Council Policy Manual: A. Elections

The APA Policy Manual is a collection of policy actions taken by the APA Council of Representatives. This edition includes actions taken after 1960 and up to but not including August 2001. The texts included in the Manual are the texts of the actual motions passed by Council.

• I. Apportionment Ballots
  
• II. Boards and Committees
  
• III. Council of Representatives
  
• IV. Election Principles
  
• V. Members Who Have Not Previously Served
  
• VI. Presidential Elections

I. APPORTIONMENT BALLOTS

1. 1975

Council approved a motion that the Council apportionment ballot be revised to show individual state or division votes for coalitions; coalitions would be indicated, but votes for each unit of a coalition would then be known.

2. 1990

That divisions and state associations be encouraged to be more active in alerting their members to the importance of returning the apportionment ballot and that information on divisions and state associations be included with the ballot mailing.

3. 1992

Council voted to approve a motion providing that in cases of coalitions designated on the Apportionment Ballot, the calculation of votes be based on the percentage total for the coalition cumulatively rather than for each state and division individually within the coalition, and that only after the total percentage for the coalition is calculated will the percentage be rounded. This process was initiated with the tabulation of the Apportionment Ballot for the 1993 legislative year.

4. February 1993

Council considered a motion proposing that for coalitions on the Apportionment Ballot, results be determined based on the total vote allocations for all members of the coalition rather than on the percent of total votes received by, and rounded for, each individual coalition member. On the recommendation of the Board of Directors and the Committee on Structure and Function of Council voted to approve the following, substitute motion, as amended:

II. BOARDS AND COMMITTEES

1. 1975

Council approved the following recommendation dealing with the election of members of minority groups to boards and committees:

That the APA Central Office make available to the members of APA a yearly summary of the numbers of men, women, and minority groups (as defined by the U.S. Government and required on EEO-1 reports) who were nominated, and the numbers of men, women, and minority groups who were elected and/or appointed to all APA boards and committees.

In addition, Council requested that the members of the Council of Editors include routinely in their annual reports a summary of the men, women, and minority groups serving as editors, associate editors, consulting editors, and reviewers. Further, Council requested that the numbers of men, women, and minority groups who leave any of these positions also be made available.

2. 1977

(1) The nomination process shall begin in February so that standing boards and committees have access to the recommendations for nominees from the Council of Representatives, divisions, state associations, and the APA Monitor solicitation when preparing slates of recommendations for the Board of Directors. All recommendations from all sources would also be included in the summary book of recommendations prepared for the Board Subcommittee on Nominations, as is presently done.

(2) Each standing board and committee shall submit a slate of candidates equal to the number to appear on the ballots, plus an equal number of alternates.

(3) All recommended candidates shall be rank ordered and a rationale provided for each one.

(4) Boards or committees that prepare separate slates for each position shall provide the reasons for doing so.

(5) The phrase "call for nominations" shall be replaced by he phrase "call for recommended candidates for election to boards and committees."

Additionally, Council concurred with the task force recommendation that the Board Subcommittee on Nominations prepare an annual report to the membership on the nominations procedures and the results in terms of numbers of individuals recommended, the percentage who got on the ballot, and the percentage of those elected from the various sources, this report to be made available to the Council and submitted for publication in the APA Monitor. The task force also went on record in support of the Board statement (voted in June 1977) that no candidate should be nominated for a board or committee to run unopposed, except under extraordinary circumstances; when this is done, a full explanation should be presented on the ballot, as was done in the election held in 1977.

3. August 1990

On the recommendation of the Board of Directors and the Committee on Structure and Function of Council, Council voted to approve the following motion concerning service on boards and committees by Council members:

"That Council members be encouraged to seek nomination to boards and committees. The nomination process would be one of the topics covered at the Committee on Structure and Function of Council sponsored orientation for new Council members. Shortly after their election, Council representatives will be sent a letter encouraging them to participate in the nomination process for boards and committees along with information on the election process for boards and committees."

III. COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES

1. 1980

In order to ensure that the provisions of the Bylaws are met, Council voted that the balloting process for Council Representatives from state associations be conducted by APA Central Office as it now does for divisions. The state associations would be required to furnish the APA Central Office with a list of their members for checking the ballot.

