7 CFR § 932.129 - Nomination procedures for producer members.
Members and alternate members on the Committee who represent producers shall be nominated in accordance with the procedures specified in either paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this section as the Committee may determine.
(a) Mail ballot voting.
(1) The Committee shall schedule a meeting, prior to March 1 of each odd-numbered year, in each producing district for the purpose of selecting candidates for member and alternate member nominations. A notice of such meetings will be mailed to each producer of record in each district. The nomination process is as follows:
(i) Any person who produces olives in a particular district may offer the name of any producer from that district as a candidate for either a member or alternate member position in said district.
(ii) A producer, who produces olives in more than one district, can be selected as a candidate for a member or alternate member position in only one district.
(iii) The Committee will notify by mail producers who are selected as candidates but are not in attendance at such meetings. Such producers have the right to decline such listing on the ballot within 7 days of mailing such notice.
(iv) In the event a producer cannot attend a meeting but wishes to be included on the ballot, that producer may notify the Committee office in writing no later than 7 days after the date of the nomination meeting for the producer's district and request that the producer's name be included on the ballot.
(v) In the event that no candidates or an insufficient number of candidates are selected at such meetings for the producer members and alternates in the respective districts, the Committee will give written notice to producers in said district that additional names may be submitted for the specified position(s).
(2) Following such meetings, and no later than March 15 of each odd-numbered year, the Committee shall prepare and mail a ballot to each producer that delivered olives during that crop year in each district.
(i) A producer who produces olives in more than one district must choose the district in which the producer will vote and notify the Committee of that choice. If the Committee is not notified and more than one ballot is received from such a producer, the first ballot received will be counted. Candidates may only vote in the district in which they are seeking nomination.
(ii) Each ballot will list separately the names of candidates for the member positions and the names of candidates for the alternate member positions for said district.
(iii) A ballot will be mailed to producers of record to give them an opportunity to vote. Committee records will be used to determine the list of producers eligible to cast ballots. However, any producer who is not identified in such records may receive a ballot if the Committee determines that such producer is eligible to participate in nominations in that district.
(iv) A producer may cast a vote for as many candidates as there are member or alternate positions in said district.
(v) The candidate on each list, as prescribed in paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section, who receives the most votes will be the nominee for the first position, and until all positions for that district are filled, the candidates receiving the second, third and fourth highest number of votes will be the nominees for the second, third and fourth position respectively.
(vi) In the event of a tie which would result in elimination of a tied candidate, a second ballot with the names of those tied candidates will be mailed to producers in said district for another vote.
(b) Nomination meetings. In lieu of the mail ballot nomination procedure specified in paragraph (a) of this section, the Committee may schedule nomination meetings. In such an event, the following procedure will apply:
(1) Prior to March 15 of each odd-numbered year, the Committee shall schedule a nomination meeting to be held in each district for the purpose of obtaining nominees for producer members and alternate members for such district.
(2) Nominations for members and balloting thereon shall precede nominations and balloting for alternate members.
(3) The candidate for each position who receives the highest number of votes shall be the nominee for the position: Provided, That such candidate receives a majority of the ballots cast. If no candidate receives such a majority, the two candidates who received the highest number of votes shall participate in a run-off balloting to determine which is the nominee.
(c) For the purposes of this section, a producer is a person engaged in a proprietary capacity as a single business unit in the production of olives for market as packaged olives and includes an individual (owner-operated), partnership, corporation, association, institution, or other legal business unit.
(d) Determination of producer eligibility.
(1) Only producers (including duly authorized officers or employees of producers) who produced olives within the district shall participate in the nomination and election of producer members and alternates.
(2) Each producer (as defined in paragraph (c) of this section) shall be entitled to cast only one vote for each position.
(3) A producer having olive acreage in more than one district may participate in nominations and elections in only one district. The district in which the producer wishes to participate shall be the producer's choice.
(4) Any member of a producer's family (husband, wife, son or daughter) may vote on behalf of an owner-operated, landlord-tenant, family enterprise, or other farming unit.
(5) Any authorized officer or employee of a corporation which is a producer may vote.
(6) Any authorized member of a partnership which is a producer may vote.
(7) Power of attorney (proxies) for voting purposes are not accepted.