Article VIII

Conventions

Section 1.

Time and Place

There shall be an Annual Convention. The Executive Committee shall designate the time and place of the Annual Convention. The Committee shall consider all recommendations including any from the previous convention, in determining location and time.

Section 2.

Representation at Conventions

1. Locals shall be entitled to one (1) delegate for each 50 members or major fraction thereof.
2. The Convention shall be open to any member of the organization who wishes to attend as an observer. An observer shall have a voice but no vote.
3. Officers of the organization shall not be elected as delegates to the Convention from their local. They shall be seated as ex-officio delegates and shall have one (1) vote at the Convention.
4. Delegates and/or alternates to the Convention from a local shall be elected by secret ballot. Members of each local who are regular members of NACST, as defined in Article II, must be given suitable opportunity to nominate candidates for the office of delegate and alternate. Notice of the right to make nominations must be sent to each member or given a prominent place in the local publication and on bulletin boards. Notice of the right to make nominations and notice of the election may be combined in one notice. Written notice announcing the time and place of election of delegates must be mailed to each member at least 15 days prior to the election. The results of the election must be published and the ballots kept for one year.
5. Each local must send by registered or certified mail to the National Office a certified list of all elected delegates and alternates not later than fifteen (15) days prior to the opening date of the Convention. Only delegates and alternates on this certified list shall be registered and seated at the Convention.
6. In the event of nondelivery in the National Office of the Certified List of the election delegates and alternates, the Executive Committee may recommend the seating of the delegates and alternates only upon the submission by the president, secretary, or ranking delegate of the local of a statement certifying the list of elected delegates and alternates accompanied by the duly authorized duplicate credentials and receipts showing that the originals were sent to the National Office by registered or certified mail, postmarked no later than fifteen (15) days prior to the opening of the Convention.
7. To be entitled to representation at the Convention, the full per-capita tax of the local and all other monies due the National Association of Catholic School Teachers shall be paid through June 30, preceding the Convention date, such payment to be made to the National Office no later than fifteen (15) days prior to the opening date of the Convention.
8. For the purpose of this article, membership shall mean the average number on which the per-capita tax has been paid for the first twelve months of the fourteen-month period immediately preceding the month in which the Convention meets; provided:
1. That no local in arrears for two months at the time of the Convention shall be entitled to representation.
2. That, in the case of locals which have been chartered during the year preceding the Convention, the average shall be computed on the basis of the number of months of affiliation, the minimum for such computation to be two.
9. On all roll calls in the Annual Convention, each local represented shall be entitled to a number of votes equal to the average membership as defined in Section 1. The votes of a local shall be distributed as evenly as possible among the delegates present at the time of voting, but votes shall not be fractioned. All additional voices shall be assigned by lot or by an objective formula which has been previously reported to the Secretary-Treasurer of the National Association of Catholic School Teachers, with no delegate getting more than one of the additional votes.
10. Election of Officers to the NACST by the delegates at the National Convention shall be by secret ballot.
11. If a delegate formally informs the Chairman of the Credentials Committee that he/she is leaving the Convention may be taken by an alternate, if any has been certified and in order as listed. No other transfer or substitution of voting rights shall be allowed.