How to Petition for a Place on the SOA Ballot
If you would like to run for an SOA office but have not been selected as an endorsed candidate, you may still seek a place on the ballot by petition. To do this, you must notify the Nominating Committee within the specified time frame and state your interest. Please note that petition candidates must have gone through the initial election process with the Nominating Committee.
The 2019 petition submission process will be open from July 2 through July 31, 2019.
SOA provides petition-seeking, non-endorsed candidates the following:
- An online petition site that allows eligible voting members to support their petitions.
- The assurance that the SOA or the service provider will, by email, notify all eligible voting members about the petition process and will provide them with a link to the online petition site and a unique pass code to access the site.
Please note that the SOA will not send any reminders after the initial announcement, and petition candidates do not post a statement on the site. A petition process is, by definition, a mechanism by which those gathering support are expected to demonstrate-independently and without institutional support or promotion-that there is grass roots support for them. Petitioning nominees are expected to gather petition support independently, without utilizing or relying on SOA resources or official communication channels. Once the ballot is finalized, all candidates for election-whether on the ballot by Nominating Committee endorsement or by petition-will have the same access to official communication channels.
How the petition site works:
- The petition site remains open for 30 calendar days after the notice is sent to eligible voting members.
- Each eligible voting member uses his or her unique pass code to access the site and enter support for the petitions of the nominees listed.
Each eligible voting member may only support the petition of:
- One nominee for the president-elect office.
- No more than three nominees for elected board member positions.
Once an eligible voting member has accessed the site and entered support for any petition for any Board position, it may not be revoked or changed.
Additional requirements:
- For a non-endorsed nominee to qualify for a place on the ballot by petition, the nominee must obtain a level of petition support from eligible voting members that totals at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast for president-elect in the previous election. For example, if there were 5,000 votes cast for president-elect in the previous election, the nominee needs to obtain petition support from at least 500 eligible voting members.
- During the 30-day petition window: (i) a petitioning nominee who attains the level of support required will be so advised once that level of support is reached, but the total amount of petition support received will not be disclosed; (ii) a petitioning nominee who has not attained the level of support required will receive status updates 14 days before, 7 days before and at the close of the petition window, advising the nominee of the level of petition support he or she has attained as of those dates.
- At the close of the petition window, the committee will receive the results of the petition process.
- If a petitioning nominee receives the required level of petition support, the committee will add the nominee to the final ballot as a candidate for election, designated as a candidate "by petition".