ELECTION SUPERVISOR
for the
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
IN RE: DOUG HOLLER, ) Protest Decision 2021 ESD 76
) Issued: March 10, 2021
Protestor. ) OES Case No. P-094-030221-MW
____________________________________)
Doug Holler, member and delegate candidate in Local Union 710, filed a pre-election protest pursuant to Article XIII, Section 2(b) of the Rules for the 2020-2021 IBT International Union Delegate and Officer Election (“Rules”). The protest alleged that the notice of nominations meeting results violated the Rules because it did not list the slates in the order they will appear on the ballot.
Election Supervisor representative William Broberg investigated this protest.
Findings of Fact and Analysis
Local Union 710 will elect 17 delegates and 10 alternate delegates to the IBT convention. Three full slates are competing in the election.
Pursuant to Article II, Section 10(b) of the Rules, a drawing was conducted on February 19, 2021 to determine the order in which the slates will appear on the ballot. The slate drawn first was Teamsters United for OZ slate. Drawing second position was the 710 Teamsters United.com slate. The third position went to final slate, the Cales/Schaefer Members First slate. The order of drawing was verified by 3 OES representatives who monitored the meeting.
The notice of nominations meeting results was prepared and posted on worksite bulletin boards, in accordance with Article II, Section 6(a) of the Rules. It listed all candidates by their respective slates in three columns. However, the notice did not list the slates in the order they will appear on the ballot. Instead, the first and second slates as determined in the ballot placement lottery were reversed on the notice of nominations meeting results.
This protest followed. The protestor argued that the Rules require that the results of the ballot placement lottery determine not only the order the slates will appear on the ballot but also the order they will appear on the notice of nominations meeting results.
Precedent shows that the protestor’s argument lacks merit. In Esquivel, 2011 ESD 122 (February 21, 2011), we held as follows:
Article II, Section 10(b) of the Rules states that “[t]he order of placement of the slates on the ballot shall be determined by lot.” (Emphasis supplied). Although the best practice is to list slates on the notice of nominations meeting results in the order they will appear on the ballot in order to minimize voter confusion, the local union did not violate the Rules by listing them in the order it did.
We adhered to this determination in Chatburn, 2011 ESD 155 (March 8, 2011), and conclude there is no sound basis for deviating from it here. The results of the ballot placement lottery detailed above will be followed in preparing the ballot.
Accordingly, 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. Any party requesting a hearing must comply with the requirements of Article XIII, Section 2(i). All parties are reminded that, absent extraordinary circumstances, no party may rely in any such appeal upon evidence that was not presented to the Office of the Election Supervisor. Requests for a hearing shall be made in writing, shall specify the basis for the appeal, and shall be served upon:
Barbara Jones
Election Appeals Master
IBTappealsmaster@bracewell.com
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, all within the time prescribed above. Service may be accomplished by email, using the “reply all” function on the email by which the party received this decision. A copy of the protest must accompany the request for hearing.
Richard W. Mark
Election Supervisor
cc: Barbara Jones
2021 ESD 76
DISTRIBUTION LIST (BY EMAIL UNLESS NOTED):
Bradley T. Raymond, General Counsel
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
braymond@teamster.org
Edward Gleason
egleason@gleasonlawdc.com
Patrick Szymanski
szymanskip@me.com
Will Bloom
wbloom@dsgchicago.com
Tom Geoghegan
tgeoghegan@dsgchicago.com
Rob Colone
rmcolone@hotmail.com
Barbara Harvey
blmharvey@sbcglobal.net
Kevin Moore
Mooregp2021@gmail.com
F.C. “Chris” Silvera
fitzverity@aol.com
Fred Zuckerman
fredzuckerman@aol.com
Ken Paff
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
ken@tdu.org
Doug Holler
Dougholler710@gmail.com
Greg Edens
gsedens@yahoo.com
Brian Paulson
Brianpaulson18@gmail.com
Teamsters Local Union 710
election@teamsters710.org
mcales@teamsters710.org
Maralin Falik
maralin@voteges.com
William C. Broberg
wbroberg@ibtvote.org
Jeffrey Ellison
EllisonEsq@gmail.com