Updated December 2019
SECTION 14 – ELECTION
14.1 ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
The Elections Committee is a standing committee authorized by the IEEE Computer Society bylaws. As described in the bylaws, the Elections Committee shall be responsible to develop the timetable for implementing the Society’s elections process and notify the Board of Governors, the Nominations Committee, the candidate and the appropriate staff members of the required actions. The Elections Committee shall implement and monitor the execution of election policies and procedures established by the Board, and rule on questions and issues that arise.
14.2 ELECTIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
The Elections Committee shall consist of a minimum of three Computer Society members, each with at least full member grade, and none of whom will be a candidate for elected office during the term of that Elections Committee. The Computer Society president shall appoint the Elections Committee chair as provided in the bylaws and the chair shall appoint the other committee members.
14.3 PETITION CANDIDATES
As set forth in Article II of the society’s bylaws, candidates for the Board of Governors and the positions of president-elect, first and second vice-president, may be added to the slate of candidates nominated by the Nominations Committee and approved by the Board of Governors by petition. To add petition candidates, the following procedures shall be followed:
1. The petition candidate shall meet the qualifications and follow the procedures for the office sought as specified by IEEE and IEEE Computer Society bylaws;
2. Petition candidates are referred to Article II of the society’s bylaws regarding the number of signatures required and other regulations to be followed.
3. The petition candidate shall personally notify, in writing or via e-mail, the society’s secretary and assistant secretary of his/her intention to run as a petition candidate, stating the position to be sought. Notification may be sent in the year during which the petition candidate seeks inclusion on the ballot, no sooner than the day after the date on which the society’s Board of Governors approves the slate of candidates for the position sought;
4. Petition “signatures” are submitted according to Article II of the bylaws;
5. Petitions to add nominees to the list of candidates shall be provided to the secretary of the IEEE Computer Society and the chair of the Elections Committee in accordance with the election schedule approved by the Board of Governors for that election year. The secretary shall:
- Send the original petition “signatures” by certified mailto the secretary of the IEEE Technical Activities Board for certification of eligibility of the signatories.
- Shall keep one copy of the petition until notification is received of the results of the certification process.
- Shall notify the president, chair of the Elections Committee, the chief staff executive and the additional nominee(s) the results of the certification process.
The chief staff executive shall complete the processing to ensure that the additional nominee(s) are listed on the ballot.
14.4 ELECTION GUIDELINES
Candidates shall adhere to IEEE policies on elections and electioneering, and IEEE policies on mailing lists and rosters.
- Candidates must only send messages soliciting support to individuals personally known to the candidate, and give the recipient the opportunity to opt-out from future emails from the sender. Candidates cannot use IEEE or Computer Society resources, such membership databases, rosters, conference attendance lists, websites, or email distribution lists, to solicit support.
- Candidate personal web sites must include a disclaimer such as “The opinions of this page are mine and are not necessarily those of this IEEE Computer Society or the IEEE.” Candidates may use the IEEE or IEEE CS master brand graphic on their personal websites if the website includes a web disclaimer.
- Candidates may share their candidacy via social media, and direct readers to their personal website or blog. However, candidates cannot use any IEEE affiliated social media resources for election campaign activities (e.g. posting to IEEE Collabratec, to an IEEE Linkedin group or to an IEEE Facebook page). Candidates cannot send messages via social media to individuals with Computer Society affiliations that are not connected with or known to the candidate.
14.5 ELECTION RESULTS TO BE PUBLISHED
The results of all membership elections are to be published in Computer at the earliest possible date including tallies of votes cast.
14.6 ELECTION RESULTS TO BE SENT TO EACH CANDIDATE
The chief staff executive shall send notice of the election results to each candidate on the ballot within ten calendar days of the close of the election stating both the results and the vote count.
14.7 SOURCE OF NOMINATION DISCLOSURE
Candidates for IEEE Computer Society officers and Board of Governors should not be identified on the ballot by source of nomination.
