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Elections - how to run them

ACBS is willing to run your first election for you, if that is helpful. We would just do it via a surveymonkey.com (a free account), which you could do as well.

The Survey Monkey free account allows a maximum of 40 submissions. So, if you anticipate more than 40 people voting, then you can also run your elections using Google Forms. Google Forms doesn't limit the number of submissions like surveymonkey does and is a survey tool housed in the Google Drive (which can be accessed through Gmail). Users completing the survey are not required to have a Gmail account. More information on this service can be found here.

You would put a call out for nominations from your group, then collect nominations (nominating self, or nominating others... but then of course you'd have to confirm they were willing to run).

If you want to collect bios or platform statements from the nominees you can. It depends on your group as to how much info you think you need. (We do this for ACBS elections.) You may choose to add this information to your section of the website as a child page, so that you don't have to include them all in your email about voting... up to you.

You then draft a letter, with subject line, noting the available positions, and the candidates for each position, and giving an end date for voting (I suggest 7-14 days after the ballot is sent out).

ACBS (or you) would create a ballot in surveymonkey.com and include that link at the bottom of the email.

The "letter/ballot" can be distributed via your listserv or if you prefer, ACBS is happy to send it to everyone that has indicated SIG/Chapter membership on our ACBS website. (Or we can give you those contact emails so that you can send out the message. You can request these emails at any time, like prior to the call for nominations.)

When the election is complete (if ACBS did it), we'll email you and one other person from your chapter/sig the results (so that you have a second person verifying).

Then you would email those elected and those not (thanking them), then notify the chapter members of the results.

 

(SIGS may choose a less formal method of election, but Chapters should create a formal procedure and refer to their by-laws.)

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