UTLA Elections

• Is anything different this election?

  Important All voting will be online.

  The Election Company will send you your PIN (Personal Identification Number) via email.

  Each Voter will receive an email from the Election Company with a unique PIN number for this election only and instructions for voting electronically. The PIN will be sent by the Election Company to the email you have given UTLA.

• What if I don’t get an email with my PIN?

  If you don’t get an email from them, check your spam folder. If you can’t find your email, use Find My PIN. Put in your employee number and the last four numbers of your social security number. It will show your PIN and a link to return to the page where you will put in your PIN and your Employee Number.

  If you have questions or concerns about how to vote electronically, once the ballots have been sent out, please contact us.

• Are there other changes for this election?

  For the last general election, some changes were necessary because of the Janus Supreme Court Decision. Candidates are no longer able to purchase Member Lists. To provide opportunities for candidates to connect with their candidates, they receive a contact list for chapter chairs.

  Another change allows candidates to declare at the beginning of the school year. This provides extra time for a candidate to contact chapter chairs. Review the Election Timeline.

• Which positions are being elected? Who gets to vote for which ones?

  All UTLA members should receive ballots for contested elections for the Citywide Offices. All members vote for President, NEA Vice President, AFT Vice President, UTLA Elementary and Secondary Vice President, UTLA Treasurer, and UTLA Secretary.

  UTLA Board of Directors has both Area Directors and Special Category Directors.

• Who gets to vote for Special Category Directors?

  Only members of the special category will have those candidates on their ballot. For this election, three of the Special Directors, Bilingual Director Cheryl Ortega, Adult Ed. Director Mathew Kogan, and Health and Human Services Director Mallory Evans, were unopposed, so they are elected by acclamation. They will not be on the ballot so those members in those categories will not see these races on your ballot.

  EEC teachers with job codes 7043 TCHR,EEC and 7046 TCHR,EEC,SUB,D-D are eligible to vote for the Early Education Center (EEC) Director. If you are working as an Early Childhood Special Education teacher or Education Specialist, you are not eligible to vote for this director. You qualify to vote for the Special Education Director.

  If you work as a Special Education Teacher/ Education Specialist, you qualify to vote for the Special Education Director.

  If you work as a substitute teacher in a TK-12 assignment you qualify to vote for the Substitute Teacher Director.

• Who gets to vote for UTLA Area Board of Directors?

  Area Directors are voted on by UTLA members who work in that UTLA Area (i.e. – If you work in the Harbor Area, you will vote for the Harbor Area Board of Director candidates). If you are not sure about which area you are in ask your chapter chair.

  The UTLA Areas are North, South, East, West, Central, Harbor, Valley East, and Valley West. See utla.net/about-us/board-of-directors/ for the current BOD members just for reference. This is not an endorsement of the current directors, but just for you to become familiar with the structure.

• What’s the Itinerant Assignments Declaration Form?

  Theoretically all UTLA members can be assigned to a UTLA Area and vote in the Area election. However, because of the way UTLA receives data from the district not all members will be able to vote for Area Directors unless they fill out the Itinerant Assignments Declaration Form.

  Important This is important for anyone who is not a classroom teacher assigned to one school. If you don’t fill this out, you may not be able to vote for the Area Director. If you work at more than one site, or if you are an HHS member with a cost code that does not match your job site, or you are a substitute teacher, or a traveling teacher, you need to submit the Itinerant Assignment Declaration form to be able to vote for Area Directors.

  The deadline for submitting the Itinerant Assignments Declaration Form is January 7, 2023.

• What do the people in these positions do and why is it important that I vote?

  Officers

  All members will be voting for officer candidates. The seven officers, President, NEA Vice President, AFT Vice President, UTLA Elementary and Secondary Vice President, UTLA Treasurer, and UTLA Secretary, are full-time release. The officers work full-time on behalf of the members. They advocate for us both in contract negotiations and in ongoing issues as they arise. Officers have specific duties that relate to their positions, and they also have additional duties assigned by the UTLA President. They are on full-time release.

  Area and Special Directors

  The Area Directors run the Area Meetings and represent your local concerns at the Board of Directors. They also are in contact with and address concerns with the Local District Superintendents. The Special Directors meet with the district offices that oversee discipline. The Bilingual Education meets with Multilingual and Multicultural Education Department, the Special Ed Director meets with the Special Education Department, etc. These directors also work the UTLA Committees that correspond to their discipline.

  The Board of Directors is an important group that makes financial and policy decisions that impact you at your school site. This is an opportunity to email the candidates, ask questions and get to know them.

