In the spring of 2001, the ACS Committee on Nominations and Elections (N&E) received feedback from candidates for national office on their concerns about the campaign process. An N&E Task force was immediately charged with determining the scope of these concerns and developing a list of recommendations to address them – the ultimate goal being the creation of a comfortable and equitable process for all those willing to stand for office and serve the Society.
In the summer of 2001 the Task Force surveyed all those who had stood for national office during recent years and identified several issues common among them; the need for an ACS web site for use by the candidates; the need for clearer campaign guidelines that are widely disseminated; and most importantly – the need for a “level playing field,” which, among other issues raised, included a recommendation that the process for petition candidates be revised.
N&E acted on the first two issues in early 2002. However, the committee believed that more comprehensive information was needed before it could recommend changes to the nominations and elections process. As a result, several surveys were initiated over a two-year timeframe; new candidates for national office continued to be surveyed; relevant sister societies worldwide were surveyed in 2003 in order to gather information on their nominations and election processes; and ACS Councilors and other members were surveyed twice – once in 2003 to determine their understanding of and satisfaction with the current nominations and elections process, and again in 2005 to gain very specific input on the election process.
Findings from the ACS Committee on Nominations and Elections Web Survey: 2005
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