2021 Board of Directors Election - Information Thread - Election has Ended!
Click Here for the results of the election for our 2021-2022 Board of Directors.
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Greetings and Salutations Fellow Makers 
What’s This About:
It is nearly that time of year again! Every year at our Annual Meeting in June we have elections for our Board of Directors. Elections are held via electronic voting to your registered Wild Apricot email account. Nominations are accepted up and through the end of the Annual Meeting. The ‘ballot’ will be prepared by the Election Committee within 24 hours after the end of the meeting and every member in good standing will have an opportunity to cast their vote within a 48 hour window.
Board members serve a term of one year, except for the President who serves a second term in the position of Immediate Past President, to allow for some retention of organizational knowledge from one board to the next. There are four officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, who along with the Immediate Past President, and four At-Large Directors make up the board.
Deep Dive: You can read more about the board, the role and duties of its members, how it operates, and the election process by checking out our Bylaws, Standing Rules, and Voting page on the Wiki.
Rough Timeline
- Alert Membership of Upcoming Election (this is the start - do you feel alerted!?, email to follow)
- Send reminder / test email to all members in good standing to their WA email account to make sure folks can see where their ballot will be delivered (this evening, 5/10)
- Appoint Election Committee (will do officially at upcoming Board Meeting 5/20 per rules)
- The committee tentatively consists of:
- Board Secretary, Patrick Hutchison
- IT Member, Christian Kindle
- Security Member, Gary
- Malissa Long
- LaDeana Dockery
- The committee tentatively consists of:
- Set Date and Time of Annual Meeting (will do at upcoming Board Meeting 5/20)
- Solicit Nominations
- Any member in good standing is eligible to run for a position, so long as they have not already served three elected terms on the board.
- Nominations may be made by emailing: secretary@makeict.org
- Encourage and engage membership in discussion with the candidates on the forum.
- Candidates who accept nominations prior to the annual meeting will be asked to answer a few short questions here on the forum so the membership can get to know them prior to the Annual Meeting.
- I or another member of the election committee will start a forum thread for each candidate with the starter questions here in the Leadership category using the ‘2021-board-election’ tag and will help moderate discussion as needed to keep things organized and easy to find.
What Do You Need to Do:
- Keep an eye out on your email, especially your Junk Mail / SPAM folder later this evening to make sure that the test email comes through so you know you’ll be able to find receive your ballot in June.
- If you yourself are interested, or you know someone who you think would be an excellent candidate for one of the positions, you can send nominations to secretary@makeict.org. This goes for existing board members who wish to run again who are not term limited.
- As new information is posted here to the forum about the candidates, read through and engage with the discussion to learn about the candidates and prepare yourself to vote in June.
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Can the president be elected for a second term? And if so, does that automatically require another term for the past president? Assuming of course the current president would agree to a nomination.
Yes, the current president can run for a second term. The past president only serves for 1 year. So if Jai get reelected, there will be no immediate past president and the board will consist of 8 members.
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Past President is a jerk who has been on the Board too long already. I say get rid of him.
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Does the immediate past president retain his immediate past president place on the board until there is a new immediate past president? seems that the purpose of allowing a smooth transition should be pretty well underway by the time his second term would begin. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
The topic of the past Pres is a sticky one and all opinions aside, the bylaws only state a one term (year) seat for the past president with no provisions for what happens with this seat if the current president is retained for the maximum 3 terms. In most board of directors, especially ones with an even number of directors not including the past president the past pres typically serves two functions continuity with in the organization and a tie breaker vote so the board wont get hung up on something if there is a 4-4 split.
Looking from the point of view of the past presidents, many need a break from MakeICT. It’s not uncommon for one to take a sabbatical after they are off the board, and disappear for a few months to a year. They are human and should be allowed to do this.
Life isn’t all bylaws sometimes.
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You are correct. Immediate Past President is a one-year deal in all cases.
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Actually how our by-laws are written the President can’t vote unless they are needed to break a tie. There are some issues with our by-laws but it takes a lot of support to change them.
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At this evening’s Board Meeting we nominated the members of our election committee and set the date for the Annual Meeting. Over the next several weeks we’ll send out additional reminders about the election, and start a space for introductions and discussion of the candidates as nominees accept positions.
If you have someone you would like to nominate, or would like to nominate yourself, please email: secretary@makeict.org. If you have other questions about the election or process, please post them here and we’ll get them answered.
If any of our members wish to be considered for election but don’t think it looks good to nominate themselves (theirself? whatever.), just let me know and I’ll nominate you. The more the merrier.
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Same and I’ve already been approached.
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On the other hand, if we put every eligible member on the ballot for every position…
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You have to opt out for running for office. That would be an extremely large ballot.
The Bylaws state maximum of 3 elected terms. Missing is appointed terms, such as someone filling out a term. Or in the case of a past president, a position that is defined as being out of office, but still on the board.
I would also agree with the point of a Past President needing a break. NO, NOT a broken bone break either!!! So perhaps in name only or an actual serving Past President.
YMMV