Psychiatric News November 5, 2004
Volume 39 Number 21
© 2004 American Psychiatric Association
p. 41
APA's Election Guidelines Emphasize Dignity, Courtesy, and Fairness
With the announcement of the Nominating Committee's selection of candidates
for the 2005 election (Psychiatric News, October 1), the campaign
season is under way, and members will want to be familiar with the campaign
guidelines.
The APA Elections Committee is charged with establishing procedures, with
the approval of the Board of Trustees, for equitable voting of the membership.
These procedures are documented in the election guidelines section of the
Operations Manual.
Guidelines prescribing members' election-related activities were
established by the Board in the early 1970s, when APA began having contested
elections. Restrictions on campaigning were initially adopted as an attempt to
address at least four major concerns: (1) to guard against massive campaign
efforts "buying" an election win, particularly if those efforts
were financed by resources from outside the membership, (2) the revulsion
against campaign committees and unwelcome bids for public support, (3) the
growing distress of the membership at being deluged with campaign materials,
and (4) a feeling held by an unknown proportion of the members that
large-scale campaigning was inconsistent with their conception of APA's
professional image. The concerns are as valid today as they were in the'70s,
and the guidelines continue to address them.
There are three sections to the guidelines: for the candidates and
supporters, for those holding appointed or elected positions in APA, Area
Councils/state associations, or district branches; and for the use of
electronic media.
The intent of the guidelines is "to encourage fair and open
campaigning by APA members on a level playing field, foster opportunities for
candidates to educate their colleagues about the issues and about their
experiences and views; keep costs down, and maintain dignified and courteous
conduct appropriate to the image of a profession." Personal attacks
against opponents are not permitted.
Most important is the stipulation that candidates and their supporters must
use their own resources for election activities (A.1 below). Use of APA, Area
Council/state association, or district branch resources or personnel is
prohibited. The limits on the number of letters that each person may write
(400 letters or 100 for Area office) make it manageable for any member wishing
to support a candidate (A.2 below).
The guidelines for use of electronic media should be noted carefully. While
there are no limits on the number of campaign messages that may be sent by
e-mail (A.3, first paragraph below), members supporting candidates in this way
must include the words "APA Campaigning" in the subject line.
Further, the only APA-supported list serve that may be used for campaigning
is Member-to-Member (A.3, second paragraph). District branch and Area list
serves may not be used. List serves of other psychiatric organizations may be
used for campaigning only if permitted by those organizations.
APA's Web site will once again contain information about candidates, with
links to the homepages of candidates who have Web sites.
The Elections Committee recognizes that there always will be problems in
implementing the guidelines and in creating guidelines that are inherently
equitable. However, over time members have indicated their satisfaction with
the current guidelines, believing that the guidelines have achieved the
objectives for which they were designed.
The Elections Committee encourages members to get involved in the election
process, to support the candidates of their choice, and to encourage others to
do so by writing personal letters or e-mail or by personal contact. The
committee is open to suggestions from members on how to improve or change the
guidelines.
We encourage you to vote and to urge your colleagues to do the same.
Ballots for the 2005 election will be mailed December 22. Voting members with
e-mail addresses on file with APA will receive an e-mail with instructions for
voting online. Election information will be included in the December 3 issue
of Psychiatric News. 
Footnotes
This article was prepared by APA's Elections Committee.
Get information about faster international access.
Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2004
American Psychiatric Association.
All rights reserved.
Home
| Search
| Current Issue
| Past Issues
| Subscribe
| All APPI Journals
| Help
| Contact Us
| 
