Procedures for Section and Working Group 2020 online elections

Rules and practices for the 2020 online elections of section and working group heads

1. A section or working group should have a board that consists -at a minimum- of 2 persons, called "the Head".

2. The Head might be constituted (minimally, then) of:
       a. 1 Chair and 1 Co-Chair 
       b. 1 Chair and 1 Vice-Chair 
       c. 2 Co-Chairs ​
   and might also be constituted for instance of: 
       d. 1 Chair and 2 Vice-Chairs or Co-Chairs 
       e. Or any variation from above, for instance 2 Co-Chairs and 1 Vice-Chair, 2 Co-Chairs and 2 Vice-Chairs, 3 Co-Chairs, etc. according to the various specific section or working group practices.

3. The Executive Board must be notified of the person who is the administrative "contact" for IAMCR organizational business on behalf of the Head. The other Head members are of course allowed to be substituted, dependent upon their presence at the Conference, the Section and Working Group Heads meeting, the IC meeting, etc. In case more than one of the Head members is present at a formal IAMCR meeting, only one may vote.

4. The duration of all mandates is 4 years, and Section and WG Officers may be reelected to their position only once (8 years in a row is the maximum). It is possible to be elected Chair after an 8 years mandate as a Vice-Chair or Co-Chair, and vice-versa. One may be a candidate for such positions in only one section or WG at the same time though simultaneous candidacies for different positions within the same section or working group are possible, the higher ranking eliminating the lesser one if successful.

5. Any section or working group scheduled to hold elections in 2020 will prepare a formal announcement and send it to the IAMCR General Secretary and the Executive Secretariat no later than 30 April. The incumbent Section Officers are in charge of the process. The secretariat will provide technical support with the website and voting platform.
   Sections and working groups that wish to extend the mandates of current heads until 2021, must submit a request by email to the Secretary General no later than 27 April. A section or working group wishing to extend the mandate of its heads should inform its members of the decision.
   The formal announcement will state who steps down, who wants to stay on, and what positions remain to be filled. The announcement will say that candidates must send their name, institutional position, a statement of no more than 400 words, and, optionally, a photograph, to the incumbent heads, with a copy to the secretariat, no later than 10 June. All candidates must be current members of IAMCR and of the section or working group.
   A page on the IAMCR website will be dedicated to this process. Both the initial announcement and candidate information will be published. 

6. The elections will be held online from 6 to 12 July using the SurveyMonkey platform. Voting lists will be generated on 10 June 2020. Individual members and representatives of institutional members who are also registered as members of the section or working group at the time the voting lists are generated will be sent ballots. Members who join the working group after the voting list has been generated will not be able to vote. On 6 July emails with links will be sent to all those on the voting list of each section or working group holding an election. When the election is complete, results will be posted on the IAMCR website.

7. Section and Working Group officers must be IAMCR members, either directly, or through an IAMCR institutional member who has listed them among its IAMCR representatives. The IAMCR treasurer will check on the newly elected officers membership and their election will be voided if they do not immediately comply to the treasurer's (late) dues payment request.

8. If a Section or a Working Group does not comply to these Rules and Practices, the EB will take temporary measures to appoint an interim Head as fit and will carry them to the GA for approval or the IC afterwards by electronic voting approval if need be. The interim will last until the next IAMCR conference where new elections will be happening.

Adopted by the International Council in Dublin, June 25th, 2013. These rules were revised and adopted as a final policy by the International Council in Leicester, June 27, 2016. A clarification to section 6 was added by the Executive Board, with the approval of the Legal Committee, in December 2018, adding the text in bold: Only current IAMCR members in good standing and registered as members of the section or working group may vote or stand for elected positions.

The motion to hold online elections, with the corresponding modifications of Sections 5 and 6, was accepted by the International Council, through online voting on 15 April, 2020.