The Election Committee unanimously authorized the mailing of the ballots prior to February 9, 2023 upon being notified by the printer that the ballots would be completed before the initially projected completion date of February 9, 2023. The decision was based upon concerns raised with the Election Committee that there may not be enough time for members to return their ballots to the post office by the March 3, 2023 ballot pick-up time. Thereafter, the Committee was made aware of the unintended consequence of the mailing impacting all of the candidates’ expectation of the February 9, 2023 mailing date. Accordingly, the Committee, while unanimous in their decision that some remedy was needed to ensure a “fair, secret, and expeditious” election occurs, was not able to reach an unanimous decision on the remedy. Accordingly, the matter was referred to the Election Judge who issued his decision on February 1, 2023 which provides the following: 

(1) The Election Committee authorized the contractor to mail out the ballots as early as possible to increase the amount of time membership would have to return those ballots by mail before the March 3rd deadline; 

(2) There was no evidence of any intention to favor any candidate over another by doing so; and 

(3) the Committee will promptly respond to all submissions related to campaign mailings to ensure that all submissions given to the Committee by today, February 1st, will be simultaneously reviewed.

- The 2023 Election Committee