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Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Guidelines and Operating Procedures for the 2004 Nominating Committee The primary objective of the SSAR Nominating Committee is to identify and nominate enthusiastic candidates to stand for election to SSAR offices. Historically, SSAR officers are expected to be individuals who will work for the Society while in office. Article IV of the SSAR Bylaws describes the appointment of the Nominating Committee and the procedure for the election. Article IV. Elections of Officers and Directors Section 1. The President shall appoint five members of the Society to serve as a nominating committee, except that not more than one member of the Board of Directors may be appointed to the committee in any one year. Section 2. The Nominating Committee shall present a slate of at least two candidates for each office to be filled, except that at its discretion, the committee may offer only one candidate for the position of Secretary and one for the position of Treasurer. The slate must be presented at the annual meeting, at which time nominations may be made by the membership. Section 3. The Nominating Committee, or a member of the Society proposing a nominee, shall obtain the consent of the candidate to serve if elected. Section 4. The Slate of Nominations shall be prepared in ballot form and circulated to the entire membership by the Secretary not later than one month after the annual meeting. Ballots, to be valid, must be returned to the designated recipient within a three-week period of the date printed on the ballot. Section 5. The President shall appoint an Elector from among the membership who will receive and count the ballots, and inform the Secretary of the results. The results of the election shall be communicated to the membership by the Secretary via the Newsletter. Section 6. The Secretary shall inform the elected candidates of their election. Newly elected persons will take office on the first of January of the year following that of the election. Availability and Experience of Candidates An SSAR Officer or Director should not serve as an official in any other society (i.e., ASIH or HL) if his or her attendance of that society's board meeting will conflict with the attendance of the entire SSAR Board meeting. SSAR officials who accept a conflicting position after their election or appointment shall forfeit their position in SSAR. The Chairperson of the SSAR Nominating Committee will determine if such conflicts exist early in the nominating process. Candidates must express willingness to attend Board meetings during their term of office. Nominees for President-Elect ideally should have served as a member of the Board of Directors. Ideally, nominees for Director should have served as a Chairperson of an SSAR committee. Candidates should be selected who have demonstrated a willingness to work for SSAR. Highly desirable qualities for SSAR officers and Directors include being: (a) a prompt correspondent, (b) an innovator, and (c) a regular attendee of SSAR annual meetings. Persons standing for election must be familiar with Society operations. Normally, the incumbent SSAR Secretary and Treasurer are re-nominated unopposed. The Nominating Committee should consult extensively with the current Society officers when nominating a new individual to either of these offices, since the search for appropriate candidates will be critical and time consuming, and the offices are exceptionally important. Three Director's positions on the SSAR Board are reserved for representation of (1) conservation, (2) regional herpetological societies, and (3) non-U.S. members. These positions will come up for election in a regular order, and the current SSAR President and Secretary should be diligent in notifying the Nominating Committee which position is up for election. Each Director's position, as with other offices, requires two candidates, except Secretary and Treasurer. Beginning with the 2004 mail ballot, the Board will have 5 regular members, in addition to the three reserved positions listed above. Report of the Nominating Committee The Nominating Committee Chairperson will submit an annual report to the Secretary. The report will include the list of candidates and a concise paragraph about each candidate including name, current position, educational background (university level only, if appropriate), research interests, and previous service to SSAR and other herpetological societies. The report must reach the Secretary no later than one month prior to the annual meeting. It will be distributed to the Board of Directors and discussed at the annual meeting of the Board. The Nominating Committee Chairperson is expected to attend the Board meeting. Composition of the Nominating Committee The SSAR Nominating Committee consists of at least five SSAR members and includes at least one member of the current SSAR Board of Directors (preferably the SSAR Secretary) to assure continuity. A five-member Nominating Committee is an SSAR constitutional requirement. Mechanism for the Committee's Work The Chairperson of the SSAR Nominating Committee initially should establish the mechanism by which candidates are selected. The following procedure has proven to be reasonably successful: 1. The Committee Chairperson should first determine whether the incumbent Secretary and Treasurer will stand unopposed for re-election during the coming year. If they are willing, the other members of the Committee should be informed. If not, consult with the current SSAR officers for nominations to these posts. 2. While informing the other members of the Committee of the willingness of the Secretary and Treasurer to continue to serve, ask for their votes to nominate both candidates and request that Committee members additionally submit two names for each of the other positions that need to be filled. The Committee members should also be informed of the criteria of availability and experience presented earlier. This procedure will, potentially, leave the Chairperson with a pool of names, provided there is no duplication. 3. The Chairperson should go over the pool and eliminate those not available or lacking experience (see above). Inform appropriate Committee member(s) why his or her proposed candidate(s) was rejected, and request a replacement name(s). The President, President-Elect, and Secretary are to be consulted concerning the list of potential candidates and their suitability for a particular position in the Society. This consultation must be done prior to step 4. 4. After a final pool of names has been established, the Nominating Committee Chairperson should list the candidates for the various positions in alphabetical order. The Committee members should numerically rank the list for each office and return their rankings to the Chairperson by a specified date. 5. After establishing the rankings of the candidates, the Committee Chairperson should distribute these rankings to the Committee members and SSAR officers and, at the same time, inform them of his/her intent to contact the proposed candidates (starting with the top-ranked individuals on each list) until a sufficient number of proposed candidates have accepted nomination, thus completing the preparation of a slate of nominees. 6. The Committee Chairperson should inform the Committee members of the completed slate of nominees. 7. The Committee Chairperson should, finally, request concise paragraphs with the information described above (under Report of the Nominating Committee) from each nominee for inclusion on the ballot, and should submit the names of the nominees and their biographic information to the SSAR Secretary as soon as possible, but no later than one month before the annual meeting, in the Committee's annual report. The Nominating Committee is appointed by the SSAR President as soon after the annual meeting as possible. The Committees should file their annual report with the Secretary several months before the annual meeting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ These Guidelines were prepared originally by Joseph T. Collins in 1981 and have been modified subsequently by James S. Jacob, SSAR Secretary, August 1986, and Janalee P. Caldwell, SSAR President, March and August 2003. |
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