General Election Process
2012 information will be posted as soon as it is available

Early Voting -Individual students who wish to vote but will be away from school on Election Day may vote early by completing the form and requesting early voting by the deadline. Adult election supervisors should check to see if any group of students will be away from their school (e.g., a field trip) on Election Day and submit the necessary information for the entire group.

Request for early voting (individual or group) - link - no user ID required, just click on "request." For field trips, the advisor must compile an Excel spreadsheet file containing the following fields: school name, student identification number, student’s last name, student’s first name, and student’s grade. The request for early voting must be reported by 3:00 p.m., March 27, 2012.

All early voting at authorized schools will take place between 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, 2012.

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Election Manual (2012))
Table of Contents (pdf file)
Information for All Judges (pdf file)
Judges Responsibilities (pdf file)
Before Election Day (pdf file)
Registration Procedures (pdf file)
Ballot Procedures (pdf file)
Voting Procedures (pdf file)
Phone Numbers/Returning Materials (pdf file)
Documents/Equipment Checklist (pdf file)
Election Official Certification (pdf file)
Opening/Closing Certificate (pdf file)
Ballot Issues Chart (pdf file)
Voter Assistance Record (pdf file)

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Election Memo (to be posted when available)
There are a lot of details that your school's SGA needs to know in order to facilitate the election of the student member of the Board of Education at the secondary schools. Be sure to read all of the details and pay close attention to deadlines.

Election Officials' Training 2012
The adult election supervisor and student election officials will be trained by watching the training movie and reading the election manual which includes election documents. The training certification document must be signed by all student judges and the adult election supervisor.

There is an optional informational meeting that will cover the election manual and training movies if adult election supervisors or student judges feel more comfortable attending this session for their certification. You may attend either April 10 or 18, 2012 from 6:30-8:30pm in the auditorium at Carver Educational Services Center (directions). Again, this is optional as all of the information needed to conduct the election is in the manual.

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Election Officials' Buttons/Stickers
Election officials are required to wear identification which indicates that they are an official election official. Schools may wish to press buttons (2 1/4 button template pdf) or print stickers (2"x4" 10 per page template pdf).

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"Meet the Candidates" TV airing times
Web Link (2011 movie: wmv format)

Prior to the election, the Board of Education has authorized students to view the television program “Meet the Candidates” during social studies classes.

Provisions to view the program are to be made for students who are not enrolled in a social studies class. Your school may choose to show the program at some other time, but all students must be given the opportunity during class time to view it before the election. "Meet the Candidates" is approximately a half-hour in length. The program features the two final candidates.

Beginning April 10, 2012, through April 24, 2012, the program will be aired regularly on Comcase (34), Verizon (36) and RCN (89). It may be necessary for you to arrange with your media specialist to tape the program for later viewing. You will need to work with your administrator to arrange a schedule for students to view the program during class. All airing times will have “open caption” for the deaf. The cable television airing schedule is as follows:

2012 SCHEDULE:

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Protocols 2011-2012 (pdf) As stated in Maryland Educational Law, the written agreement between the Board of Education and the Montgmery County Region of the Maryland Association of Student Councils-MCR on the total election process.

Individuals, candidates, or organizations filing a grievance should use this form as a guide (pdf).

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Voter Guides and Campaign Posters:
Request for Translations- the voter guide is being translated in the following languages: Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, and French. To secure copies, complete the request (link-no password is needed, just click on "request"). Please submit your request by 3:00 p.m., March 2, 2012, so adequate quantities of each language can be made. Translations will be sent to schools after they are printed. They are also posted below.

General Information Voter guides, sufficient in number for all secondary students, will be delivered to schools. Students are to receive the voter guide prior to the April election date. The official campaign posters, published by the special election committee, will also be sent to schools. These should be posted around the school, including the voting area. Candidates may distribute their own campaign materials, but schools are obligated to post only the official election posters. Any campaign materials from individual candidates must be kept at least 50 feet away from the polling area.

Official Voter Guide - English (to be posted when available)
Official Election Poster (to be posted when available)

Voter Guides Translations
Chinese (to be posted when available)
Korean (to be posted when available)
French (to be posted when available)
Spanish (to be posted when available)
Vietnamese (to be posted when available)

Nominating Convention Guide (to be posted when available)

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General Election Process:
The following is the usual sequence of events for the election of the student member of the Board of Education:

May - September
The MCR president designates the election administrator who chairs the special elections committee.

October-November
Membership for the special election committee is solicited. All MCPS students in middle school through grade 12 are eligible to be members of the committee. Each high school should have at least one student serving on the committee.

January
An informational meeting is conducted for students interested in learning more about the position of SMOB. Advertising and application materials are sent to secondary schools.

Students who are residents of Montgomery County, are regularly enrolled in a Montgomery County public school, and are either sophomores or juniors are eligible. Filing forms are available through local student government organizations, the Student Affairs Office, or on the Web. Candidates may nominate themselves or be nominated by others. An administrator's signature is required. Only complete applications submitted by the deadline will be considered. There is a mandatory candidates' meeting held at the end of January or beginning of February.

February/ March
There is a selection/election of nominating convention delegates by local schools. If more than two SMOB candidates file, a convention is convened. Otherwise, half day town meetings are held. Either way, delegate selection/elections may be necessary.

Nominating Convention:: During the nominating convention, there are two sets of balloting. The primary ballot narrows the field to half of the candidates. The second, preferential ballot, selects the final two candidates.

April
• Training sessions for local school election officials are conducted as needed.
• General Election (the last Wednesday of the month)- every secondary student (grades middle school - 12) in MCPS is eligible to vote following all proper election protocols).

Local student government support, assistance, and cooperation is needed to assure the success of the election each year. Attention to the following is required:

• Assuring that students are aware of the filing period, who is eligible to file for office, and who may nominate candidates.
• Scheduling and administering the timely election of nominating convention/town meeting delegates.
• Educating the voting population - airing the TV show, "Meet the Candidates," to all students; distributing the voters guide (in addition to English, available in 5 languages )
• Conducting the election following all protocols on election day.

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2011 Election Data from Schools

Voter Turnout – election day voter turn-out: In addition to the system-wide election results, individual reports from every voting precinct (school) is available.

System-Wide Results 2011

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Updated January 30, 2012 | Maintained by Karen Crawford