MIDWEST STATE OF THE JUNIOR STATE OF AMERICA FAIR ELECTIONS HANDBOOK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction....3 JSA History Democracy is not a Spectator Sport Fair Elections Committee Purpose of the Handbook Elected Positions........................4 Eligibility All Officials Governor Lieutenant Governor Senator Nomination Procedures..5 Candidate Debates.6 Concept of Debate Debate Format Voting Procedure...7 Campaign Rules and Regulations...8-9 Spending Limits Expenditure Reports Fair Market Values FEC Restrictions Contact Information...9 Forms and Expenditure Reports.....10-11

INTRODUCTION

JSA History The Junior State of America is a long-standing student-run political organization. In this vein, during Spring State, JSA candidates and members are able to continue the legacy of this phenomenal organization. In the past few years, the Midwest State has been blessed with a group of capable students who have been able to effectively lead the state and its members in terms of convention coordinating, chapter communications, and expansion. This will be the Midwest that you as candidates will inherit and be expected to continue. Democracy is not a Spectator Sport At Spring State, JSA depends on the participation of its members on two levels. As a candidate, you are to be commended for taking such an active role in the Midwest and volunteering yourself for service and leadership. On the other level, JSA members are the base of a democratic process listening to candidate debates, making informed choices, and finally showing their support for a candidate through voting. Fair Elections Committee The FEC exists to watch over campaigns and ensure that elections are conducted in an orderly, clean, and fair manner. The FEC is the final authority on all election issues. Depending on the severity of the violation, the FEC has a right to fine candidates, publicly announce their violation, or even disqualify them entirely. All decisions on disciplinary action are made by a majority vote of FEC member. There are up to six members of the FEC. One is the Lieutenant Governor, who is considered the FEC Chair. The FEC Chair or the Governor may appoint a Co-Chair at his/her discretion, who must be a JSA member of high standing and unaffiliated with a campaign. The remaining members are Associate Committee Members, and are to be appointed by the Chair(s). The rules are not designed to restrict you or your campaign, rather they aim to protect you and your fellow candidates from the injustice of campaigns won by larger amounts of spending or unethical smear campaigns. WITHOUT EXCEPTION, CANDIDATES AND THEIR CAMPAIGNS MUST ADHERE TO REGULATIONS AT ALL TIMES. The FEC reserves all rights to change election procedure. Candidates will be notified immediately of any such changes. Purpose of the Handbook This handbook is made by the Fair Elections Committee for the purposes of informing candidates of the electoral process at Spring State and to provide guidance on effective campaigning.

ELECTED POSITIONS

Eligibility Any tax-paid Junior State high school member, who is not in their senior year of high school, may run for one of the following offices. GOVERNOR The Governor is the chief executive of the Midwest State. The Governor is responsible for organizing and executing the years Fall State, Winter Congress, and Spring State, and appoints and directs a cabinet to assist in this endeavor. In addition, the Governor also represents JSA publicly, sees that all activities run smoothly, and assumes responsibility for national matters through his/her participation on the Council of Governors. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR The Lieutenant Governor assists the Governor in the administration of the State. He/she has several duties: to preside over the Council of Chapter Presidents, to chair the FEC, and to act as an assistant to the Governor in whatever ways the Governor sees fit. The Lieutenant Governor is often free to select his/her role in the Midwest at the discretion of the Governor, but must be prepared to aid the state whenever help is necessary. SENATOR There are four Senators in the Midwest, one for each of the following areas: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. The primary responsibility of the Senator is expansion of the Midwest State as a whole and the Senators particular region. It is expected for the Senator to initiate miniconventions and concentrate on the expansion of JSA into new chapters in his/her state. This aspect of the Senators job is crucial to the success of the state and should not be taken lightly. Also, it is the Senators responsibility to maintain contact with current chapters in their region. Senators must attend all regional conventions and state mini-conventions.

