communication department

Volume XIX Number 10

Elections

The preliminary slate of candidates for Society office for 2007 was released in mid-November. As described in Article VIII, Section 1E of the STC Bylaws, additional candidates may be nominated by petition for the following offices: Second Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Director, and Nominating Committee Member. (Please note that candidates may not be nominated by petition for the offices of President and First Vice President.)

All candidates must be senior members of the Society by the time the Board of Directors is inducted at the STC annual business meeting in May 2007, during STC's 54th Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Petitions must be signed by 400 voting members or 4 percent of the voting members, whichever is lesser. The full name and address of each member must appear next to the member's signature. Electronic petitions may be conducted; please contact the Society office for details.

For a candidate to be nominated by petition, the STC office must receive the following forms by 4 PM Eastern Time on January 16, 2007:

• Candidate's signed statement of availability
• Petition containing the required number of signatures as described above
• Candidate's biographical information and statements
• Candidate's portrait photo

Copies of the statement of availability, instructions for writing the biography, and other materials regarding the election are available from the Society office.

STC's 2007 Election: Preliminary Slate of Candidates

The annual STC election will be held in early 2007, and only members who have paid their dues in full will be eligible to vote. An option on the dues renewal forms and new membership applications for 2007 allows members to receive their election materials via e-mail. In March, members who selected this option will be e-mailed the election slate, candidate biographies, and voting instructions. Members who did not select this option will receive these materials by first-class mail.

Be sure to renew your membership as soon as you receive the renewal notice to have a say in STC's future!

The preliminary slate of candidates for Society office appears on page 5. Candidates may actively campaign for office; appropriate activities include visiting communities, attending regional conferences, and publishing articles in Society and community publications or on community or personal Web sites. Upon request, communities must provide balanced coverage to all candidates. Following are some guidelines to help STC communities to determine which campaign practices are acceptable. Please note that negative campaigning is strictly prohibited.

Listservs
Candidates may contact members through community listservs. Communities may choose the means by which listserv members are notified of candidates' messages. For example, communities may post the candidate's message to the community Web site and provide a link to the message on the listserv. Communities may also allow candidates to post messages directly on the listserv. Communities may limit the number of messages from candidates posted to their Web sites or listservs.

Newsletters
If a community newsletter publishes a campaign article by one candidate, it must grant his or her opponent's request to publish an article and must do so in a timely fashion. However, not receiving an article from a candidate's opponent is not a reason to avoid publishing the article of the candidate who contacted you first.

Web Sites
If a community site links to a candidate's Web site, it must, if requested, link to the opponent's Web site.

Community leaders who have questions about these guidelines are encouraged to contact the STC office at (703) 522-4114 for more information.