Last Updated on May 12, 2012 5:15 pm
Participating in the election of directors for the cooperative is the most important way members can be involved in their cooperative so Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation is encouraging members to look for director election kits mailing to members on May 16.
Last year’s positive member response to a new convenient “vote by mail” option for director elections led Blue Ridge Electric to add an additional voting choice for members this year: voting by Internet. The cooperative offered the vote by mail option to encourage more participation in director elections and the effort was successful: more than 9,000 members voted by mail in last year’s elections. In past years, only about 800 members attended and voted at the annual meeting.
The director election kit will mail to members in a business envelope and will be clearly marked from Blue Ridge Electric. The kit will contain everything a member needs to cast their vote: biographical information about each candidate, information about voting options, information and code to cast a vote online, the official proxy to use to vote by mail, and a postage-paid envelope in which to return the proxy when voting by mail.
Members voting by Internet or mail will be eligible to win one of four HDTVs to be awarded per district.
Members may also cast their vote during the cooperative’s annual meeting. Member response to more convenient director voting options also led Blue Ridge Electric to recognize an opportunity for cost savings in conducting the annual meeting. This year, the annual meeting is changing to a strictly business format and will be held Thursday, June 14, at 7 p.m. at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir. The change in format of the annual meeting to strictly business and financial reports is designed to help contain costs, which benefits members.
Blue Ridge Electric hopes members will take part in the expanded opportunities to vote for directors and the cooperative encourages members to look for their director election kits mailing May 16!
Member updates about director candidates, the election, and annual meeting has also been provided over the past few months in information in Carolina Country magazine and the member newsletter inside Carolina Country: Membership Matters.
Additionally, the cooperative’s annual report will appear inside the June Carolina Country mailing to members on May 25. Information may also be found online at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com under “About Us.”
