Conference Nomination and Election Guidelines

Elections are to be held at every biennial DSA conference.

ELIGIBILITY

1. A candidate must be an active member in good standing at the start of the conference and has attended at least one previous conference.
2. It is preferred that a candidate should have previous experience as an officer or board member of a state organization, but this is not required.

NOMINATION PROCESS

To ensure that nomination and election processes will be handled efficiently, an ad hoc Nomination and Election Committee will be created. Its duties shall be to solicit nominations, to conduct elections, to count votes, and to announce election results.

Six months prior to a conference, the president will appoint a member to chair the Nomination and Election Committee. This chairperson will solicit three members, and the four will consist of this committee. It is understood that any member of the Nomination and Election Committee will not be eligible to run for office.

The committee will post a call for nominations through New Horizons, at least one newsletter issue before the start of a conference. The committee will also contact the current elected officers to see if they are interested in running for another term.

Two days prior to a conference, the committee will post at the registration desk and conspicuous places, and announce in the first-day conference bulletin, to include the following:

• Eligibility requirements for candidates (see the list under "Eligibility").
• Notification that the candidate must be in attendance at the conference to be elected.

Candidates, if they wish, may print their profiles in second- or third-day bulletins.

ELECTION PROCESS

The election is considered new business and will take place during the general business meeting.

Candidates for each office will be introduced by the Nomination and Election Committee chairperson at the general business meeting. Each candidate is limited to a three-minute speech. The president may ask for nominations from the floor. Those being nominated must instantly reply with a yes or no. Those who accept nomination must be prepared to introduce themselves and give three-minute speeches. Once nominations are closed, the election immediately proceeds.

The election shall be by ballot by those present at the general business meeting and eligible to vote. A majority vote is necessary to elect. The candidate receiving the largest number of votes (50.1% of the vote) is elected. In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast for a contested office, voting shall continue without the name of the candidate receiving the fewest votes. Such procedure shall be repeated until one of the candidates receives a majority of the votes.