[Air-L] Nominations for 2025-27 AoIR Executive Committee Are Open

[AoIR Association Coordinator]

Dear AoIR Members,

I am delighted to announce that AoIR is now seeking your nominations for
the new Executive Committee, to take office in October of this year and
serve until October 2027.

Below, you will find: a) a timeframe for the election, b) a description of
the AoIR governance system and of the elected positions, c) our nominations
and elections processes, and d) some key questions for candidates.

*A. Timeframe of the Election:*
1. The call for nominations opens on 19 March 2025 and will remain open for
15 days.
2. Nominations for all positions close on 2 April 2025.
3. Candidates will be listed on aoir.org and further information will be
made available on our membership system, where discussion fora will let you
ask questions of the candidates.
4. Voting begins on 22 April 2025 at our online balloting site and will
remain open for 10 days. (Details for accessing this site will be sent in a
later message through our membership system.) You must be a member of good
standing on 20 April 2025 in order to vote.
5. Voting ends on 29 April 2025, expiring at 12:00 noon, U.S. Eastern Time
in the State of Delaware.

Election results will be announced on air-l. The new Executive Committee
will be formally introduced and assume its duties during the Annual General
Meeting (available via Zoom) during the AoIR conference in Niteroi, Brazil,
on 18 October 2025.

More information about our election processes can be found in the AoIR
Bylaws:
https://aoir.org/bylaws. Candidates should familiarize themselves with the
duties laid out in the Bylaws. I also encourage persons interested in
running for a specific position to contact me or any of the current
office-holders with any questions.

*B. AoIR Governance and Description of Elected Positions:*
The organizational structure of AoIR is simple. There are 5 officers
(President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Graduate Student
representative). The 9-member Executive Committee consists of these
officers, plus the Past President and 3 Open Seat representatives. Elected
officials hold their positions for two years. After two years, the Vice
President becomes President. Nominations are invited for Vice President,
Secretary, Treasurer, Graduate Student representative, and three Open
Seats. You may nominate yourself or someone else you think would do a good
job. Details on the nomination procedure follow below.

Duties of the President: Article 4/Section 6 of AoIR's bylaws.
Duties of the Vice President: Article 4/Section 7 of AoIR's bylaws.
Duties of the Secretary: Article 4/Section 8 of AoIR's bylaws.
Duties of the Treasurer: Article 4/Section 9 of AoIR's bylaws.
Duties of the Graduate Student Representative: Article 4/Section 10 of
AoIR's bylaws.
Duties of Open Seat representatives: Represent the membership of AoIR, and
contribute to decision-making.

Members of the Executive have their membership fees waived for the duration
of their term, and pay a reduced conference registration fee. (The Graduate
Student Representative will receive a fee waiver for the ‘26 and ‘27
conferences.)

We are particularly interested in talking to people interested in running
for Treasurer. This person needs to have an American social security
number, and experience in budget management (this could be a research
budget, or the budget of a research unit, for instance). We have done much
to professionalize this position in the last eighteen months–we have an
accountant on hand, and use a bookkeeping company. We will fund an
assistant for the Treasurer as well. Please consider running for this
important position, and feel free to reach out to prez[@]aoir.org with any
questions you may have.

*C. Nominations and Elections Processes:*
Only  current members of AoIR can run for a position. They may be nominated
by anyone, including themselves. If nominated for more than one position, a
nominee must choose to run for one (and only one) position in this
election. You may nominate yourself or others. If nominating someone else,
confirm with that person that they are willing to run, and eligible to do
so.

Self-Nominations: Email AoIR Association Coordinator Michelle at ac[@]
aoir.org and indicate the position for which you are nominating yourself.
Please provide in your nomination email a short candidate statement
addressing the questions below.

Nominating Others: Email AoIR Association Coordinator Michelle at ac[@]
aoir.org with the name of the person you want to nominate, the position for
which you are nominating this person, contact information for the person,
and an indication of whether you know if this person would accept this
nomination. (If you don't know, we'll contact them and ask.)

All candidates for election will be required to provide answers to the
questions listed below, have the answers posted to the AoIR election forum,
and participate in an online candidate forum.

In addition, the Graduate Student candidates must confirm in their response
that they comply with the by-laws: the Graduate Student Representative must
be actively enrolled in a degree program at the time of nomination and
election.

The voting system used by AoIR allows one vote per member for each of the
elected positions listed above. Votes will be tallied using a balloting
software. In the case of the four directly elected officers, the candidate
with the highest number of votes shall be declared the winner; in the case
of the Open Seats, the candidates with the highest, second-highest, and
third-highest votes shall be declared the three winners of the Open Seats.

In the case of tied results for the officer positions, the winner shall be
determined by the ballot counters, by the drawing of lots, using a method
that ensures each of the tying candidates has an equal chance of success
and witnessed by at least one person independent of the association. In the
case of tied results for the open seat positions, the drawing of lots shall
be used only when there are more tied candidates than seats available.

*D. Questions for Candidates (these questions must be answered in your
nomination email):*
1. What are your qualifications for this position (including prior
experience and participation in AoIR)?
2. Please describe two or three short-term goals you would like to achieve
through membership on the executive (including a rationale for each and how
you would contribute to their achievement).
3. What is your long-term vision for AoIR?
4. What else should voters consider when deciding on whether or not to vote
for you?

In answering the questions, please be concise and give information specific
to the position for which you are nominating, to enable voters to assess
your case for election to that position.

I sincerely hope that you will consider running, or nominating someone who
you think would help advance AoIR and its community of internet scholars.
Many thanks in advance to those willing to serve!

Nik John
President, Association of Internet Researchers