The election committee is pleased to submit the results of the 2021 elections for President-Elect, 4S Council and 6S representative.
President-Elect: Emma Kowal
4S Council Members: Vivian Choi, Natasha Vally, Canay Ozden-Shilling, Lucy van de Wiel
6S Representative: Barkha Satish Kagliwal
Information about the election process:
The election process for 4S Council Members and 6S Representatives began on March 21 with the opening of nominations for the vacant positions. Nominations were reopened because only 4 nominations for 4S Council were received before the scheduled closing date of May 1. The final closing date for nominations was extended to May 23. During the extra time allotted, the number of nominations rose from 4 to 22.
All 4S members, including Council, were invited to nominate candidates for all positions. 4S members had substantial time to nominate candidates given that nominations were submitted online (no postal mail) and that we added extra time to collect enough candidates for all positions. In pre-internet days, the 4S Charter in Clause 11 provided a way for the wider 4S community to mail in their nominations by postal delivery to 4S Secretary. The 4S online portal for nominations is the 21st century version of having a way for 4S members to directly nominate candidates and within good time.
At the end of May, the elections committee worked on the selection of nominations for 4S and 6S and sent the election slates to the Council on June 6 for their information. Council does not approve the election slate, since all 4S committees work independently but are responsible to the Council.
Nominations for the President-Elect were open on the website in the usual way. The nominations period for President-Elect were open from March 21 until May 1, and then further extended to May 23. After the nomination period, efforts were made to invite nominees to run for President-Elect position. Because this was a special election after Nelson stepped down, and because there was a short time for potential nominees to arrange their work schedules for the 2021-2023 presidency, it took time to develop a new President-Elect slate. The final slate was available on July 6.
The voting period from July 7 to 19, was extended to July 21 in order to achieve a higher number of votes.
Suggestions:
The announcement of the President-Elect
According to the Charter, the results of the elections must be announced during the annual meeting. However, since the position of President-Elect became vacant with the resignation of Alondra Nelson on February 15, 2021, we consider it appropriate to announce at this time that Emma Kowal has been designated President-Elect with a large majority of votes for this position.
Vacant position in the 4S Council
Kowal’s stepping up to the President-Elect position further results in an ordinary member position of Council becoming vacant. In such cases, the Charter deems that Council shall appoint a replacement who will serve until the next annual election. We therefore submit for the Council’s consideration the names, in rank order, of the three candidates who followed the four winning candidates who were elected this term.
6S Engagement Liaison
The results of the 6S elections were incredibly close. While 6S representatives are elected positions, in early 2021, 4S Council approved a 6S proposal to create a volunteer role as a “6S Engagement Liaison.” At the time, it was decided that there would be no limit to the number of liaisons, and the liaison positions would be reviewed and renewed annually at the time of the annual 4S meeting. We would like to recommend that 6S extend an invitation to Mareike Smolka to serve as an 6S Engagement Liaison