  The members of the Board of Directors are full time educators. The Directors together with the officers are the people who interact with the district and represent you in discussions on the Contract, pay, and working conditions.
  To learn more about the Citywide officers and the Members of the Board of Director see our presentation called Learning about UTLA Governance.

• Will there be a live Forum with the City-wide candidates?

  Yes. There will be a webinar Forum on January 30th at 5:00pm. Members can submit questions via our Contact page with the subject line “Forum questions” by January 20th 5:00 p.m. Sign up for the webinar by January 29th 5:00pm at utlaelections.org.

• Where and when will members be able to see the Citywide Office Candidate Videos?

  The candidate videos will be put on this website in late January. Members will be able to watch all the candidates for Citywide Office and the Special Director candidates.

• When will voting happen and when will the elected candidates take office? What is their term of office?

  Voting online will take place in February 2023. Officers and Board of Director members serve a three-year term beginning on July 1, 2023. See the complete Election Timeline.

• How can I learn about the candidates in this election?

  See the Candidates section of this website.

  • Candidates may post a flyer, statement, picture, as well as links to Facebook, Twitter, and/or their personal website.
  • Citywide Officer candidates and Special Director Candidates will have a video posted.
  • Attend your Area Meeting.
  • Candidates may post their email address so you can email questions directly to the candidate.
  • You can ask your chapter chair to invite a candidate to your school or to speak to you via ZOOM.
  • Watch the Candidate Forum on January 30.
  • Some candidates may choose to send information by mail sent by the UTLA mailing house. Candidates pay for this service and are not give your name or address.

Problems or Concerns

• If I have a question or concern about the conduct of the UTLA Elections, how do I contact the UTLA Elections Committee?

  You may contact the UTLA Elections Committee through our Contact page. Once your email is reviewed, the UTLA Elections Committee spokesperson will get back to you in a timely manner.

• What should I do if there is something wrong with my ballot?

  First check to see if your Area or Special Director was unopposed. It they were unopposed they are automatically elected and will not appear on your ballot. All voters should see the Candidates for UTLA Officers. If you still have problems, go to the Contact page.

• Will candidates be contacting me?

  Voters, who are not chapter chairs, should not receive emails or phone calls from candidates unless you choose to share your contact information with candidates. Candidates may choose to have a flyer mailed to your house at their expense through the UTLA Mailing Company. The Mailing Company will have member addresses and constituency lists. Candidates will not be given your name, address, email address or phone number.

• What are the guidelines for Chapter Chairs, especially those supporting certain candidates and/or slates?

  Chapter Chairs may endorse candidates and have the right to approve or deny permission to attend based on reasonable grounds such as a schedule conflict.

  However, Chapter Chairs need to give all candidates a reasonable and equal opportunity to communicate with members. For example, if a Chapter Chair invites one candidate to speak at a Chapter Meeting, they should do the same for all candidates if possible.

  Chapter Chairs and members should make sure that members’ email addresses are protected if he/she invites a candidate to a Zoom meeting. No candidate is to be given access to the member address, phone number or email list from a UTLA source and no candidate is to use UTLA lists for campaigning purposes, except the Chapter Chair list they received as a candidate.

• I am a cash, dues paying member, will I receive a ballot?

  Yes, you should receive a ballot if your dues are current and were paid one month prior to the mailing of the ballots. If you are a GLF dues paying member you will not receive a ballot.

Additional Questions

• Who is eligible to run for office?

  Any person who has been an active UTLA member in good standing for at least twenty-four months (2 years). Some positions have additional requirements.

  Special Category Directors must meet the requirements in the Appendix of the Election Manual. The Elementary and Secondary Vice Presidents must qualify through their credential and assignment.

  Candidates for Area Director must be assigned to a site/or sites within that Area. Exception: Candidates in UTLA appointed positions that serve the whole district qualify based on the Area where they were assigned before the appointment.

• If UTLA is now a completely merged Local, why do we still have the AFT and NEA Vice President offices and NEA and AFT Area Directors?

  UTLA continues to have agreements with NEA, AFT, CTA, and CFT. We are members of these affiliate organizations. Through our merger agreements, we agreed to maintain these governance structures.

  In addition, the officers and directors serve as liaisons between UTLA, and our state and national affiliates. UTLA is stronger when we have strong connections with our state and national affiliates, and we work together.

• What do NEA and AFT stand for?

  NEA is the National Education Association and AFT is the American Federation of Teachers. They are the two national teachers’ unions. We are also under the two state affiliates the California Teachers Association (CTA) which is the state affiliate of NEA and the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) which is the state affiliate of AFT. You can find out more at nea.org, cta.org, aft.org and cft.org.