Assalaamu Alaikum,
This email contains information on the eligibility requirements and overall process for the elections of the available positions on MAPS Board of Directors (BoD) and Board of Trustees (BoT).
In accordance with the MAPS By-Laws, the current BoD has invoked an independent Election Committee (EC) comprising of Tarek Ghonaim, Talat Hanafi and Khizer Sheriff. The EC is chartered to run the election process as an independent body and in-line with the MAPS By-Laws. As such, the EC members and their family members are not eligible to run for elections. The Election Committee can be reached by email at: electioncommittee@mapsredmond.org.
The election this year is to fill 5 Board of Directors positions and 1 Board of Trustees position.
Election Key Dates:
- Friday October 13th: Starts the election process and open the nomination phase.
- Tuesday Oct 31st 5:00 PM: Ends the nomination phase.
- Friday Nov. 3rd: Election committee will publish the candidate list and their bios.
- Wednesday Nov 8th: The Candidate Forum.
- Friday Nov 10th: Start of election voting.
- Sunday Nov 12th 6:00 PM: Count the votes and publish the election result.
- Members can vote in-person only on the following dates & times:
- Friday Nov. 10th during Friday prayers
- Friday Nov. 10th after Maghrib prayers till 30 minutes after Isha prayers
- Saturday Nov. 11th after Maghrib till 30 mins after Isha prayers (in case Quorum requirements are not meet on Nov. 10th)
- Sunday Nov. 12th after Maghrib till 30 mins after Isha prayers (in case Quorum requirements are not met on Nov 10th & 11th)
Members who are either travelling or ill can request an absentee ballot from the election committee. Absentee ballots will be sent when voting opens and they need to be received by the Election committee at electioncommitee@mapsredmond.org prior to 6:00 PM Pacific on Sunday Nov 12th.
BoD Candidate Eligibility:
Active MAPS members meeting the following requirements will be eligible to be nominated. In addition, the nominees will be required to attest to serving the community in accordance with the MAPS Vision and By-laws. The EC will validate the candidate’s eligibility once the nomination forms have been received.
Qualifications of the Board Member shall include:
- Be a voting member of the Association for at least the previous 18 months.
- Sound Islamic beliefs and practices
- Abstains from Kaba’er (major Islamic violations)
- Be a regular attendee to the Masjid
- Been an active participant as a volunteer or a leader of activities of the Masjid and the Association
- Be committed to supporting the Association.
- Must have good people management skills
- Must have good communication skills necessary to conduct the affairs of the Association including verbal, written, and electronic, such as email.
- Be a resident of King, Snohomish or Pierce Counties.
- Not indicted or convicted of a felony or gross misdemeanor.
- Not have commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the person’s honesty or trustworthiness.
- Not have engaged in conduct involving material dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
BoT Candidate Eligibility:
In addition to the BoD Candidate eligibility, candidates to the BoT must meet one of the criteria below:
- Must be a current member of Board of Directors or must have previously served in the Board of Directors. Current members of the Board of Directors can only join the BoT by appointment and not by election unless the term of such a current member expires within 60 days of the General Assembly meeting in which BoT members are elected
- Must have served in at least one subcommittee under a Board member for a period of at least 1 year and have made significant contribution through such service. There must be documented proof of contribution and participation.
Voter Eligibility:
Active MAPS members meeting the following requirements will be eligible to vote for the candidates on the ballot.
An association member becomes eligible to vote if he/she meets the following conditions:
- Must be eighteen (18) years of age or older.
- Completes a registration form and pays the membership dues set by the Board of Directors.
- The term of membership is two years and must be renewed at the end of two years for membership to remain current. Membership is automatically terminated for failure to renew.
- Must have been a member of MAPS for at least 6 months
Voting Rights:
Only voting members shall have voting rights. Each voting member shall be entitled to only one vote. A member, whose dues are in arrears, loses the right to vote or run for election to Board of Directors or Board of Trustees as long as he/she is in such arrears. New members shall not have voting rights until 180 days have elapsed since their joining and payment of dues.
Election Process:
The EC will publish the nomination forms to MAPS membership. The nominations will require two MAPS members to recommend an eligible candidate and candidate’s acceptance of the nomination and attestation to uphold the MAPS Vision and By-laws. The nominations process will close at 5:00pm PST on Tuesday Oct 31st 2023. The EC will validate candidate eligibility and publish the eligible candidate list by Friday November 3rd 2023.
Please find below the links to nomination form for the BoD and BoT.
The nomination form can be used to send your nomination to the election committee. Note that nomination has to be seconded by second voting member to be accepted. Please fill out the form, email it to the Elections Committee at electioncommittee@mapsredmond.org, and cc the person seconding the nomination. We will confirm the validity of the nomination by reviewing the eligibility requirements.
Please feel free to reach out to EC if you have any questions or comments.
Tarek, Talak, Khizer
electioncommittee@mapsredmond.org
