As many of you likely already know, current Minnesota NASP Delegate Sally Baas was recently elected NASP President Elect Elect.  Her term as President Elect of NASP will begin July 1.  At that time, she will need to step down as Minnesota NASP Delegate.  Since she is currently in the first year of a 3-year term, it was necessary to select an interim Minnesota NASP Delegate to fill out the remaining 2 years of Sally’s term. 

Section 9 of the NASP Bylaws states that “To fill any vacancy in the unexpired term of a Delegate, the President will consult with the President of the state association to nominate a candidate to fill the position. To be approved, the nominee must receive a majority vote of the Executive Council.”  Since current outgoing MSPA President Dan Hyson was also interested in being considered for the interim Minnesota NASP Delegate position, however, he asked President-Elect Kevin Filter to facilitate discussions with NASP regarding the process to be used in selecting a replacement for Sally. 

After much discussion among Kevin, NASP and the rest of the MSPA Board, it was determined that the most appropriate method for selecting an interim NASP Delegate would be to have NASP facilitate voting by current MSPA Board members (excluding those who were also candidates for the position).  A statewide election was also considered, but NASP informed MSPA that it would have to pay the costs of facilitating the election using NASP’s Elections vendor (approximately $1800).  A 500-word statement of interest was solicited from each candidate and shared with the Board.  NASP then facilitated a secret ballot vote by Board members.  Voting followed the NASP-recommended procedure below: 

“When we have more than two candidates we use a preferential ballot where the voters rate their preference for the candidates.  If one candidate does not receive a majority of the votes on the first ballot the person who has the lowest count is eliminated and the 2nd place votes for that candidate are then distributed to the remaining candidates.  With three candidates, this would garner a winner. This insures that the winner ultimately wins with a majority of the  votes.” 

Dan Hyson was selected and will begin a 2-year interim delegate term July 1 when Sally becomes NASP President-Elect.