Bylaws of the American Psychological Association - Article V:
Composition of the Council of Representatives

Council shall be composed of Representatives of Divisions, Representatives of State, Provincial and Territorial Psychological Associations, members of the Board of Directors, the Officers of the Association (the chief staff officer shall serve without vote), the Chair, Chair-elect or other designee from the Executive Committee of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) and one Representative from each affiliated Ethnic Minority Psychological Association. In the event that any Representatives of a given Division, State/Provincial/ Territorial Association or Ethnic Minority Psychological Association cannot be present, Council will seat one member as an Alternate Representative for that meeting, provided such member is an officer of or has been designated in advance by the relevant Division, State/Provincial/Territorial Association, or Ethnic Minority Psychological Association. Representatives shall hold office until their successors are elected and qualify, except that a Representative who has been elected to the Board of Directors shall continue to be a member of Council after the expiration of the individual's term as Representative, and after the election and qualification of the individual's successor as Division or State/Provincial/Territorial Association Representative, until the expiration of the individual's term as a member of the Board of Directors.

Representatives to Council shall be elected from Divisions and State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations, but need not necessarily be elected from every Division or State/ Provincial/Territorial Psychological Association.

No person shall be eligible to represent more than one organization in Council at any one time.

Council Representatives of a Division or State/ Provincial/Territorial Association shall be members of the Division or State/Provincial/Territorial Association, and Members of the American Psychological Association, and shall be elected for a period not to exceed three years. If during that three-year period the Division or State/Provincial/Territorial Association is allocated fewer seats, the Division or State/Provincial/ Territorial Association shall recall the appropriate number of Representatives. The term of office of the recalled member is thereby terminated. Council members from the Ethnic Minority Psychological Associations shall be members of their respective constituencies and members of the American Psychological Association and shall be selected for a period not to exceed three years.

Each APA Fellow, Member, voting Associate member, and voting Graduate Student member shall choose the Division(s) or State/Provincial/Territorial Association(s) through which he/she elected to have his/her interest represented on Council by allocating, at the time of the annual dues statement, a total of ten (10) votes to the Division(s) and/or State/Provincial/Territorial Association(s) through which he/she wishes to be represented the following year. However, only Fellows, Members (or voting Associate or Graduate student members) of the Divisions or State/Provincial/Territorial Associations so designated will be allowed to nominate and elect their Council Representatives. The representative of each of the Ethnic Minority Psychological Association shall be designated by the respective association.

The number of seats for Representatives from Divisions and State/Provincial/Territorial Psychological Associations allocated through the apportionment vote process shall be 162.  Each Division and each State/Provincial/Territorial Association shall be allocated a minimum of one seat on Council. The 162 seats will be divided into 2 pools, one for State/Provincial/Territorial Psychological Associations and one for Divisions.  The percentage of the 162 seats for State/Provincial/Territorial Psychological Associations shall correspond to the percentage of total apportionment votes allocated to State/Provincial/Territorial Psychological Associations and the percentage of the 162 seats for Divisions shall correspond to the percentage of total apportionment votes allocated to Divisions. If either pool is not large enough to give one seat to each unit, enough seats will be transferred from the other pool to accomplish that requirement.

The awarding of additional seats from those remaining in each Pool shall be based on the percentage of allocated votes received by a Division or State/Provincial/Territorial Psychological Association and calculated as follows:

1.5% to less than 2.5%…….1 additional seat
2.5% to less than 3.5%…….2 additional seats
3.5% to less than 4.5%…….3 additional seats
etc.

Additional seats will be allocated to those units in a Pool entitled to additional seats in the following manner.  The unit with the highest percentage in the Pool will receive the first additional seat and an additional seat will be assigned to other units entitled to one or more additional seats in descending order of their percentages.  If, after all units in a Pool entitled to one or more additional seats have received one additional seat, there remain units that are entitled to two or more additional seats, and if the seats allocated to the Pool have not been exhausted, the unit in the Pool with the highest percentage will receive a second additional seat and a second additional seat will be assigned to other units entitled to two or more additional seats in descending order of their percentages.  This process shall be continued until either all additional seats allocated to the Pool have been assigned or until all units in the Pool entitled to additional seats have been assigned all of the seats to which their percentages of allocated votes entitle them.

If, after all units in a Pool have been assigned the additional seats to which they are entitled by virtue of their percentages, there remain seats allocated to a Pool which have not been assigned, those remaining seats shall be assigned to the units in the Pool in the order in which the units came closest to being awarded another seat as a result of the allocated votes.

A Council member who has served for six consecutive years shall not be eligible for election or appointment for a period of one year as a Representative from any Division, State/Provincial/Territorial Association, Ethnic Minority Psychological Association, or coalition.