SECU Board Elections - Privacy, Integrity, Trust - Too Much For SECU Members To Ask Of "This Board"? - Part 2

 

[This is an excerpt of a follow-up email to the SECU Board [see preceeding 8/27 post for original ask/response], requesting information and transparency on SECU Board election procedures]

🔆 To:< Board Corporate Secretary Cc: CHARLES STONE , Michael Clements [8/26/2023]

To the Board of Directors, NC SECU Management, the Election Committee and the election facilitators:

In obtaining the signatures required by the Board to self nominate, the members had several questions and concerns not covered by the information indicated in your prior posts which is why I requested the meeting with the election facilitator. I would think that the Board would welcome opportunities to show that transparency is a priority as stated on the NC SECU website. 

I had hoped for a stronger indication of appreciation of your primary fiduciary responsibility to the membership. There are only 3 candidates who don't already have access to the election facilitator. 

Regardless, I would be happy for the Board to be the entity to ask E & Y my questions and reply to this email for clarification. E & Y still has an ethical responsibility to the AICPA, NCACPAs, and the NC State Board of CPA Examiners which is why I prefer to get the answers directly from them. 

✅ My first question concerns the privacy of the ballots. I would think that the Board would want to assure the membership about voting privacy. Will any member of the Board or management of the NC SECU, either directly or through any other conduit, have any way of identifying or associating the name, account number, or other identifying data of a member with the candidate(s) they voted for? 

✅ My second question concerns equal access to relevant information to all candidates. I also think the Board would want to assure all the candidates that each has the same access or lack thereof to the same information. Will anyone have access to the relative status of votes for each candidate in the election at any point in time? If so, who specifically will have that access? Will E & Y be reporting any of the votes cast for each candidate to anyone before the conclusion of the vote at the annual meeting? If yes, will that information be available to all? 

Having been trained in internal controls, I would like to review the plan for verifying the eligibility of the voters, the process of sending and receiving absentee ballots as established by the election facilitators, and the access to the electronic voting and summary files. In general, I would like to review the entire processes of the election facilitators. 

✅ My other question at this time concerns how members with joint accounts will be able to vote. Has the election facilitator made provisions to recognize all parties on a joint account to vote in order to allow votes by each party over 16 on the account? If yes, will they need to or can they vote using different mediums, e. g. online vs absentee vs in person voting? If yes, can the Board add the clarifying information to the published voting information? 

My questions are not meant to be critical. I believe we have a mutual goal of conveying accurate information to the membership. "

 Sincerely, Barbara Perkins 

 

... Well, if you had any doubts about the quality of the SECU self-nominees... hope the intelligence and integrity of this request clears that little question up!

SECU Board Elections - A Little Transparency - Too Much To Ask Of "This Board"? - Part 1

 

✅ Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2023 8:33 AM

To: Board Corporate Secretary <Board.Corporate.Secretary@ncsecu.org>
Cc: CHARLES STONE <otherchuckstone@aol.com>; Michael Clements <mlconsulting2684@gmail.com>
Subject: Election facilitator   

Good morning,

In anticipation of being included, by completing the self nomination process, on the ballot for the Board of Directors for NC SECU tomorrow, we would like to contact the named election facilitator for questions concerning the election process, rules and requirements.

On behalf of Chuck Stone, Michael Clements and myself, can you please provide us with the name of the lead person of this group from Ernst & Young and their contact information?  We would like to set up a meeting with them next week in order for us to be prepared for the election process beginning on Friday, September 1st.  

Thank you,

Barbara Perkins

✅ Fri, Aug 25, 2023 at 3:53 PM 

Board Corporate Secretary <Board.Corporate.Secretary@ncsecu.org> wrote:

Dear Ms. Perkins,

Thank you for your participation in the 2023 SECU Board of Directors Election.  You validly self-nominated for this year’s election, and your name has been placed on the ballot for the upcoming election....

As SECU has announced, SECU has engaged Ernst & Young LLP to host an online voting platform for both absentee and day of annual meeting voting, processing paper ballots, and tabulating the votes received from eligible members.  EY’s scope of work does not include advising or meeting with any candidates, whether nominated by the committee or self-nominated, on the election process, rules or requirements. 

Thank you,

 

                                  "This Board"

✒ "This Board": Why are you asking?

😎 Perkins/Clements/Stone: We want to play fair.

✒ "This Board":  Why don't you know the rules?

😎 Perkins/Clements/Stone: How did you find out?

✒ "This Board": We made them up.

😎 Perkins/Clement/Stone: Why won't you let us know?

✒ "This Board": Don't worry we will when you mess up.

.... Well, maybe not exactly transparent, but definitely pretty clear!