ICA/SUV Nominations and Election Guidelines

 

1        INTRODUCTION

 

1.1       Purpose.
These guidelines were written in 2002 following that year’s election. They were based on an Election Protocol drafted in 1997 by the Chair of the 1996 Nominating Committee. In 2007, they were modified according to the new ICA constitution of 2004.

 

They are designed to clarify election processes for future years rather than rationalizing all of the elections since the SUV’s establishment. The goal of these Guidelines is to provide practical direction to SUV Officers and Nominating Committee members to permit an orderly selection of Officers and open, transparent, nominations and election processes that promote the participation of Section members in governance and ensures fairness.

 

1.2        Officers to be Elected.
The Section is governed by a Section Bureau consisting of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and 9 regular members.

1.3     Schedule.
Elections are held in even numbered years with one-half (six members) of the Section Bureau being elected in each election for four year terms. The nominations and elections shall be held in a timely manner so those elected to office will have ample time to plan their travel to the annual seminar which generally occurs in September.

1.4     Terms and Reelection.
The Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and all members of the Section Bureau are eligible to be re-elected a single time. If reelected, they may not serve as candidates again until after an interval of two years out of office.

1.5     Resignations and Interim Terms.
In the case of a resignation by any officer or Section Bureau member before the conclusion of his/her term, the Section Bureau shall elect a replacement to complete the term of office. Any person so elected is eligible to stand as a candidate in the next election for a full four-year term and may stand as a candidate for a second four-year term unless his/her initial interim election shall have been for more than two years.

 

2        CONDUCT OF NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS.

2.1       Nominating Committee Composition. The conduct of the election shall be the responsibility of a three person Nominating Committee appointed by the chair of the Section no later than the end of the annual seminar meeting in the year preceding the election. The ICA/SUV Chair shall designate which Nominating Committee member is to serve as its Chair. Nominating Committee members should be ICA/SUV members not standing for election. Before appointing a person to the Nominating Committee, the Chair shall ensure that the prospective appointee has no interest in serving as a candidate for any office to be voted upon in the upcoming election.

 

3        NOMINATION PROCEDURES

3.1     Identifying the members.
The Nominating Committee is responsible for securing a copy of the most up-to-date list of all Section members from the SUV Secretary or the ICA offices no later than 15 January of an election year. The list is essential to inform members of who is eligible to be nominated and to aid the Nominating Committee in verifying the eligibility of nominations and ballots.

3.2     Call for Nominations.
No later than 15 February, the Nominating Committee shall issue a Call for Nominations in English and French (See Appendix A for a sample). The Call for Nominations shall include:

3.2.1             list of the names of the outgoing officers and steering committee members;

3.2.2             list of the offices to be voted on;

3.2.3             list of all current members of the Section;

3.2.4             deadline and address for the submission of nomination
            documents.

3.3       The Call for Nominations shall be issued electronically via the ICA/SUV’s listserve. The Nominating Committee is responsible for sending a printed copy of the Call for Nominations via international air-mail to all ICA/SUV members who are not subscribed to the listserve or who do not have an e-mail address.

3.4       The deadline for return of nominations shall be no less than 6 weeks from the date of issuance of the Call, typically April 1.

3.5     Nominations must include:

3.5.1             The name of the ICA/SUV member making the nomination.

3.5.2             The name of a member seconding the nomination.

3.5.3             An indication that permission has been obtained from the nominee to place his/her name in nomination.

3.5.4             Short biographical/professional information on the nominee.

3.6       Examination of Nominations. The Nominating Committee shall review all nominations to verify that all of the nominators, seconders, and nominees are members of the ICA/SUV. If any one appears to not be a member, the Chair of the Nominating Committee shall refer the matter to the Chair of the Section for a ruling.

3.7       Section members may serve as candidates for only one position on the ballot. If nominated for more than one position, the Chair of the Nominating Committee shall ask that member to choose for which office he/she wishes to stand.

 

3.8       The Nominating Committee shall make every effort to obtain more than one candidate for each position. If fewer than one person for each office has been nominated, the three members of the Nominating Committee shall add names to the ballot to provide a full complement. The Nominating Committee may also add names to the ballot to balance the geographical representation of the nominees provided that such additions do not result in more than two candidates for any vacancy. Members of the Nominating Committee may not be candidates for office.


