Credentials and Tellers Committee

Duties

The Credentials and Tellers Committee serves to facilitate the Council meeting. Responsibilities of the Credentials and Tellers Committee include:

  • Credentialing of all program representatives in attendance;
  • Determination of a quorum;Counting of all votes when requested by the Speaker during a meeting;Collection, tabulation, recording, and certification of all votes cast during elections;
  • Submission of a report recording the results of all votes and elections during the Council meeting to the Speaker during the meeting; and, 
  • Distribution and collection of surveys from all representatives in attendance.

Procedures

The Credentials and Tellers Committee shall conduct the business of the Council in accordance with these adopted rules, the Bylaws of the Association, and adopted parliamentary authority. Members of the Credentials and Tellers Committee may not cast votes during the Council meeting.

Credentialing

  • Members of the Credentials and Tellers committee shall verify the program representatives’ names and contact information when they register prior to the start of the Council meeting.Each recognized program is allowed one representative and one alternate. The committee shall count the number of properly credentialed representatives for the purposes of determining a quorum.
  • Alternates are not counted toward the quorum.
  • At meetings at which such representative or alternate is not available to participate, a Representative Pro-Tem from the same residency program may be empowered to assume the rights and obligation of the representative.
  • Student members shall have two representatives, elected or appointed by the Medical Student Committee. If for any reason a Medical Student Committee has not been appointed by the President or if the Medical Student Committee fails to appoint one or both representatives, the President shall designate one or two student members to serve as student representatives.
  • Each program is allowed one vote for each paid EMRA member thirty days prior to the meeting. Therefore, the number of residents in the program may not match the number of votes. Either the representative or alternate may cast votes, not both. Therefore, there is one set of ballots and vote cards per program.
  • The committee shall verify that the number of votes on the ballots and voting card corresponds with the number of paid EMRA members for that program.
  • Any disputes regarding credentialing or vote count shall be addressed by the Speaker.

Quorum

  • At the appropriate time, the Speaker will ask the Chair of the Credentials and Tellers Committee to announce the quorum.
  • The Chair will approach a microphone and read the quorum report. (“Mister/Madame Speaker, with W credentialed representatives and X alternates representing Y of Z total EMRA members, we have a quorum.”)

Teller

  • Should a representative contest or the Speaker be in doubt as to the true outcome of any vote taken during the course of a Council meeting, s/he will ask the Credentials and Tellers Committee to count the votes in the room and announce the result.
  • The Speaker will ask for all those in favor of the motion to hand their voting cards to a member of the committee.
  • Committee members will walk down the aisle and collect all voting cards.
  • Committee members will then count the cards twice and record the result.
  • The Speaker will then ask for all those opposed to follow the same procedure.
  • The committee will again collect and tabulate the results.
  • The Chair of the Credentials and Tellers Committee will hand the result to the Speaker, who shall announce the result.After the result has been announced, the voting cards will be returned to the representatives.

Elections

  • The Credentials and Tellers committee is responsible for tabulating, recording, and certifying the results of elections.The Speaker will announce the start of balloting.
  • Each member will complete his or her ballot and hand it to a member of the Credentials and Tellers Committee.
  • Members of the Committee, with assistance from Association staff, will count the ballots.
  • Ballots will be checked to ensure validity.
  • Blank ballots, duplicate ballots, and ballots with more than one candidate indicated shall be declared invalid.Ballots will be collated by candidate.
  • The number of votes for a given candidate shall be counted repeatedly until the same result is obtained twice.
  • The number of votes for each candidate shall be recorded on the election report.
  • The election report shall be certified as correct by both the Chair and the Executive Director.
  • The Chair will then hand the election report to the Speaker, who will announce the result. Election is by majority (50% +1 vote) Should a given round of balloting not result in a majority victor, the top two candidates will participate in a runoff election.

Surveys

  • During the meeting, the Vice Speaker shall prepare a survey of members.
  • Members of the Credentials and Tellers committee shall be responsible for distributing the survey during the credentialing process and for collecting the surveys at the close of the meeting. The Vice Speaker shall receive the surveys for analysis.

 

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