IN RE: JOHN COLLINS, Protestor.
Protest Decision 2011 ESD 116
Issued: February 17, 2011
OES Case No. P-129-021011-AT
John Collins, member of Local Union 509 and candidate for delegate on the 509 Working Members Delegate Team, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2010-2011 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election ("Rules"). The protest alleged that the sample ballot he was asked to review and approve did not contain a box or method for slate voting.
Election Supervisor representative Maureen Geraghty investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local Union 509 contracted with True Ballot Association (TBA), a vendor of election services, to conduct its delegates and alternate delegates election. Local Union 509 secretary-treasurer Powell Caldwell is not a candidate in the election and is coordinating tasks related to it. On February 3, 2011, Caldwell sent protestor Collins a draft ballot prepared by TBA and asked Collins to confirm the correct spelling and order of candidate names on his slate. The draft ballot did not contain boxes to check for slate voting.
Caldwell stated he told Collins in a February 4 phone call that the draft ballot was not final but was being sent to him solely to confirm ballot placement and the spelling of names of Collins' slate members. Collins denied that Caldwell provided that information.
On February 10, 2011, Collins filed a protest stating the draft ballot he received did not contain boxes for slate voting.
The day before the protest was filed, TBA's John Seibel forwarded Caldwell a final draft ballot for review prior to the printing of the ballots. The final draft ballot contained boxes for slate voting.
On February 10, a few hours after Collins filed his protest, Caldwell sent the final draft ballot he received from TBA to Collins via email and advised it was waiting for final review by OES.
On February 11, our investigator re-sent the final draft ballot to Collins. Collins approved the final ballot on February 13. Printing of ballots commenced February 14.
Article IX, Section 1 of the Rules grants candidates the right to observe the printing and preparation of the ballot packets. This includes the right to review the ballot prior to printing to insure candidates' names and slate names are spelled correctly, the placement of names on the ballot is correct, and that the ballot contents and instructions are otherwise correct. Collins exercised this right to review and approve the final version of the ballot before printing began. As such, his observer rights for this step of the election process were satisfied, and we DENY this protest.
Any interested party not satisfied with this determination may request a hearing before the Election Appeals Master within two (2) working days of receipt of this decision. The parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor in any such appeal. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Copies of the request for hearing must be served upon the parties, as well as upon the Election Supervisor for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1801 K Street, N.W., Suite 421 L, Washington, D.C. 20006, all within the time prescribed above. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Kenneth Conboy
2011 ESD 116
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
25 Louisiana Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
braymond@teamster.org
David J. Hoffa
Hoffa Keegel 2011
1100 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Ste. 730
Washington, D.C. 20036
hoffadav@hotmail.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
P.O. Box 10128
Detroit, MI 48210-0128
ken@tdu.org
Barbara Harvey
1394 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48207
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Fred Gegare
P.O. Box 9663
Green Bay, WI 54308-9663
kirchmanb@yahoo.com
Scott D. Soldon
3541 N. Summit Avenue
Shorewood, WI 53211
scottsoldon@gmail.com
Fred Zuckerman, President
Teamsters Local Union 89
3813 Taylor Blvd.
Louisville, KY 40215
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Robert M. Colone, Esq.
P.O. Box 272
Sellersburg, IN 47172-0272
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Carl Biers
Box 424, 315 Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
info@SandyPope2011.org
Julian Gonzalez
Lewis, Clifton & Nikolaidis, P.C.
350 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1800
New York, NY 10001-5013
jgonzalez@lcnlaw.com
John Collins
193 Lily Lane
Loris, SC 29569
fbody@sccoast.net
L.D. Fletcher, Secretary-Treasurer
Teamsters Local Union 509
1213 State Street
Cayce, SC 29033
team509@bellsouth.net
Maureen Geraghty
426 Old Salem Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
mg@geraghtylawfirm.com
J. Griffin Morgan
Elliot Pishko Morgan
426 Old Salem Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
jgmorgan@epmlaw.com
Maria Ho
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
mho@ibtvote.org
Kathryn Naylor
Office of the Election Supervisor
1801 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20006
knaylor@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey J. Ellison
214 S. Main Street, Suite. 210
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
ellisonesq@aol.com