SEIU Local 500 Election 2025
January 2025- December 2027 SEIU Local 500 Election Committee
Election Committee Chair - Tamara Hardy, At-large, Office
Election Committee Co-chair - A’Jeenah Chavez, Office
Election Committee Members:
Charnel Hines, Security
Chia Chi Tsui, Food Service
James Tyler, Building Service
Richard Collins, Transportation
Stacy Hopkins-Jones, Paraeducator
Ben Schnapp, Media & Technology
Letter from the Election Committee
Dear SEIU Local 500 Candidate,
Candidates may submit their completed petitions and consent to be candidates before or by the Tuesday, April 1, 2025, deadline. Please follow the Election Rules for the electronic submission process of your candidate statement and photo, which are also due by April 1st.
When you arrive at 901 Russell Ave, 4th floor, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, please ring the doorbell on the glass door. A staff member will greet you and collect your forms. At this time, the staff member will date stamp, initial, and photocopy all of the forms that you have submitted.
The Election Committee will review all forms submitted, designated staff will verify member signatures, and the Election Committee will certify the candidate's eligibility. Candidates who qualify and meet the eligibility requirements will receive written correspondence from the Election Committee no later than Tuesday, April 15, 2025.
We appreciate your patience, cooperation, and participation as we move through the democratic process of electing our leadership.
In solidarity,
Tamara Hardy, Election Committee Chair
A’Jeenah Chavez, Election Committee Co-chair
SEIU Local 500 Election Committee
Instructions for Nominations:
All nominees shall be in good standing. For nominees for all offices except Trustees, this means that they must be members of the organization for a period of at least two years immediately preceding their nomination, and their dues must be current for that time. For Trustees, the nominee's dues must be current for the membership year.
For the Offices of - President, Executive Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and two (2) Trustees, a minimum of 100 signatures, including at least twenty-five (25) members in good standing [does not include agency fee payers or exempt classifications] per Chapter in a minimum of four Chapters, or Division, where there is no Chapter.
For the Offices of Vice President - a minimum of fifteen (15) signatures of members in good standing [does not include agency fee payers or exempt classifications] of the Chapter or Division, where there is no Chapter.
Nominations of officers shall open on Friday, February 28, 2025, and shall close at the end of business on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. On Friday, February 28, 2025, petitions to run for office can be picked up at the union office.
Only petitions submitted on the forms authorized by the Election Committee will be accepted by the Election Committee. All nomination petitions must be submitted to the Chair of the Election Committee, c/o SEIU Local 500, 901 Russell Ave, Suite 400, Gaithersburg, MD 20879, by the close of business on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Only petitions with the hand-written signatures of eligible members are valid. Faxed petitions and scanned copies are not allowed.
When individuals turn in nomination forms at the union office, they may request dated copies of the forms, verifying receipt by the union office. The Election Committee recommends personal delivery of nominating petitions, which can be submitted before the Tuesday, April 1, 2025 deadline. You may NOT use the MCPS Pony for the delivery of election materials, including nominating petitions.
Consent to be a Candidate:
The Constitution and Bylaws of SEIU Local 500 require that duly nominated candidates for office in Local 500 must consent to be a candidate in writing.
The Consent to be a Candidate form must be submitted by Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Special Publication:
The candidate statements must be received in the Local office by Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
SEIU Local 500 will publish a special publication devoted to the election. This publication will reside on the Union's website and a postcard with the information on where to find it will be mailed to the membership at no cost to the candidates.
Each candidate may provide a biographical sketch, statement, and photograph (not to be returned) to be published in this special edition. Materials provided by candidates for inclusion in the special publication must be in the following format:
Candidates for President, Executive Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer will be limited to a maximum of 400 words; candidates for Vice President will be limited to a maximum of 300 words and 200 words for each of the two Trustee positions. SEIU Local 500 will include – without adding to the word count – each candidate's name and the office each is seeking.
All candidate statements must be submitted in the final version in digital form (such as a USB flash drive, CD, or email attachment).
All candidate statements must be submitted as Word documents (.doc, .docx).
All photos must be submitted in digital form, as jpeg files (.jpg), separate from the Word document.
Emails (do not use employer emails) with attachments should be addressed to seiuelectcomm@seiu500.org, with "Election material" in the subject box of the email.