COMMITTEE REPORT:
Nominations and Elections
Brian D. Keith
The Nominations and Elections Committee, as indicated by its name, has two charges. The first is to come up with a slate of candidates for the HOD offices of Chair-Elect and Secretary/Editor as early as possible in the fall of each year. The second charge is not realized until the annual meeting of the house, where the committee conducts the actual election by presenting the candidates to the members of the House, and then by passing out the familiar paper ballots and counting the resulting votes.
I would like to say a little bit about how the N&E Committee goes about the procedure for building the slate of candidates, for that process may not be clear to all delegates. First, the committee chair (yours truly for this year) is appointed by the current Chair of the House in addition to committee members.
The chair and members are selected to represent each of the six sections of AAPG, plus a representative from each of the international regions willing and able to serve on the committee. Each member of the committee is charged by the chair of the committee to find potential candidates among the current delegates within each of their section or region. This can be done by blanket solicitation or by nominations that come in from AAPG members in any section or region. This year we also contacted previous candidates to see if they were interested in running again. It is important to note that only current delegates (not alternates or past-delegates) are eligible to run for office in the House. The potential candidate has to indicate their willingness to run and to serve if elected before they can be put on a preliminary ballot. Once a potential candidate has been verified as a current delegate, and has agreed to run, their name is placed on a preliminary ballot for the committee members. Some biographic information and the candidates' AAPG service record is also part of the ballot. Once the N & E Committee has narrowed the candidates down to two for each office, the slate is presented to members of the House in the Delegate's Voice and at the next annual meeting for the election.
I would like to thank the Members of the committee to whom I am grateful for their hard work and time:
- Maurice Birdwell (Gulf Coast),
- Karen Blake (Pacific),
- Bob Cowdery (Mid-Continent),
- George Eynon (Canada),
- Pete Gray (Gulf Coast),
- Will Green (Southwest),
- Wolfgang Nachtmann (Europe), and
- Jewel Wellborn (Rockies).