16 October 2013

PRESIDENT'S LETTER: Upcoming Elections!!!

Members,

I hope this finds each of you well.

ELECTIONS

I’m writing to announce, in line with our recently-amended Constitution, upcoming elections to our Executive Committee. Article 7 of the Constitution notes, among other things, that ‘[t]he executive business of the Association is conducted by its Executive Committee. The officers of the Executive Committee include a President, a Vice President (Projects), a Vice-President (Events), a General Secretary, a Treasurer, and up to two other officers.’ All of these named offices (in bold) will be open to election. Their duties are detailed in Article 8.


And, according to Article 9,:

Officers are elected individually by the General Assembly for renewable terms of four calendar years. Elections must be scheduled to take place no later than October of the calendar year before a new term begins. The Executive Committee must communicate the date and location of the election to members so that they have a reasonable time to consider nominations and candidates. If possible, the election should take place during the Annual General Meeting.

Nominees may only contest one office in each election. They must be members and nominations must be communicated at least a week before the election to a member chosen by the Executive Committee to act as Election Officer. The Election Officer may not be a member of the incumbent Committee and must agree not to take a position on the new Executive Committee. The Election Officer will not identify any nominees to members until after the deadline for nominations has passed.

Where only a single nomination is received, the person nominated is deemed elected. If there are two or more candidates, the person elected must receive a majority of the votes cast. When a majority is not reached, the two candidates receiving the highest votes compete for the office in a new election to be held within a week of the first election. All electoral disputes are handled by the incumbent Executive Committee….

With these requirements in mind, we propose that the elections will take place on 30 October 2013 and have selected Martin Sychold (martin.sychold@isdc-dfjp.unil.ch) as our Election Officer. Martin was previously the Election Officer at our last elections. He’ll collect nominations from today until midnight on 22 October 2013 (Swiss Time). Individuals may nominate themselves. On 23 October 2013, Martin will circulate a list of the nominations received and, where there’s only a single nomination, any individuals deemed to be elected. Where an election is to be held, the votes of paid members will be taken by email and will be counted on 31 October and the results announced as soon as possible.

Finally, note that two additional Committee members may be ‘collectively appoint[ed]’ by ‘[t]he President and Vice-Presidents’. While the selection of these individuals will have to occur after the elections, members should feel free to contact the Committee, either before or after the elections, to express their interest in assisting us. The new Committee will also have the responsibility for selecting or re-appointing members of our Advisory Council.

MISCELLANEOUS

More information is coming shortly on events and publications, but note that we delayed updating our membership rolls until after the election. If you wish to be removed, please contact us at secretariat.jd@outlook.com. If you wish to remain a member and haven’t already paid your membership fees, we’d ask that you please do so immediately.

And, for those who haven’t already done so, please sign up for our blog notices (on the right-hand side of the page), ‘Like’ our Facebook Page, or ‘Follow’ our Twitter Page to ensure that you’re getting our posts (articles, books, events, etc). More generally, please help us spread the word about our activities. As always, we welcome your thoughts.

Please let me know if you’ve any questions. Best wishes.


Seán

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