Agreements; ratification; election; absentee ballots

(a) A board of education and an exclusive representative selected or designated under the provisions of this act, or the act of which this section is amendatory, may enter into an agreement covering terms and conditions of professional service. The agreement becomes binding when ratified by a majority of the members of the board of education and a majority of the professional employees in the applicable negotiating unit who vote on the question of ratification of the agreement at an election conducted by the exclusive representative if at least a majority of the professional employees in the negotiating unit vote. If less than a majority of the professional employees vote on the question of ratification, the election is void. (b) Every professional employee in the applicable negotiating unit who is to be absent from the place and at the time of the election may vote an absentee ballot on the question of ratification of the agreement. Upon written application by a professional employee for an absentee ballot, the exclusive representative shall transmit to the professional employee, in person or by mail to the address provided by the professional employee in the application, a ballot, an unmarked envelope, a larger envelope containing a space for the professional employee's signature and addressed to the exclusive representative, and instructions to the professional employee for casting the ballot. On receipt of an application under this subsection, the exclusive representative shall prepare and maintain a list of the names of professional employees who have applied for absentee ballots. The returned envelopes shall be checked against the list of names of applicants and the unmarked envelopes containing the ballots shall be extracted. The unmarked ballot envelopes shall be opened and the absentee ballots shall be counted in the same manner as ballots cast at the election.