NOMINATION PROCEDURES

Official nominations may take place at any officially sanctioned Midwest Junior State Event (Winter Congress, Chapter Mini-cons, or Spring State), provided that the candidate notifies the Fair Elections Committee Chair and provides the requisite paperwork. Prior notification of the nomination as well as the manuscript of the nomination must be submitted to the FEC if an FEC member is not present at the nomination location. The candidate must be nominated by a fellow JSA member, and the rules for the nomination process are strictly governed. The candidate will be nominated by a principal nominator. This may be followed by an optional, secondary, nomination, and then the candidates acceptance speech. The following speech time limits include the nomination speech, an optional secondary nomination speech, and the candidates acceptance speech. Transition time between the speeches will also be included in the overall time limit: Governor- 6 minutes Lieutenant Governor- 5 minutes Senator- 4 minutes Nominations will take place in the following manner, starting with nominations for Senator and flowed by Lieutenant Governor and Governor: 1) The FEC Chair will call on each chapter, in alphabetical order, to ask for nominations. 2) If the chapter has a nominee, the chapter president will stand and reply that he/she does. (Note: Chapters may pass and nominate after the other chapters have been called. However, they may do this only once in the entire nomination process.) 3) The FEC Chair will then ask the candidate and nominator to come forward to make their speeches. The nominator will make his/her nomination speech, which will be followed by the candidates acceptance speech. Keep in mind that the time will continue running in between speeches, so both the nominator and the candidate should plan time accordingly. 4) The FEC Chair will move on to the other schools. After all schools have been called, the FEC Chair will announce that the nominations for that office have closed, and move onto the next office. (Note: The candidate nominator does not have to be from the candidates chapter.)

A candidate cannot campaign for office until they have officially declared at a JSA Event. ALL CANDIDATES MUST BE PRESENT AT SPRING STATE TO RUN FOR OFFICE.

CANDIDATE DEBATES

Concept of Debate The Midwest State provides all candidates for regional office the opportunity to debate their platforms and qualifications before their electorate at the Spring State Convention. This time is the candidates primary opportunity to present their ideas, inspirations, and qualifications for the office to which they aspire. As such, the debates are formally structured, with rules as follow: Debate Format Approximately ninety minutes of the Spring State convention will be devoted to candidate debates. Questions will be submitted by other JSA members before the debate block and are expected to be appropriate, relevant, and insightful. FEC members reserve all rights not to utilize a suggested question. The debate shall be conducted in the following manner: 1) An FEC member will ask a candidate an audience-proposed question in such a way that order of response is randomized and equalized. All candidates will respond with a maximum time limit of one minute and thirty seconds. 2) Afterwards, starting with the first debater, ending with the last, a rebuttal period will begin, starting with the first speaker from the response period. Each rebuttal may not exceed one minute. 3) This procedure will be repeated until the debate block is over. Debate Rules There will be no comments made about the character of opposing candidates. However, speaking of anything pertaining to the campaign that a candidate is running is highly encouraged. This includes, but is not limited to, discussing prior working experiences that one or both candidates may share, or a strong refutation of another candidates campaign positions.

VOTING PROCEDURE

Elections take place on the last day of the Midwest Spring State Convention, following candidate debate session. The elections will begin with the race for Senator, followed by the Lieutenant Governor race, and finishing with the race for Governor. There are three rules that should be considered when voting: 1. Any attempt by a member or a chapter president to forcibly view or edit another members vote will result in expulsion of the guilty party 2. Under no circumstance can there be any campaigning during the voting block 3. Unless there is direct approval by an FEC member, while ballots are out, nobody will leave the room. The following is a detailed outline of the election process: 1) Senators shall be elected by members of their constituent regions, in which the voting procedure is the same as with the Lieutenant Governor and Governor voting procedure, which will both be in a combined chamber with all. 2) FEC members will then distribute ballots for each member in the session. 3) JSA members will then fold their ballots and FEC members will collect those ballots personally. 4) During this time, the FEC will do everything within its power to ensure that the ballots remain private. 5) FEC members will then take all the ballots and count them at a separate location. 6) The winner of the election will be decided by run-off voting. If one candidate receives a majority of the votes for that given race (51%) then that candidate is the victor. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, then the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated from the elections and the election process will continue with the remaining candidates (Note: When a candidate is eliminated from the elections, he/she will be given time to make a concession speech. FEC rules pertaining to campaigning are in effect for this speech. This speech may be subject to time restriction at the discretion of the FEC Chair.) 7) Steps 1-5 will be repeated until there is one candidate left. This candidate will be declared winner and allowed to make a short speech. 8) This complete process will be repeated for each elected office.

