ELECTION PROCESS GUIDELINES
Per IA Section I(G) – Election Code of Conduct (2011):
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No distribution of campaign materials. The Nominations Committee chair, with the assistance of the Secretary and Vice President for Internal Affairs, will determine how the candidates will identify themselves as such.
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No form of mass communication will be utilized by any candidate in efforts to “campaign” with the general membership. Candidates will submit application materials and these materials will be uniformly disseminated by the Secretary and Vice President for Internal Affairs.
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Nominees shall publicly address the membership only at times designated by the Nominations Committee.
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Receptions and/or hospitality should not be used for promotion of an individual candidate.
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No member of AMSA shall recklessly or negligently disseminate information on behalf of a candidate about another AMSA member or candidate. In addition, no AMSA member shall take any action to unduly positively or negatively affect the election outcome of any candidate. If this occurs, any knowing individual is obligated to notify the Nominations Committee in writing immediately, preferably by 5 p.m. the night prior to the election. If it is submitted after 5 p.m., then the Nominations Committee shall have the power to postpone the election for that office to review the allegations. If the allegation of misconduct is found to be valid or will discredit the organization, the Nominations Committee shall determine the best course of action.
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The Secretary and the Vice President for Internal Affairs (if not running for a national office) shall advise the Nominations Committee as necessary and conduct the HOD as appropriate.
VOTING PROCEDURES
National Officers
Voting for national officers will be accomplished by ballot in the House of Delegates (HOD). All delegates will be certified by the delegate certification form.
The ballot will contain the names of all candidates nominated for each national office: President, Vice President for Membership, Vice President for Finance, Vice President for Program Development, Vice President for Leadership Development and Secretary. Each delegate will vote only once. Once a ballot is cast, it cannot be changed.
The voting procedure will be as follows: election will be by simple majority. Elections for any national offices in which there are greater than two candidates use a system of instant runoff voting. Under this system, in which each chapter has as many votes as they have delegates to the HOD, each delegate ranks the candidates in order of preference. The counting of ballots simulates a series of runoff elections. All first choices are counted, and if no candidate wins a majority of first choices, then the last place candidate is eliminated. Ballots of voters who ranked the eliminated candidate first are redistributed to their next choice candidates, as indicated on each voter's ballot. Last place candidates are successively eliminated and ballots are redistributed to next choices until one candidate remains or a candidate gains a majority of votes. In case of a tie, the candidates receiving the two highest number of votes in the first ballot shall be included on the second balloting. Additional balloting for said office shall continue until one candidate shall receive a majority of votes cast on a reballot and he/she shall be elected to said office. The nominations committee will conduct the counting of the votes,and will announce results to the House of Delegates.
Regional Directors
The election of regional directors will take place during regional time on Saturday evening at Annual Convention. Each region of AMSA’s five regions will elect one Regional Director. Each chapter will have one vote in the selection of the Director for his or her region, and the process will be conducted by instant runoff voting in a system similar to that described above for national elections. The Nominations Committee will oversee the county of the votes, and will announce the final results by the end of the caucus.
International Trustee and International Regional Directors
The election of the International Trustee and two International Regional Directors will take place during their caucus on Saturday at Convention. Each region of AMSA’s two international regions may elect one Regional Director. Each chartered chapter this is present shall have one vote for International Trustee and one vote for Regional Director representing the chapter’s region. The Nominations Committee will oversee the county of the votes, and will announce the final results by the end of the caucus.
Premedical Trustees and Premedical Regional Directors
The election of the Premedical Trustee and Premedical Regional Directors will take place during the Premedical Caucus aucus on Saturday evening at Convention. Each region of AMSA’s five regions may elect one Regional Director. Each chartered chapter that is present shall have one vote in the election of the Premedical Trustee and one vote for the Regional Director representing the chapter’s region. The Nominations Committee will oversee the county of the votes, and will announce the final results by the end of the caucus.
GraduateTrustee
The election of the Graduate Trustee will take place during the Graduate Caucus on Saturday morning, March 10, 2012, at Convention. In the Graduate Caucus, each member of the Caucus who is present shall have one vote. The Nominations Committee will oversee the county of the votes, and will announce the final results.