The Election Board has certified the recent OPEA election results, and an overwhelming 96 percent of voters decided to change the OPEA Bylaws to geographical representation.
Voters cast their ballots via email, phone and mail-in ballot, with 1,616 voting “Yes” to adopt the amendments, and only 68 voting “No.”
“This is a membership-driven Association,” said OPEA Executive Director Sterling Zearley. “So we took it to a vote, first at the Annual Convention in August. It was unanimous. The councils, delegates and Board all said changing back to geographical representation was the way to go so in October we put it to a vote of the members. Look at the numbers and you’ll see our members are telling us this is what they want,” Zearley said.
Now begins the process of choosing a new board, which will be seated in early 2010. Filing period will be open from November 18th to December 4th. Complete election rules, forms and the new geographical region maps are available on the OPEA website at https://opea.org/bylaws and in the November Advocate, which is also available online and will be arriving in your mailbox early next week.
