Put your best nominee forward for the ERS Board of Trustees election (state agencies only)

The Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS) will accept nominations starting March 1 until March 31 at 5 p.m. CT to fill one of three elected positions on the ERS Board.

Each potential candidate must submit to ERS a completed Nomination Petition and the Questionnaire for Board of Trustees Position. You can find the questionnaire and other nominations materials on the Trustee Elections and Appointments webpage of the ERS website, or check with your human resources department.

In this year’s election, employees of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) cannot run because those agencies already have representation on the Board. But, TxDOT and HHSC employees can nominate candidates from other agencies, sign a nomination petition and, of course, vote in the election.

Nomination petition process

To get on the ballot, each potential candidate must submit a Nomination Petition with the signatures of at least 300 ERS members and retirees qualified to vote in the trustee election. ERS encourages potential candidates to gather between 400 and 500 signatures to allow for invalid entries.

Potential candidates also have the option to gather voters’ electronic signature (e-signature) on a dedicated ERS nominations website. A potential candidate can contact the ERS election coordinator at ERSelection@ers.texas.gov to request a personalized electronic nomination site platform.

• The process to electronically sign a candidate’s petition is simple (and very similar to how members vote online in Board elections.) On the dedicated ERS nominations website, potential voters will log in by typing in their individual credentials: their ZIP code, date of birth and portions of their first and last names. Using the known credentials, the website will automatically authenticate their eligibility to sign a nomination petition.

• the member’s printed first and last name, ZIP code and date of birth are legibly included,
• the person matches a member of the ERS plan and
• the member’s signature appears only one time for only one candidate. If a member signs a nomination petition for more than one candidate, ERS will not count the member’s signature for either candidate.

Who can vote?

State of Texas agency employees who have an ERS account balance as of Jan. 31, 2023 and state agency retirees who get an annuity from ERS can vote for a candidate in the ERS Board of Trustees election.

Why vote?

As a State of Texas employee or retiree, you have valuable benefits. The ERS Board of Trustees works to ensure those benefits remain valuable and competitive. One way you can ensure you are represented in benefits discussions is to provide your electronic or paper ballot signature for a Board candidate.

The ERS Board makes important decisions regarding your member benefits such as:

• designing plans for your health care and pharmacy benefits,
• selecting third-party administrators of health insurance and other benefit programs, and
• authorizing new programs such as vision insurance.

The Board also manages the Texa$aver^SM 401(k) / 457 Program and oversees the ERS Retirement Trust Fund, which invests state, agency and member pension contributions.

More information

Your participation in the ERS Board of Trustees election is very important. Look for more information about the election––including the Nomination Petition, Questionnaire and additional materials––on the ERS Trustees Election and Appointments webpage and in upcoming issues of News About Your Benefits.