3.9       Election by Acclamation

If only one candidate is nominated for each available position then the candidate(s) will be declared ‘elected by acclamation’. The Nominating Committee will bring the name (s) of the candidate(s) forward to the Steering Committee for provisional approval subject to final approval by the next General Meeting. If the candidate(s) are approved by the Steering Committee and the next General Meeting, they will be considered elected by acclamation. A provisional notice of election by acclamation will be issued by the Nominating Committee by April 15 and a notice of final approval by the General Meeting will be issued within seven (7) days of the conclusion of the General Meeting.

 

If approval is not received, then the nominee will be notified and the search for candidate(s) will be undertaken immediately.



4 Election Packet/Ballot.

4.1       The Nominating Committee is responsible for assembling an Election Packet and Ballot which shall include:

4.1.1             list of candidates,

4.1.2             biographical/professional statements as submitted by the candidates,

4.1.3             voting instructions, and

4.1.4             ballot.

4.2       The Election Packet shall be provided in both English and French, except for the nominees’ biographical/professional statement which shall be in the language(s) as submitted by the nominees.

4.3       The Election Packet/Ballot shall be issued by posting to the ICA/SUV listserve. The Nominating Committee shall be responsible for issuing printed Election Packets/Ballots via international airmail or telefacsimile to all ICA/SUV members who are not reachable via the listserve or e-mail.

4.4       The Election Packet/Ballot shall be issued by 15 April with a return deadline of 15 May.


5 Voting and Tallying of Votes.

5.1     Votes may be cast in any one of the following three methods:

5.1.1             conventional mail/airmail of printed forms to the Chair of the Nominating Committee or

5.1.2             telefacsimile transmission to the Chair of the Nominating Committee or

5.1.3             e-mail message to the Chair of the Nominating Committee

5.2     Regardless of the method of transmission, each person voting shall be responsible for providing his/her name, institution, and address clearly on with the ballot.

5.3     Regardless of the method of transmission, the Chair of the Nominating Committee shall examine each ballot against the list of current ICA/SUV members to ensure that each person voting is a member and that no more than one ballot from each member is counted. In the instance of those persons who are the official representatives of institutions having institutional, rather than personal, ICA membership, the Nominating Committee shall make every effort to ensure that only one representative of such institution votes.

5.4     On the ballot, members may vote for only one candidate for each vacancy, write-in votes are not permitted.


5.5     The Chair of the Nominating Committee shall be the official Teller unless another person is named by the Chair of the Section. The Chair shall maintain absolute confidentiality regarding the identity of voters and their votes. The Teller shall retain all ballots and make them available for inspection (in a manner that maintains the confidentiality of voters) at the next meeting of the Steering Committee. Candidates receiving a plurality of votes are elected.

5.6     Tie votes not affecting the outcome of an election (e.g., between the top two of 10 candidates for 5 Steering Committee positions) are ignored. In the event of any tie vote that would affect the outcome of the election, the tie shall be resolved by the tossing of a coin at the first section Steering Committee meeting after the election in the presence of the candidates or their nominated representatives and a neutral presiding figure such as the Section Chair or any member of the Nominating Committee.

5.7     Any questions about the eligibility of voters or the tallying of ballots shall be resolved by a majority vote of the Nominating Committee.

 

6          Report of Election Results.

6.1     After conferring with the Nominating Committee, the Chair of the Committee shall report the election results to the Section Chair. The Section Chair shall then contact, first, all non-elected individuals to thank them for their participation and then contact all elected persons so they may make plans to attend the next meeting of the Section. Typically, notification of candidates with results should occur no later than 1 June. Once all non-elected and elected candidates have been directly informed of the election, the Chair of the Section shall announce the results of the election to the Section at large via the listserve.


6.2     The Chair of the Nominating Committee shall be responsible for submitting a report on the election at the next ICA/SUV meeting, including comments and any suggestions for revisions in procedures and policy to resolve any issues that arose during the nominations and election process.

6.3     At the conclusion of the Section meeting at which the newly elected individuals assume their posts, the Chair shall inform the ICA Secretary of the names and addresses of the Officers and Steering Committee so that the ICA Secretary may proceed to formalize appointment of the SUV Chair/Secretary as appropriate.. These names, and the terms of their service shall also be posted on the ICA/SUV website. The website should also maintain a listing of past officers and Steering Committee member along with their dates of service.

Note: all dates for deadlines are the close of business at the local time of the Chair of the Nominating Committee. The time zone of the deadline date shall be clearly stated on all nominations and election material. Nominations and ballots received after the deadlines shall not be considered under any circumstances, except in the case of international airmailed printed nominations and ballots which may be accepted provided that they were postmarked before the deadline.

As revised by the General Meeting, 16 August 2007.