Board Election Process

BOARD ELECTION PROCESS

January

  • Governance committee reviews seats for upcoming term expiration and ascertains interest by sitting directors for re-election.

February

  • Board begins recruitment for all upcoming open seats, regardless of sitting director interest.

March

  • City of Portland provides mailing lists of Property Owners and other Stakeholders by license/other registration.
  • Staff and governance committee ensure lists are up-to-date and reflect qualification per the bylaws.
  • Continued recruitment for open seats focused on identifying nominees who are energetic, engaged, motivated by the mission, willing to handle the “lift” involved in participating on this board.

April

  • April 1st– staff mails nomination information to qualified Property Owners and Stakeholders.
  • April 1st– April 15th – nomination period – nominations close at 5pm on April 15th.
  • Nominations must be made by qualified parties and may also be self-nominations. See specific information on nomination notices.
  • Governance committee reviews nominations to confirm qualification and presents ballot to full board for approval.
  • April board meeting – full board approves the ballot.

May

  • Nominees may be invited to relevant board gatherings, including the annual property owner meeting.
  • Nominees are encouraged to network within the constituency of their potential seat.
  • Governance committee establishes the online elections and coordinates with third-party processor that oversees the election while in-process.
  • At end of month, staff mails voting credentials to qualified Property Owners and Stakeholders. Includes instructions from the Board Chair, URL to voting site, unique voting credentials, and biographies of relevant nominees.
  • Staff add nominee biographies and other instructions to the Portland Downtown elections webpage.
  • May 31st– online elections are activated – voting opens.

June

  • June 15th – Votes due (or next business day if the 15th is a Sunday).
  • June 15th – Third-party processor retrieves results notifies Executive Director and Governance Committee of the winner(s). 

NOTE: In the event of multiple seats in a single category with differing terms due to off-cycle election(s), the nominee with the most votes takes the seat with the longest term, and so on, until seats are filled.

  • June 30th – Executive Director or Board Chair notifies nominees of election results (15 days following election end).

July

  • Terms begin July 1stand end on June 30th.
  • Board Chair and Executive Director conduct orientation for new Directors prior to July board meeting.
  • Newly-elected Directors are invited to full board meetings and will join one or more committees in addition, upon consultation with the Board Chair.

September

  • September 15th – Governance Committee retains election results until September 15th (90 days from end of election) in case of dispute.