapter.

Mr. Massaley further said under this proposal, the entire United States will be considered one constituency for the election of officers of the National Administration and each region of the Union will be considered a constituency when referring to election for regional vice presidents. He said immediately after the election, the Chairman of the Commission should begin announcing preliminary results (electronically) as they become available from each polling center, and once all the results have been received from all the polling centers, the commission chairman should announce the final result within seven days after the election.  

The Former ULAA ECOM Chairman said at the completion of each tally in a polling center, commission members or election magistrates in charge at each polling center should sign the tally sheet which should be attested by all poll watchers and observers unless a poll watcher refuses to sign the tally sheet. Mr. Massaley said the person in charge of the polling center should then immediately transmit electronically the election result from his/her polling center to the Chairman of the commission who will officially release the result from that chapter. He said copies of the tally sheet should be made available to each poll watcher and a copy should be displayed at the polling center for the public to see the election result from that center.

Mr. Massaley said there should be a clear and decisive winner for each elected position in the Union so that the winner can get a mandate of at least half of the voters. Accordingly, he is proposing that elections of ULAA national officers and regional vice presidents be determined by absolute majority of valid votes cast (fifty percent plus one vote) in all ULAA chapters for each national office or in each ULAA region for each Vice President.

The former ULAA ECOM chairman said if no candidate for each national office or regional vice president obtains an absolute majority in the first ballot, a second ballot should be conducted on the third Saturday following the announcement of the results of the first ballot with the two candidates in each category who received the highest votes at the first ballot participating in the run-off election.

Mr. Massaley said in the future, there should be a constitutional amendment for the elected national officers and regional vice presidents to be inaugurated at the ULAA General Assembly following each general election. He said once the electoral aspect is removed from the ULAA General Assembly, delegates will begin to primarily focus on policy issues in the union and other Union matters of consequence. He noted that in recent years, the main focus at every ULAA Assembly during an election year has been primarily on election.