2. August 1997

Council also voted to approve the following resolution regarding increasing ethnic minority representation on Council and requested that it be included with the Bylaw ballot and Monitor article regarding the proposed Bylaw changes:

IV. ELECTION PRINCIPLES

1982

Council adopted the following "General Principles" (developed by the Policy and Planning Board) dealing with the APA election process:

Council rejects any requirement for a hiatus on one year in service on boards and committees. There should be no formal restriction on a person's sequential service on different boards and committees. Preference should be given to "new blood" rather than "old", if other factors as essentially equal, but the primary consideration in all elections or appointments should be, "Who can best serve the needs of APA in this particular assignment or office?"

No member of one standing board or committee or continuing committee shall serve simultaneously on any other continuing or standing board or committee of the Association unless formally authorized by a board or committee, and unless service is on a group that reports to that board or committee. This shall not preclude liaison assignments or consultant relationships, or task forces or commissions, or other ad hoc groupings, and shall not apply to divisions or officers of affiliated organizations.

Individuals serving in the APA Presidency cycle shall not hold offices within the Association other than ex officio positions that accompany the office. Operationally, (a) candidates for the presidency shall be restricted from running for any other elective office, such as division offices, within the Association while they are candidates for the presidency; and (b) a person elected to the APA presidency shall, during the term of president-elect, president, and past president, be restricted from holding any other office in the Association that is not an ex officio extension of the presidential office.

The Council rejects any requirement for providing information on past and current service of candidates for election to boards and committees, endorsing the concept in principle but not adopting it as a hard and fast rule of the Association.

The Council also adopted the following as general principles, but not hard and fast rules: (5) persons will normally be nominated for election to standing boards or committees only after they have served on an APA continuing committee, task force or commission, or on the Council; and (6) continuing committee assignments and those to other appointed groups are considered important avenues for introducing members without prior board or committee experience into APA governance activities, but continuing committees should not be restricted from drawing on experienced members as appropriate to the parent group.

V. MEMBERS WHO HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY SERVED

August 2000

Council voted to direct all directorates and governance groups to identify strategies specific to that directorate or governance group and implement appropriate mechanisms that will provide opportunities for newcomers (those who have not previously served on the Council of Representatives or a board or committee, with exception of APAGS) to participate in governance. One of these mechanisms might be to propose a slate comprised solely of members who haven’t previously served on the Council of Representatives or board or committee, with the exception of APAGS.

Council voted to approve the establishment of a task force to be appointed by the President to consider methods of providing that each division and state association have at least one seat on Council. Council requested that the task force come back to Council with a recommendation in February 2001.

Council voted to elect 126 Members to initial Fellow status on the nomination of the indicated divisions and on the recommendation of the Membership Committee and the Board of Directors.

Council voted to approve the inclusion of $27,000 in the 2001 Preliminary Budget for the establishment of a Task Force on Membership Retention and Recruitment assigned to formulate a systematic plan to foster the retention of members and appropriate outreach to nonmembers. The Task Force, to be composed of up to 15 people to be appointed by the President, will hold conference calls in 2000 and up to 2 meetings in 2001.

Council received an update on the new-business-in-progress item “Creation of a New Membership Category.”

Council received an update on the new-business-in-progress item “New Criteria for Dues-Exempt Status.”

Council received an update on the new-business-in-progress item “New Member Slates for Committees.”

VI. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

1965

Council voted that a biographical statement on each candidate accompany ballots for the president-elect of APA.

August 1991

Council voted to change the word limit for APA President-elect candidate's statements in the APA Monitor from 2,500 words to 1,000 words.

February 1996

Council voted to reimburse any of the five presidential candidates, who are not members of the current Council and who are not otherwise reimbursed for travel and expenses, up to $1,000 in accordance with APA policy to attend the Plenary Session at the February meeting of the Council of Representatives.

Council Policy Manual: Table of Contents | Introduction | A. Elections | B. Awards | C. Membership | D. Human Resources | E. Ethics | F. Board of Directors | G. Divisions and State and Provincial Associations | H. Organization of APA | I. Publications and Communcations | J. Convention Affairs | K. Educational Affairs | L. Professional Affairs | M. Scientific Affairs | N. Public Interest - Part 1 | N. Public Interest - Part 2 | N. Public Interest - Part 3 | N. Public Interest - Part 4 | N. Public Interest - Part 5 | O. Ethnic Minority Affairs | P. International Affairs | Q. Central Office | R. Financial Affairs