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No later than October 1, American Mensa's Nominating Committee (NomCom) will select its candidates for the elected offices of the American Mensa Committee (AMC). Our Bylaws additionally provide for petition candidates but seem ambivalent about it. The following are three pitfalls of which you need to be aware if you plan to petition for an AMC office:
The Election Committee (ElCom) is given until January 1 to publish the call for petition candidates, and the Bylaws set a deadline of March 1 for the required 50 signatures to have been received by the ElCom. It is not an impossible deadline, but many petition candidates would prefer to start earlier, especially since the NomCom candidates have had since October 1 to campaign. Unfortunately, the petition submitted by a candidate must be "in a format prescribed by the Election Committee." The ElCom has until the January Bulletin to publish the Election Code. Members might not even receive the Bulletin until mid- or late January, making the collection of signatures on a prescribed petition form problematic. Previous ElComs have worked with petition candidates to allow the use of an earlier election's updated form (or facsimile), showing the current election year. Whether this is allowed is decided each election year. You should contact Election Committee Chair Linda Kelso to find out what the procedure is for this election.
Our Bylaws give the ElCom responsibility for the conduct of the election. The AMC has given the ElCom the responsibility of certifying petition candidates. While the NomCom certifies its candidates October 1, prior ElComs have used a number of different dates for the petitioners: "when they announce" or "when they submit at least some signatures" or "when they submit all their materials" or "after the signatures have been validated" or "after they have met all the qualifications to be on the ballot" (which may not be until March 10). With the actual balloting period starting April 15, the timing can seriously impede a petition candidate who wishes to obtain membership lists (available to certified candidates only) for the purposes of campaigning or to be included in InterLoc's election issues (where the editor has legitimate concerns about giving a forum to possible non-candidates). Again, each ElCom decides for itself, and you need to contact Election Committee Chair Linda Kelso to learn this year's timeline.
Additionally, the ElCom is responsible for writing the detailed code of election procedures. The AMC has written "recommendations" to the ElCom, including the following: "Petition candidates can be instructed to supply biographical and campaign statements with their petition as well as to send a copy of these materials, together with a picture, to the editor of the Mensa Bulletin." Should the ElCom incorporate this procedure this year, the petition candidates alone will be forced to decide whether to qualify as a candidate as early as January 1 or to time his/her election statement for March 1, the deadline for NomCom candidates. Once more, Election Committee Chair Linda Kelso is the person to contact for this year's election rules.
Parenthetically, the Bylaws require the names of petition candidates to be "published in a similar manner [to those of the NomCom candidates earlier] immediately upon the close of the nominating period." Due to the fact that the earliest publication possible would be in the April Bulletin, in the same issue the ballots are published, there is no meaningful way to comply with this requirement, a leftover from an era when the ballots were mailed separately, apart from the Bulletin.
I believe petition candidates should not face arbitrary requirements not imposed on the NomCom candidates. I believe the playing field should be level for all candidates. For this to happen, we need to change our Bylaws.
[Ed. Note: See "Connections" for a letter
by Jonathan Elliott about how to change the Bylaws to make candidacy
a petition-only process. Election Committee Chair Linda Kelso may be
reached at lkelso@teleport.com] |
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In Front of the NomComBelow is a list of those who have submitted their names to the Nominating
Committee for consideration as candidates, followed by their current
AMC office, if any. You do not have to have Nominating Committee recommendation,
however, to run for office. You may submit a petition (see article above). |
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| Chairman Dr. Jean Becker (Chairman)
First Vice-Chairman
Second Vice-Chairman
Treasurer
Secretary
RVC 1
RVC 2
RVC 3 |
RVC 4
RVC 5
RVC 6
RVC 7
RVC 8
RVC 9
RVC 10 |
Election
season is upon us.