2026 Director Elections
Published
on Friday, September 5, 2025
in
Board and Elections
One of the seven guiding principles of cooperatives is democratic member control. We are governed by a nine-member board of directors, and each is elected to serve a three-year term. Directors are elected by and represent those who live in their district, and they make critical decisions on behalf of all co-op members.
Three board seats are up for election next year. If you are a co-op electric customer interested in serving, a candidate application packet will be made available online from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1. Fill out the required forms and secure 30 or more valid co-op customer signatures. Your completed packet must be returned to our Cassopolis office by 4:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 1 to be vetted.
Please note: To ensure all necessary supporting documentation is submitted, we recommend turning in your candidate application and customer signatures in advance of the final due date.
If you meet all director qualifications at teammidwest.com/director-requirements, you will be placed on the ballot for one of the three terms for April 2026–2029. Ballots will be emailed to the district members on or around Jan. 19, 2026, and must be submitted by Feb. 6. Board members must reside in the district they represent. Please note that exact dates are subject to change.
Seats in Districts 1, 2, and 5 will be up for election. Please note: Anyone running for our board of directors in the current elections must collect signatures of support from fellow MEC electric customers in their district. That means that you may be visited at your home or business by someone seeking signatures. You are not required to sign their petition unless you support their effort to join our board.
District 1 is currently represented by Fred Turk of Decatur. It includes customers in the townships of Decatur, Hamilton (Van Buren County), Marcellus, Penn, Porter (Van Buren County), and Volinia.
District 2 is represented by Jim Wiseley of Bloomingdale. It includes customers in the townships of Almena, Arlington, Bainbridge, Bangor (Van Buren County), Bloomingdale, Coloma, Covert, Hartford, Keeler, Lawrence, Paw Paw, Pipestone, Silver Creek, Watervliet, and Waverly.
District 5 is represented by John Green of Dowagiac. It includes customers in the townships of Howard, LaGrange, Milton, Pokagon, and Wayne, as well as the city of Dowagiac.
All three current directors plan to run for re-election.
For more information about serving on the board of directors, please call the cooperative at 800-492-5989 or send an email to board.inquiries@teammidwest.com.
Vote for Your Director Electronically
You will receive your ballot via email on or around Jan. 19, 2026. The email will come from the MEC election coordinator and will include instructions on the voting process. Please verify that we have the correct email address on file by logging into SmartHub and going to Menu > Settings > Contact Methods. You can also call us at 800-492-5989. Please verify your information by Dec. 7.
In the meantime, please add noreply@directvote.net as an approved sender in your email account. Since every email provider is unique, we recommend that you refer to the support section of your email account for instructions on how to do this.