Elections

When the Department determines that an election by secret ballot shall be conducted, or when it approves an agreement for a consent election, it shall direct that such election be conducted upon such terms as it may specify, including an election conducted by mail, an election conducted in person, or any other means ordered by the Department. (1) Unless otherwise directed by the Department, all elections shall be by secret ballot; provided, however, that no employee organization shall appear on the ballot unless the employee organization is in compliance with M.G.L. c. 150E, §§ 13 and 14 pursuant to the provisions of 456 CMR 16.05: Compliance with M.G.L. c. 150E, §§ 13 and 14. Whenever two or more employee organizations are included as choices in an election, a participant may, upon its request, have its name removed from the ballot; provided, however, that such employee organization gives timely notice in writing to all parties and to the Department disclaiming any representational interest among the employees in the unit and provided that the ballots have not been printed, or Department notices of the election posted, prior to the Department's receipt of the employee organization's written request to remove its name from the ballot. (2) Any party may challenge, for good cause, the eligibility of any person to participate in the election. The ballots of such challenged persons shall be impounded by the Department. If the number of challenged ballots is sufficient to determine the outcome of the election, then within seven days after the tally of ballots has been furnished, each party must file with the Department a short statement of its position concerning the eligibility of each challenged voter. Such statement shall include a recitation of the facts, if any, alleged by the party to be determinative of the challenged voter's eligibility. The Department may require the parties to submit further evidence or argument to determine whether a hearing is warranted. (3) At the conclusion of the election, the Department shall furnish to the parties a tally of ballots. Within seven days after the tally of the ballots has been furnished, any party may file with the Department objections to the conduct of the election or to conduct affecting the result of the election. Such filing shall specify with particularity the conduct alleged to be objectionable (including the identity of persons involved, and the date, place, time and nature of the conduct). Failure to timely specify conduct alleged to be objectionable may be deemed a waiver of the objection. Such filing must be timely whether or not the challenged ballots are sufficient in number to affect the result of the election. Upon receipt of the statement of objections and any other submissions which the Department may permit, the Department shall determine whether any of the objections merit further proceedings, and may dismiss some or all of the objections if the Department does not find probable cause to believe either that the alleged conduct occurred or that the alleged conduct materially interfered with the conduct of the election or with the results of the election. If the Department determines that probable cause exists to believe that conduct interfering with either the conduct of the election or the results of the election occurred, it shall conduct such further investigation and/or hearing as it shall deem appropriate, or, if no material facts are disputed, it may issue a decision on the objections without further fact-finding proceedings. (4) If no timely objections are filed, and the challenged ballots are insufficient in number to affect the result of the election, and if no runoff election is to be held, the Department shall immediately certify the result of the election. (5) The record in any hearing conducted pursuant to 456 CMR 14.12 shall include the statement of objections or the statement concerning the eligibility of challenged voters, the responses thereto, and the tally of ballots, in addition to the applicable material specified in 456 CMR 14.09.