Rules for Voting:
1. You must be a current member of the MBA in order to vote. This means that your membership dues must be paid for 2012. You can click here to check your membership status. Note: the status is of September 1, 2012. If you have renewed your membership since then, then the list will not reflect your renewal.

2. If your membership type is “single” then you are entitled to vote once. If your membership is type “family” then you are entitled to vote twice.

3. Votes may be cast at the 2012 fall conference or submitted as an absentee ballot prior to the conference. Absentee ballots must be received, not sent but received, on or prior to Wednesday, October 3, 2012. Further instructions for absentee ballots is provided below.

4. Write in candidates are provided for any office. Any write in candidate must be a current member of MBA.

Good Afternoon Fellow Beekeepers,

The fall season is amongst us and the colder weather seems to be coming in. Wouldn't hurt to add a little sugar water on the hives to help aid in the honey building storage for the winter seasons. Our guest speaker this month is Joyce Hung presenting the Medical Benefits of the Hive. Joyce will also have items for sale at the meeting. I ask that any talking be held to a minimum during her presentation due to Joyce is soft spoken and a little hard to understand at times.
There should be a schedule of the fall conference classes available that evening. The website is back up and running, I was on it today. If there are any beekeepers who are not interested in listening to our guest speaker, please let me know before we start the meeting and we will have a breakout session in the other room. I thank you ahead of time for your cooperation.

Reminder that the MBA Fall Conference will be held October 5 & 6 doors open at 8:00 a.m. both days. If you can make the meeting on Saturday, please do as there is a business meeting at the end of the day. There will be voting on a few officers and district representatives and you need to be present to vote. No abscentee ballots are accepted.


Bob Hollis is running a special of 10% off everything in stock except frames. Please contact Bob for more information at 810-338-1523.


Take care and look forward to seeing you this week.

Instructions for Absentee Voting
An absentee ballot is available for those current MBA members who wish to vote in this manner. The absentee ballot may be printed and sent by mail to the chairman of the election committee (instructions are on the ballot). Or the ballot may be completed on-line and submitted via email.

To download the absentee ballot, click here. Then save the document to your local machine. Open the saved ballot. You should be able to complete the ballot on your computer. You can then either print the ballot and return it via US mail or return the ballot by email. Buttons are provided on the stub for either choice.

Please carefully read the instructions on the ballot. Any errors on the ballot may be cause for rejecting your vote. NOTE: You must include your name and signature (0r email address if submitting by email) on the stub in order for your ballot to be counted. The stub will be detached from your ballot prior to counting. Your name is required in order to verify your membership status and to check off your name on the polling list.

If you are sending the ballot back by email, there is a “Submit by Email” button on the ballot’s stub. Click this button after you have completed the ballot. NOTE: You must include your name and email address on the stub in order for your ballot to be counted. When you click the “Submit” button, your email client should launch with the ballot attached. At that point you can simply send the email.

If your local email client does not launch, then save the ballot to your local machine, open it and proceed from there.

Questions?
Questions regarding the election may be directed toward Bryan Allen, the chairman of the election committee. Bryan may be contacted by phone at 810-701-2621 or by email at ballen573@comcast.net.