Each year, section and community members elect more than 225 leaders from a slate of more than 600 candidates. 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.
Responsibilities
Section/Community Election Coordinator
- Coordinates entire section / community election process.
- Leads nominating committee and candidate recruitment process.
- Recruits at least two candidates per open position. For example, if there are two council positions open, at least four candidates must be recruited to appear on ballot.
- Notifies the candidate that they have been nominated for the position and ensures they meet candidate requirements (e.g. membership in ASA and the section/community).
- Informs candidates of ASA membership requirement to appear on the ballot and, if elected, for the duration of the term, position responsibilities, length of service commitment, and all deadlines related to the election.
- Enters ballot information onto online voting system including position, candidate name, and email address by the listed deadline.
Section Chair/Community Leader
- Stays informed of the nomination and election process and ensures the section/community election coordinator is fulling their responsibilities and meeting all deadlines.
- Announces election results to section/community membership.
Candidates
- 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 to be eligible to appear on ballot.
ASA Office
- Provides information, tutorials, and timelines to all participants.
- Works with third party election vendor.
- Verifies the membership status of candidates.
- Responds to questions regarding the election.
Timeline
Creating a Ballot – For Section Chairs/Community Leaders and Election Coordinators
August
Typically, during the annual meeting, many sections/communities engage in nominating committee nominations and other election related activities.
August 20
Name and contact information of election coordinators due to ASA Office.
October
Initial email sent to Section Chairs/Community Leaders and Section Election Coordinators informing them of anticipated ballot.
October 6
Confirm anticipated ballot of vacant positions.
November 15
Sections Only: Section bylaw amendment or dues change proposals due.
January 12
All candidate slates are finalized. Deadline for Election Coordinators to enter all candidates on vendor election ballot site.
Preparing for the Election – For Candidates for Office
Early February
Candidates are invited to enter their biographies and statements on the official ballot site.
February 28
Deadline for candidates to enter their biographies and statements 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 16, 2025*
The ASA Elections open. Eligible members will be sent emails to their online ballots.
May 19, 2025*
Voting ends at 5pm Eastern time.
Reporting Results – For Section Chairs/Community Leaders
May 22, 2025*
ASA Office will contact and 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.
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.
- Members are permitted to serve on both ASA-wide positions and the section/community positions simultaneously.
- Sections may have additional election requirements enumerated in their bylaws
- All candidates are invited to include a brief biographical entry, 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.
- 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].
Diversity Statement
Sections and Communities are encouraged to nominate candidates who reflect the diversity of the association in areas such as demographic characteristics, professional status, institutional type, and employment sector. Please read ASA’s Diversity Statement for more information.
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.
Candidate Biographical Information and Statements
All candidates are invited to provide relevant biographical information for the election. 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 section/community newsletters, listservs, social media posts etc., to educate members about the candidates. All biographical information should be entered into the ballot by February 28th. Please keep biographical entries and statements brief. Candidates are fully responsible for the accuracy, content, and copy editing of their biographies. For your reference and convenience, below are the items one may include in the biography. Please note that the items are broad and may not apply to all candidates. Please skip the items that do not apply.
Name and Affiliation
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.
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 150 words 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.
You can find a tutorial for entering candidate biographical information and statements here.
