The UAW’s international referendum on direct elections ends today.
Ballots were mailed to members of the United Auto Workers in October giving them the option to change the way their leaders are elected. The union’s International Executive Board has always been elected using a delegate system. That system, critics say, led to the corruption that resulted in more than a dozen convictions of union officials and auto company executives.
The UAW’s agreement with the government required members be offered the chance to choose elect leadership directly, giving each member a vote for each officer.
As of November 24th, the federally appointed monitor reports a little more than 138-thousand ballots have been received from the union’s almost a million members.
All ballots must be received by the monitor today to be counted.