Welcome to St. Alban’s Church! Every Sunday, and most days in between, people gather in this place to worship, to learn, to grow, to share the joys and struggles of our lives, and to seek God’s grace in the midst of our lives. We do not come because we have it all figured out, but because we are seeking light on the way. We come as we are and welcome one another.
Annual Meeting and Vestry Elections 2023
Learn about our annual meeting and how to participate.
November 29, 2022: Vestry Balloting Procedures
On January 29, 2023, St. Alban’s will hold its Annual Meeting and will elect a Junior Warden and four Vestry members. We also plan to hold a candidates’ forum on January 15, 2023, at which the candidates will each make a brief statement.
The Nominating Committee has proposed the following slate of candidates: (1) for Junior Warden -- Ted Cage and Amie Vandersluis; (2) for Vestry – Gloria Manzo, Armis Sadri, Dustin Schade, Amie Vandersluis, Anton Vaterpool II, Melanie Williams, Katie Wilson. Ms. Vandersluis has indicated that if Mr. Cage is elected Junior Warden, she would be happy to serve as a Vestry member if elected to that position. Similarlay, Mr., Cage, who is presently a member of the Vestry, will continue to serve in that capacity of he is not elected Junior Warden.
Voting Procedures. Consistent with Article VI, Section 2 of the Bylaws, we are distributing with this announcement the Balloting Procedures for the 2023 election. The Vestry has approved these procedures. Please find the English version of the Balloting Procedures here in English and here in Spanish. The upcoming election will take place on January 29, 2023, as will the Annual Meeting. It is expected that the Annual Meeting will be conducted in person while also being livestreamed. For the third year in a row, however, we will conduct the election using an online system called ElectionBuddy.com. The virtual “polls” will be open on January 29, 2023, from 12:01 AM until 12:00 midnight, so as to maximize participation. ElectionBuddy.com works by sending an email to all eligible voters.
Here are some highlights of the Balloting Procedures for 2023, which are essentially identical to those employed last year. These procedures are designed to ensure that all St. Albanites who are eligible to vote are able to do so.
- To ensure that our voter list is up to date, the current list will be distributed via an online link in an email to be sent to the “all-parish” email list. Using that link, parishioners should examine the list to make sure that (a) they are recorded as qualified voters, (b) their preferred email address is listed correctly, and (c) all other qualified voters in their household are also listed as such with correct email addresses. For the balloting procedures to work as intended, it is essential that we have an email address for each voting member of a household. Watch your emails for a message containing with instructions on reviewing the voter list and supplementing it as needed.
- We are developing a communications plan that will attempt to ensure that all parishioners are able to participate in the Annual Meeting and in the election. All communications will be distributed widely in English and Spanish, as well as on social media platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram), and there will be periodic announcements during worship services. The communications plan will also carefully explain how ElectionBuddy works.
- There may be parishioners who don’t have access to a computer or email. If you are aware of someone in that situation, please notify Mery Montenegro, Charles Porter, or Ted Swett so that we can explore options for enabling that person to vote.
In short, your leadership team will do all in our power to ensure maximum access for the Annual Meeting and the election.
December 15, 2022: These are the Candidates for the 2023 Junior Warden & Vestry Election
We're happy to introduce those standing for election to become our next Junior Warden and to join the parish's governing board (otherwise known as the Vestry.) The election will be held on January 29. 2023. Click here to get to know them and read their bios.
January 3, 2023: Notice of Annual Parish Meeting and Ensuring You Can Vote in the Parish Election
On January 29, 2023, the Parish will conduct our Annual Meeting and election of a new Junior Warden and four new members of the Vestry. The meeting will take place in the church between 10:05 and 11:05 a.m. and will also be live-streamed on the Parish YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/c/StAlbansDC.
The meeting will be conducted in person. As in the past two years, however, the election will be conducted electronically using the platform ElectionBuddy.com; accordingly, no parishioner need attend in person in order to cast a ballot. No paper ballots will be collected. The electronic election also makes the absentee ballots contemplated by our Bylaws unnecessary, as any parishioner may vote from anywhere during a 24-hour period.
As you may recall, in order to vote, an eligible voter must receive an email with a link to their individual ballot. Households with more than one eligible voter will need to have submitted an individual email address for each voter.
To ensure that we have a complete and correct list of all eligible voters and their current email addresses, we will use the same virtual process for enabling parishioners to check their voter status that worked well for us in 2021 and 2022.
To that end, please find here (this link has been removed because the list was flawed; a corrected list can be found in the update below) the current list of eligible voters maintained by the church office. Please review this list and determine that (1) your name is on the list, and (2) all eligible voters in your household are included on the list. If we lack an email address for you or a listed household member, the list includes an annotation so indicating.
If you need to correct or supplement the list for any reason (for example, to add the name and email address of a household member who is eligible to vote), please do so by emailing Charles Porter.
In addition, if you are aware of anyone in the Parish without access to email and who you think may be eligible to vote, please contact Charles Porter or Ted Swett so that we may explore an alternative way to record the person’s vote.
As a reminder to be qualified to vote at an Annual or Special Meeting, a person must, at least 30 days before the meeting, be:
- a member of the Episcopal Church as defined in the General Convention Canons – in other words: persons whose Christian baptism is recorded in the Episcopal Church;
- recorded as a member in the Parish register;
- at least 15 years old; and
- a contributor to the financial support of St. Alban’s Parish for at least 6 months “as determined by the Treasurer” or a contributor of services to St. Alban’s parish for at least 6 months “as determined by the Rector.”
January 5, 2023: Corrected Eligible Voter List for Vestry Elections
As many of you know, we sent a parish-wide email on Tuesday, January 3, outlining procedures for the annual election and the qualifications for voting. That email included a link to a list of eligible voters. Unfortunately, that list was flawed and omitted a number of parishioners who are indeed eligible to vote.
We have created a new list that should now include everyone who is eligible. Please review this list, attached here, and make certain that your name appears. If your name still does not appear, and you believe that you are eligible, please email Charles Porter. Also, please look to make certain that "NO EMAIL ON FILE" does not appear next to your name. If it does, please email or call Charles Porter with an email address for you or to let us know that you do not use email, in which case, we will explore an alternate means for you to vote.