Election Campaign Guidelines for Candidates

Preamble

Voting is not only a right, but an opportunity. Encouraging members to vote is one of the goals of the Nominating Committee. To that end, we encourage you to communicate with potential voters. While this may help you get elected, it also increases interest in the election, in the Board of Directors, and in the direction of the organization.

However, there are a few guidelines that we'd like you to consider as you communicate with other members. These guidelines are not intended to be prescriptive; nor are they intended to be comprehensive. They are intended to guide all candidates in their conduct in some aspects of election campaigning.

There is no specific mechanism (nor is there intended to be) for dealing with situations where conduct by specific candidates contravenes these guidelines. The Nominating Committee relies entirely on the goodwill of candidates to conduct themselves in accordance with these guidelines. These guidelines are intended to be in the public domain.

Guidelines

Candidates are expected to act in accordance with the following general guidelines:

1. In all written or oral communications, candidates are encouraged to present their individual positions and views on issues and avoid negative references to SOA staff, to current Board members and to other candidates.

 

Note: The purpose of this guideline is to avoid comments that could be construed as negative or critical, and could be potentially demoralizing or detrimental or reflect negatively on the profession when viewed by a member of the SOA, the SOA staff or the public.

2. Candidates are not allowed to use SOA funds or staff resources except as explicitly permitted as part of the normal election process or equally available to all candidates. This means that candidates will not be permitted to use "blast emails" from the SOA, nor will candidates be able to obtain mailing labels for members from the SOA.

 

Note: Candidates are encouraged to take full advantage of communicating with members through the interviews and statements to be published by the SOA. Candidates are not discouraged from communicating to members through non-SOA means including Internet discussion forums. Candidates are reminded that most forms of communication are in the public domain. Therefore, in all discussions and communications, a professional tone will reflect positively on the Society of Actuaries and on the candidate.

3. Candidates are encouraged to focus discussion on "big picture" strategic issues for the SOA and the profession.

 

Note: The Board of Directors has a primary focus on long–term leadership of the organization. Focusing on these issues will better inform members on positions that candidates are likely to take if elected. Agreeing or disagreeing with a candidate on these major issues is a meaningful reason for supporting or not supporting a candidate. This year a fast track feature was added to the ballot to give voters comparable data.

4. President–Elect candidates are encouraged to participate in the video taping of a brief campaign speech and an interview "talk show" on important issues.

 

Note: It is extremely useful for members to see and hear candidates. Therefore, the SOA will provide the opportunity to tape a brief presentation for viewing by the members on the SOA website.