CAMPAIGN TEAMS Campaign teams are meant to aid the candidate in campaign advertisement and preparation for the election. The people on a campaign team also assure that the campaign is running smoothly budgetwise and in a marketing sense. Candidates must declare a campaign manager with the requisite forms required before nomination, including the campaign managers contact information. The current Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Chief of Staff, Convention Coordinator, CIA Director, Director of Debate, Director of Activism, and Director of Fundraising CAN NOT be campaign managers due to conflict of interest.

CAMPAIGN RULES AND REGULATIONS

Spending Limits Governor - $200 Lieutenant Governor - $150 Senator - $100 Expenditure Reports Expenditure reports will be due upon your arrival at Spring State. This report must include a listing of all of the money you spent on your campaign. Please copy your receipts and include them in the report. Any donated items must be reported at the Fair Market Value and included as a part of your spending. A list of the Fair Market Value Prices can be found below. PLEASE MAKE THESE REPORTS AS DETAILED AND ORGANIZED AS POSSIBLE. Any candidate who does not have an expenditure report ready for submission at the beginning of Spring State will be removed from the race. If a candidate fails to remain within the budget for his/her campaign, removal of campaign materials, loss of speaking time, or disqualification (depending on the amount over the campaign budget) will occur at the discretion of the FEC. Fair Market Values White Paper (copied) Special Resume Paper (colored or white) Color Copies Cardstock Poster board Paint Miscellaneous FEC Restrictions Campaign materials may not be distributed during debates, thought talks, or opening or closing sessions. FEC members have the right to ask candidates to stop campaigning at any time during the convention. Failure to comply may lead to disqualification. Additionally, candidates may not attempt to influence the campaigns of other candidates in any medium, including but not limited to physical property and electronic media. Any candidates found to be in violation of this rule will be disqualified immediately. Any candidate who is seen to be involved in bribery or fraud may be subject to disqualification as well. Campaign Literature Through your campaign literature, your goals and experience should shine. Candidates must show the voters what they stand for, how they will contribute to the Junior State, and why they should vote $0.10 $0.15 $0.75 $0.75 $0.75 $5.00 FEC determined (or receipt)

for you. Literature is distributed at all non-restricted times during a JSA event. Literature may be displayed during JSA blocks as long as the FEC chair(s) determine the literature to be undisruptive to the blocks activities. Candidates may campaign in between blocks, during the dance, during chapter caucus, and during the lunch and dinner breaks. Campaign Materials Additional paraphernalia can radiate a sense of professionalism and innovation. In the past, candidates have utilized stickers, buttons, business cards, and posters. Candidates are highly encouraged to create innovative campaign materials in order to catch the eyes of voters. Make sure to include any such items in your expenditure report, which is detailed on the following page. Electronic Campaign Materials Candidates are encouraged to utilize creative methods in order to present their qualifications and their platforms. These methods may include, but are not limited to videos, websites and Fan Pages. However, all expenses that are incurred through such campaigning methods MUST be properly documented. Site hosting will be assessed at fair market value or through receipts. Platform Candidates are encouraged to create a platform stating their experience and plans after their election. TERMS BEGIN ON JUNE 1, 2011 Good luck in your campaign. Feel free to contact the FEC chairs with any questions or concerns.

Fair Elections Committee Chair

Neshal Patel 630-864-2401 nesh122@gmail.com

FAIR ELECTIONS COMMITTEE FORMS

The Election Agreement form must be completed and received by the FEC Chair by the end of the first day of convention activities at Spring State. It is the full responsibility of the candidate to see that it is received prior to the deadline. OFFICIAL ELECTION AGREEMENT

Name (First, Last, MI): ________________________________________________________ Address:____________________________________________________________________ City:__________________________________ State:___________ Zip Code: ____________ Phone Number: ________________________Email: ________________________________ School: _________________________________________ Graduation Year: ____________

I, ____________________, formally announce my candidacy for the position of ______________ of the ____________ (State/Region). During the course of my campaign, I agree to abide by all of the rules and regulations established by the Midwest State and Junior State Constitution, the Fair Elections Committee, and this handbook. I understand that any breach of these regulations or rules set by the FEC Chair may incur disciplinary action including, but not limited to, reprimands, fines, confiscation of campaign materials, or disqualification. I realize that all rulings of the Fair Elections Committee are final and binding.

Signature of Candidate:

Signature of FEC Chair:

Date:

This expenses report must be received and approved by the FEC Chair at Convention Registration. Copies of receipts should be attached.

CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE SHEET

Name: Office: Spending Limit: Signature: Date: