GUIDELINES FOR NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS

(Drafted by the ad hoc committee on elections, composed of Steve Pope, Yiguang Ju and Bill Roberts, January 2011; presented to the Executive Committee, March 20, 2011; revised June 2011 based on input from the Executive Committee meeting of March 20, 2011 and the Business meeting of March 21, 2011)

These guidelines are intended to assist the Nominating Committee and the Officers in the nominations and election processes, which are governed by the Section’s by-laws. In the event of a conflict between these guidelines and the by-laws, the by-laws take precedence. It is anticipated that, in the future, the by-laws will be revised to allow for electronic elections. Some of the guidelines refer to that eventuality.

The Nominating Committee should strive to recruit new talent for the at-large members of the Executive Committee.
The slate should provide a balance between academia, industry and government, and should be inclusive of underrepresented groups.
In general there should be no more than two members of the Executive Committee from the same institution.
The Nominating Committee should seek (via e-mail) nominations (including self-nominations) from all members of the section.
In order to ensure continuity of leadership, the usual practice is for the “chairs” to serve two-year terms in succession in the following positions: Arrangements /Papers Chair; Program Chair; Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Chair.
An officer or chair (other than the Treasurer) usually serves a single term in a given position, and should not serve more than two terms in a given position. The Treasurer is expected to serve for at least two terms and not more than three terms.
In general, an at-large member of the Executive Committee should not be nominated for a fourth consecutive term as an at-large member.
The number of at-large members to be elected is at the discretion of the Executive Committee.
So long as the by-laws require elections to take place at the regular members’ business meeting, the Nominating Committee should propose a single candidate for each position.
In the event that the by-laws allow electronic voting, then initially the Nominating Committee should nominate a single candidate for each office, and two candidates for each open at-large member position. At-large members continuing to a second or third term should run unopposed. The candidates will be asked to post a short statement on the election web site.

After the first few electronic elections, the process should be re-evaluated and the possibility of nominating more than one candidate for each office should be considered.