2024 Caucus Instructions

Nominations and Elections for Delegates to the Supreme Convention. The Supreme Convention is currently scheduled to take place August 5 - 8 2024 in Quebec, Canada. Nominations and elections for Delegates to the Supreme Convention will be conducted primarily as a pre-State Convention activity.

• The Florida State Council is entitled to send eight Delegates, four of which must be Insurance members, to the Supreme Convention, in addition to the State Deputy and Immediate Past State Deputy.
• As in the past, the Councils in the Florida are divided into four Caucuses, with each Caucus electing two Delegates, one of which must be an Insurance member, and an alternate to each. A listing of Councils in each Caucus can be found here.
• The results of these Caucus elections will then be presented to the entire body during the Friday business session of the State Convention (May 24, 2024) for a final approval vote.
• Nominations and elections for the alternates for the State Deputy and Immediate Past State Deputy will be conducted at the Saturday business session on May 25, 2024.

Caucus Nominations Process. The Caucus nomination process will be conducted using the online elections service ElectionBuddy as an "open" election. See an overview of the ElectionBuddy voting process at this link.

• Delegates registered and paid as of Monday, May 1 will receive a notice on Wednesday, May 3 via email and text for nominations from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com. Registered State Officers, District Deputies and Past State Deputies are also eligible to nominate, and will receive a notice as well.
• Each Delegate/State Officer/DD/PSD may submit up to one member for nomination, and must include nominee's name, member number, and Council number in the nomination.
• Delegates/State Officers/DDs/PSDs who do not wish to nominate someone should check the  "Abstain" box on the ballot.
• Nominees (and nominators) will be posted on the State website periodically at this link.
• Nominators—or nominees—may also submit a photo and short 150-word (max) biography for inclusion on election ballots. Pictures and bios must be submitted separately from the nomination ballot via email to your Caucus Chairman:
  
  Caucus 1: Cesar Mascardo  Caucus1@floridakofc.org
  Caucus 2: John Papa Caucus2@floridakofc.org
  Caucus 3: Robert Guillery Caucus3@floridakofc.org
  Caucus 4: Bill Van Keuren Caucus4@floridakofc.org
  
  View caucus nominee names at this link

The nominations process will open at 6:00 AM on Friday, May 3 and will run until 11 PM on Sunday, May 12.

Before nominees will be placed on the election ballot, each nominee will be required to agree to abide by the responsibilities of Supreme Convention Delegates, which is attached. The signed agreements must be sent via email to your Caucus Chairman using the email addresses above before the election ballots are composed on May 11.

Remember—too many nominees will make voters' choices on the election ballot exceedingly difficult. Nominees should have both the desire and the commitment to serve before seeking election. Before you nominate someone--ask him first if he wishes to be nominated!

Caucus Election Process. The Caucus election process will also be conducted using the online election service ElectionBuddy, but as a secret ballot.

• Delegates registered and paid as of May 1 will receive a notice on Wednesday, May 13 shortly after 6:00 AM via email and text for their election ballot from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com.
• Each Delegate's ballot will be Caucus-specific and list all nominees for that Caucus. If submitted, ballot will include candidate photo & short bios.
• Each Delegate will rank the candidates on the ballot in order of his preference and submit the ballot according to the instructions sent with the ballot.
• Click this link for an overview of the ElectionBuddy Voting Process

Votes will be tallied by ElectionBuddy via an established preferential voting methodology. In essence, the candidates with the top two vote tallies will be the elected Delegates, as long as at least one of them is an Insurance member; otherwise, the Insurance member candidate with the highest vote total will be selected as one of the Delegates. The Alternate Delegates will be selected in a similar fashion from the rest of the candidate election results. The process of ensuring that at least one Delegate and at least one Alternate Delegate from each Caucus are Insurance Members must be conducted separately from the election results tallied by ElectionBuddy and could alter those results.

The election will run until 6:00 PM on Wednesday, May 22.

Election results will be verified by the State Secretary, State Warden, and two election tellers (To be named). The results will be reported by the Caucus Chairmen at the business session of the State Convention on May 24 and confirmed by a vote of the entire body, after which they will be posted on the State website here.