The Secretary shall appoint the members of the Board from nominations to be made in the following manner:

(a) There shall be two individuals nominated for each vacant position.

(b) The Board shall issue a call for nominations by February first of each year in which an election is to be held. The call shall include at a minimum, the following information:

(1) A list of the vacancies and qualifications as to producers and handlers by district and to importers nationally for which nominees may be submitted.

(2) The date by which the nominees shall be submitted to the Secretary for consideration to be in compliance with §1210.323 of this subpart.

(3) A list of those States, by district, entitled to participate in the nomination process.

(4) The date, time, and location of any next scheduled meeting of the Board, national and State producer or handler associations, importers, and district conventions, if any.

(c) Nominations for producer and handler positions that will become vacant shall be made by district convention in the district entitled to nominate. Notice of such convention shall be publicized to all producers and handlers within such district, and the Secretary at least ten days prior to said event. The notice shall have attached to it the call for nominations from the Board. The responsibility for convening and publicizing the district convention shall be that of the then members of the Board from that district.

(d) Nominations for importer positions that become vacant may be made by mail ballot, nomination conventions, or by other means prescribed by the Secretary. The Board shall provide notice of such vacancies and the nomination process to all importers through press releases and any other available means as well as direct mailing to known importers. All importers may participate in the nomination process. A person who both imports and handles watermelons may participate in the nomination process and serve on the Board as either an importer or handler, but not both.

(e) All producers and handlers within the district may participate in the convention: Provided, That a person that produces and handles watermelons may vote for handler members only if the producer purchased watermelons from other producers, in a combined total volume that is equal to 25 percent or more of the producer's own production; or the combined total volume of watermelon handled by the producer from the producer's own production and purchases from other producer's production is more than 50 percent of the producer's own production; and provided further, That if a producer or handler is engaged in the production or handling of watermelons in more than one State or district, the producer or handler shall participate within the State or district in which the producer or handler so elects in writing to the Board and such election shall remain controlling until revoked in writing to the Board.

(f) The district convention chairperson shall conduct the selection process for the nominees in accordance with procedures to be adopted at each such convention, subject to requirements set in §1210.321(e).

(1) No State in Districts 3, 4, 5, and 7 as currently constituted shall have more than three producers and handlers representatives concurrently on the Board.

(2) Each State represented at the district convention shall have one vote for each producer position and one vote for each handler position from the District on the Board, which vote shall be determined by the producers and handlers from that State by majority vote. Each State shall further have an additional vote for each five hundred thousand hundredweight volume as determined by the three year average annual crop production summary reports of the USDA, or if such reports are not published, then the three year average of the Board assessment reports; Provided, That for the first two calls for nominees, the USDA Crop Production Annual Summary Reports for 1979, 1980, and 1981 will be controlling as to any additional production volume votes.

[54 FR 24545, June 8, 1989, as amended at 60 FR 10798, Feb. 28, 1995; 79 FR 17852, Mar. 31, 2014]