Each year, section and community members elect more than 225 leaders from a slate of more than 600 candidates across 66 separate ballots. Sections and communities work with the ASA Office to coordinate its election as they are conducted simultaneously with ASA-wide elections. All sections and communities must meet association-wide deadlines or conduct separate balloting at its own expense. Each election is required to be competitive and have at least two candidates for each open position.
Election system emails including ballots are sent out from “[email protected].” Please ensure this email address is added to the permitted sender’s list on your spam filter to ensure timely delivery of important election messages.
Candidate Responsibilities
- Learns and understands the responsibilities of the position to which they have been nominated before accepting the nomination. Accepting the nomination to be a candidate implies fulfillment of the position responsibilities if elected for the duration of specified term.
- Meets all election-related deadlines.
- Ensures ASA membership and section/community membership is current by March 1 and extend beyond June 1 to be eligible to appear on ballot.
Timeline
Preparing for the Election – For Candidates for Office
October – November
Nominees confirmed acceptance of candidacy and willingness to appear on ballot. Becoming a candidate implies fulfillment of the position responsibilities if elected and to maintain ASA membership for the duration of specified term. Any leader in an ASA-wide, Section, or Community position whose membership lapses will be removed from their position.
Early February
Candidates are invited to enter their profiles and statement on the official ballot site.
February 28
Deadline for candidates to enter their profiles and statement on the official ballot site.
March 1
ASA and Section/Community membership deadline for candidates to appear on the ballot. All regular ASA members whose membership is, and will remain, active between March 1 and June 1 of a given year are eligible to run for ASA elected office in that year’s election.
Election – For All Eligible Voting Members
March 31
Last day to join ASA and sections to be eligible to vote in this year’s election. All regular ASA members whose membership is, and will remain, active between April 1 and June 1 of a given year can vote in that year’s election.
April 13, 2027*
The ASA Elections open. Eligible members will be sent emails to their online ballots.
May 17, 2027*
Voting ends at 5pm Eastern time.
Reporting Results – For Section Chairs/Community Leaders
May 20, 2027*
ASA Office will notify all candidates with election results. Section Chairs/Community Leaders are responsible for announcing results to their membership.
* Actual dates vary year to year. The election can start no later than May 15 and members must have at least 30 days to vote.
Results
The ASA Office will notify all candidates of the election results after the results have been tabulated and certified a few days after the election closes. Section chairs and community leaders are responsible for publicizing results to their members.
Policies
- All elections must be contested by at least two persons per open position.
- ASA Bylaws (Article I, Section 3) states “Regular Members shall have the right to vote for the election of officers and at-large members of the Council and on matters specifically provided for in these Bylaws or on matters submitted by the Council to a vote of the Regular Members and hold elected or appointed office as specifically provided in these Bylaws. All individuals serving in leadership positions including, but not limited to, Officers, Directors, or members of any committee or editorial board shall be required to hold regular membership in the Association. Affiliate members do not have the right to vote or hold office.”
- All candidates must be ASA members and members of the section/community by March 1.
- No candidate may run for chair-elect of two sections simultaneously, nor serve as chair of two sections in the same year.
- Depending on the position (with exceptions detailed below), members are permitted to serve on both ASA-wide positions and the section/community positions simultaneously.
- ASA Council members may not concurrently serve nor be a candidate for any elected Section or Community position.
- Members may only serve in one Section or Community elected position at a time.
- Members may only appear on the ballot for one position across all ASA-wide, Section, or Community elections.
- Members may not concurrently serve on the ASA Publications Committee and any elected position of a Section with a section journal (Community and Urban Sociology; Political Economy of the World System; Racial and Ethnic Minorities; Sociology of Mental Health; Sociology of Sexualities)
- Sections/Communities may have additional election requirements enumerated in their bylaws/guidelines.
- All candidates are invited to include a brief profile, which will be listed on the election website alongside their ballot.
- Candidates and ballot initiatives may also be placed on the ballot via member petition. Each section’s bylaws should have procedures established for doing so. The membership of petition signatories must be verified by the ASA Office. In addition, petition signatures may be collected in electronic formats as well as handwritten.
- Section bylaws amendments and dues change proposals are reviewed through a separate process and must be approved by the Sections Committee and ASA Council. For more information, please contact [email protected].
Candidate Profiles and Statements
All candidates are invited to provide a candidate profile and statement. Candidates will be contacted by the election vendor with a link to enter their information on a website. This information will be made available on the electronic ballot and may also be included in newsletters, listservs, webpages, social media posts etc., to educate members about the candidates. All profile information should be entered into the ballot by February 28th. Please keep profile entries and statements brief. Candidates are fully responsible for the accuracy, content, and copy editing of their profiles. For your reference and convenience, below are the items one may include in the profile. Please note that the items are broad and may not apply to all candidates. Please skip the items that do not apply.
Name
Enter your name and affiliation exactly as you want it to appear on the ballot. Please enter middle initials or names in the same text box as First Name.
Affiliation
Enter the full and formal name of your affiliation. For example, instead of UCLA, please enter University of California, Los Angeles.
Present Professional Position
Provide title/rank, place of your current employment and the dates of employment.
Personal Statement
Provide a personal statement of no more than 1000 characters explaining why you are seeking office and why you feel qualified to be elected.
Former Professional Positions Held
Provide three (3) most recent professional positions relevant to sociology with most recent first. Please provide title/rank, place of employment, and dates of employment for each position.
Education
Enter your three most recent degrees earned, listing the most recent degree earned first. For each, please provide the degree earned, the institution from which it was earned, and the year it was received. For example: “PhD, ABC University, 2001.” ASA style is to list degrees without periods (e.g., PhD rather than Ph.D.).
Positions Held in ASA
Enter up to five (5) positions you have held within ASA as a whole (e.g. ASA Section, ASA Community, or any ASA committee or taskforce) with the most recent first. ASA Section or Community offices should be listed here.
Office Held in Other Organizations
Enter up to five (5) offices you have held in organizations other than ASA with the most recent first (e.g. Association of Black Sociologists, International Sociological Association etc). ASA Section/Community offices should not be listed here.
Publications
Provide a list of no more than five (5) of your publications, both books and articles, with the most recent first. The American Sociological Association Style Guide provides the following direction on listing publications:
Include the first names and surnames for all authors – use first-name initials only if an author used initials in the original publication. For items with multiple authors, only the first author’s name is inverted (e.g., Jones, Arthur B., Colin D. Smith, and James Petersen). Book titles should be italicized and not underlined.