Upcoming Elections for Full-Term and Open Board Seats
Employee-Member and Retiree-Member Seats Open
One employee-member seat and one retiree-member seat are up for special election.
Any member of SERS, other than a disability benefit recipient, is eligible to run for an employee-member seat, and any SERS disability or service retiree is eligible to run for a retiree-member seat. To be considered for election, the following requirements must be met:
Employee-Member seat
This Special Election is being held to fill one open employee-member Board seat that remains open because only one candidate met the qualifications to fill two available seats during last year’s election.
For this Special Election, candidates will be nominated by the Board members and the successor member will be chosen by a Board vote. All SERS members, other than disability recipients, are eligible to apply for the open employee-member seat.
Board members serve without compensation, but are reimbursed for all necessary expenses and for any loss of salary or wage as a result of serving on the Board. At its July 18, 2019 meeting, the Board set the following election schedule:
- Candidates for the open employee-member seat shall send a resume addressed to the SERS Board of Trustees, 300 E. Broad St., Suite 100, Columbus, OH, 43215-3746 or by email to SERSBoardofTrustees@ohsers.org by October 1, 2019.
- Candidates must submit a completed Certification Form. The completed original form should be mailed to the above address by October 1, 2019.
- SERS staff will certify that the resumes received were submitted by eligible members of SERS.
- All valid resumes will be sent to the Secretary of State for certification.
- At the Board meeting scheduled for October 17 and 18, 2019, Board members will nominate candidates from the pool of resumes received. Each Board member is allowed to nominate one individual. Nominated candidates will be interviewed by the Board.
- Interviews will take place at the November 21 and 22, 2019, Board meeting in Columbus, and the successor member will be elected at this meeting.
- The term for the employee-member Board seat runs through June 30, 2020.
Retiree-Member seat
This Special Election is being held to fill one open retiree-member Board seat that remains open because no retiree met the qualifications to fill the available retiree seat during last year’s election.
For this Special Election, candidates will be nominated by the Board members and the successor member will be chosen by a Board vote. Any SERS disability or service retiree is eligible to run for a retiree-member seat.
Board members serve without compensation, but are reimbursed for all necessary expenses and for any loss of salary or wage as a result of serving on the Board. At its July 18, 2019 meeting, the Board set the following election schedule:
- Candidates for the open retiree-member seat shall send a resume addressed to the SERS Board of Trustees, 300 E. Broad St., Suite 100, Columbus, OH, 43215-3746 or by email to SERSBoardofTrustees@ohsers.org by November 5, 2019.
- Candidates must submit a completed Certification Form. The completed original form should be mailed to the above address by November 5, 2019.
- SERS staff will certify that the resumes received were submitted by eligible retirees of SERS.
- All valid resumes will be sent to the Secretary of State for certification.
- At the Board meeting scheduled for November 21 and 22, 2019, Board members will nominate candidates from the pool of resumes received. Each Board member is allowed to nominate one individual. Nominated candidates will be interviewed by the Board.
- Interviews will take place at the December 19 and 20, 2019, Board meeting in Columbus, and the successor member will be elected at this meeting.
- The term for this retiree-member seat runs through June 30, 2021.
If you have questions regarding this Special Election, please contact Tim Barbour, External Communications Supervisor, by phone at 614-222-5901 or by email at tbarbour@ohsers.org.
Two Full-Term Board Seats Up for Election
One employee-member seat and one retiree-member seat are up for election with the terms beginning July 1, 2020, and ending June 30, 2024. Any member of SERS, other than a disability benefit recipient, is eligible to run for an employee-member seat, and any SERS disability or service retiree is eligible to run for a retiree member seat.
To be considered for election, the following requirements must be met:
Employee-Member seat
- Obtain signatures of 500 SERS members on a nominating petition provided by SERS with not less than 20 signatures of members from each of at least 10 counties where those members are employed
- Make sure that each signing member indicates his or her employer, county of employment, and last four digits of his or her Social Security number
Retiree-Member seat
- Obtain signatures of 150 SERS retirees on a nominating petition provided by SERS with not less than 10 signatures of retirees from each of at least five counties where those retirees reside
- Make sure that each signing retiree indicates his or her county of residence and last four digits of his or her Social Security number
All seats
- Begin gathering signatures on or after August 1, 2019 (Official Nominating Petition form will be available on our Board Election Page on August 1, 2019)
- Deliver petitions with original signatures and a completed original Certification Form to the SERS office no later than 4:30 p.m., EDT, December 6, 2019
Visit our Board Election page for an election timeline and a description of the Board’s responsibilities. If you have questions regarding these elections, please contact Tim Barbour, External Communications Supervisor, by phone at 614-222-5901 or by email at tbarbour@ohsers.org.
