Election systems for Committee members
Whilst these systems are recommended for use in electing Committee members, they are not required by either the Constitution or the Rules. The AGM may decide to use other election systems.
Election of named offices
Where there is a single candidate for the position, conventionally the AGM will approve the appointment with a simple yes/no vote.
Where there are multiple candidates, we use instant-runoff voting.
Before the meeting
- Prepare ballot papers with the names of all candidates.
Voting
- Members present rank each candidate in numerical order, where 1 is their first choice, 2 is their second, and so on.
Counting
- Count all the votes for people’s first choices.
- If a candidate has a majority of votes cast (ie 50% + 1), they are elected.
- If no candidate has a majority of votes, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. Ballots which had selected this candidate as their first choice are then transferred to that ballot’s second choice, and the votes are re-counted.
- Repeat this process until a candidate has a majority of votes.
Election of general members
Where there are the same number or fewer candidates than available seats, conventionally the AGM will approve the appointments with a simple yes/no vote.
Where there are more candidates than seats, we use plurality block voting.
Before the meeting
- Prepare ballot papers with the names of all candidates.
Voting
- Members vote for the same number of candidates as there are available seats (eg if there are five available seats, Members should vote for five candidates). There is no need to rank candidates.
- Members may vote for fewer candidates than seats if they wish. Ballots with more votes than seats are considered spoiled.
Counting
- Tally the number of votes cast for each candidate.
- The n candidates with the most votes are elected, where n is the number of available seats.