Election Guidelines

Election Procedure Guidelines for the Wireless LAN Association

These Guidelines are a product of the Wireless LAN Association (WLA) Executive Committee and are subject to further modification or revocation by the WLA Executive Committee at any time.

Member voting will be used for the following purpose(s):
> If an Executive Committee member has held a position for three years (3-year anniversary)
> If an Executive Committee member resigns their position, or is removed from their position for any reason, and an election is called by the President

An election shall only be called at a preceding General Assembly meeting, by the President (or Vice President if the President is not in attendance).

1. SELECTION OF CANDIDATES

1.1 Each Candidate shall submit a candidacy declaration or, in case of an incumbent, a declaration of their desire to remain in their current role.
1.2 Qualification to stand as a Candidate requires membership of the WLA, in good standing, and possession of a valid CWNE designation (unless otherwise stated). [The existing EC will verify the nominee's standing and, if the member is deemed to be in good standing, their nomination will be accepted. If the nominee is deemed to not be in good standing in the organization, the EC reserves the right to reject that member's nomination thus invalidating the nomination and disallowing the member from standing for election.]
1.3 The candidacy declaration shall include the following: name, office sought, e-mail address (as noted in Candidate’s WLA profile, for membership verification purposes), CWNE# of Candidate.
1.4 Each Candidate will include the following signed statement in their declaration: "I, (Candidate's name), seek the office of (name of office), and agree to serve if elected."
1.5 A Candidate will only be permitted to stand for one position in any election.
1.6 At the time of ballot, if the potential Candidate is no longer a member of WLA, or if their CWNE designation is invalidated for any reason, any votes cast for that Candidate will not be counted.
1.7 Declarations of candidacy must be received by the Executive Committee by the published deadline.
1.8 The maximum number of nominees for any available position shall be 4. If more than 4 nominees request consideration for a position, the existing Executive Committee will determine the final Candidate pool.
1.9 Upon winning a popular ballot, each successful Candidate must complete and sign an NDA and Affirmation document prior to being confirmed in a WLA Executive Committee officer position.
1.10 In case of the position of Wireless LAN Association’s President, only WLA members in good standing, holding a valid CWNE designation, and who have actively served for at least six (6) consecutive months as an Executive Committee member, may be nominated to stand as a Candidate. All other Executive Committee Candidates may be selected from general membership, as detailed above.

2. BALLOTS and VOTING PROCEDURES

2.1 Candidates’ names, as stated in the Candidate’s declaration, will be indicated on the ballot.
2.2 Candidates’ names will be published in random order.
2.3 Each member may cast one vote for one Candidate for each office.
2.4 Member voting will be open for a period of not less than 10 days and ballots must be submitted by the published deadline.
2.5 No ballots will be accepted if provided outside of the published application process. In general, the WLA will use an application such as “Survey Monkey” or a similar, previously-agreed, platform to electronically collect votes.
2.6 Each ballot may be validated by comparing the name and email address with those on file in the member profiles of the Association. Any discrepancies will invalidate the ballot.
2.7 The Executive Committee will appoint a member to act as Election Manager. That person shall not be a Candidate.
2.8 Each Candidate is permitted to appoint a Ballot Examiner to observe validation and counting of the ballots. The Candidate may serve, for themselves, in this capacity.
2.9 All records, ballots, etc., will be retained by the Election Manager until the next Executive Committee meeting following the election, for a period of not less than 30 days, or until any appeals are resolved, whichever period is longer.
2.10 No whole-membership majority vote is required to win a position. The winner will be the person who has received the majority vote of all valid ballots, as cast at the deadline for ballot submissions.
2.11 No proxy voting is permitted.
2.12 In the event of a tied vote for an Executive Committee position, the President will have the deciding vote.
2.13 In the case of a tied vote for President, the Executive Committee will cast a separate vote (no abstentions permitted), to determine the winner.

3. APPEALS

3.1 Only Candidates may appeal election procedures or results.
3.2 Any appeal of a decision of the Election Manager must be submitted, initially, in writing within 30 days after the announcement of the election results. The Election Manager will respond, in writing, within 30 days.
3.3 If the appeal is denied by the Election Manager, the Candidate will have 30 days after the Election Manager’s response to appeal to an impartial Ombudsman, in writing. The Ombudsman will be assigned by majority vote of the existing Executive Committee for the duration of one (1) election period at a time. The Ombudsman shall not be a Candidate. The Ombudsman will respond, in writing, within 30 days of this appeal and will make a decision based on any applicable WLA Bylaws. The Ombudsman’s decision is deemed final.

4. BALLOT INVALIDATION

4.1 Ballots cast for Candidates are invalidated if:
4.1.1 The person casting the ballot is not a current member of the WLA, or if that person ceases to be a member of the WLA prior to the date of counting the ballot.
4.1.2 The Candidate withdraws from the election for any reason.