TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—A member who had contested the board election at Alabama One Credit Union here has been defeated in his bid for a seat.
Jerry Logan lost the race after collecting almost 600 nominating cards earlier this year to make him eligible for the board election (AOCU requires 500 member signatures). Logan told the Tuscaloosa News he will file a complaint with Alabama’s state CU regulator over the election.
"I think I got valid reasons to contest this election," Logan was quoted as saying by the Tuscaloosa News. Logan attempted to win a board seat after some members had complained during an earlier membership meeting that management would not take members’ questions regarding certain dealings the credit union had with a local businessman who has since been sentenced to prison.
The board seats were won by incumbents Larry Sexton, Richard Powell and Danny Harrell, all of whom won three-year terms.
Logan said the credit union told him he had lost in the mail ballot election by a large margin, but he said he believes “irregularities” took place. According to Logan, those irregularities included CU employees telling members they had to vote for three of the four candidates for their ballots to be counted, which Logan said is incorrect.
The Tuscaloosa News reported that AOCU CEO John Dee Carruth said in an e-mailed statement that “Alabama One Credit Union is proud to be a membership organization, and we value the fair and open process for selecting the board of directors. We take elections very seriously, and the credit union engaged ES&S to conduct this election. ES&S is an independent and very reputable third-party firm that has conducted elections in all 67 counties in Alabama. ES&S developed and distributed the election instructions, received and collected all ballots, and was the sole party to determine the results. We are extremely confident in the process and the results. We are grateful to all members who participated in the election."