(a) Process. The Commissioner of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor (hereafter referred to as “the Commissioner”) or his or her designee shall conduct the elections. The Commissioner shall provide a ballot containing the names of the employment statistics directors in the appropriate region to the employment statistics director in each State who is affiliated with the State agency designated pursuant to section 15(e) of the Wagner-Peyser Act. If a State has not designated an agency, or has not provided the name of the employment statistics director to the Commissioner, the State shall not participate in the election process. Each director may vote for one director to be the regional representative. The Commissioner shall prescribe a time limit that will not be less than one week for the directors to mark and return the ballots. Only votes received by the Commissioner within the prescribed time limit will be counted. The Commissioner will tally the votes from the ballots received within the prescribed time limit and the director receiving the most votes in the region will be the representative for that region. If there is a tie after the first round of votes are counted, the Commissioner shall conduct additional rounds of voting using a ballot containing the names of the directors who tied with the most votes in the previous round until a representative is elected. The Commissioner will prescribe a time limit of not less than one week for each additional round of voting and will tally the votes received within the prescribed time limit. The director with the most votes will be the representative.

(b) Method of transmission. The Commissioner may distribute the ballots relating to the election under this part by electronic mail or other methods the Commissioner determines to be appropriate and may specify the methods through which votes are to be cast.

(c) Vacancies. If a representative does not complete the term, the Commissioner shall conduct an election to elect a replacement for the remainder of the term using the procedures described in paragraph (a) and (b) of this section.