Handbook for College Elections Committee
Revised 9/4/2023
In the Fall, establish an Elections Committee. Refer to Bylaws Section 5. The Chair of this committee shall be Tenured; there shall be two other representatives, ensuring that all three divisions of the college are represented (Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences); and one member will also be a member of the Executive Committee.
Proposed Timeline for Spring Elections
March
- First meeting in March: announce that elections are coming up and that faculty will be receiving an email calling for nominations. Send separate emails to each group/category with open seats.
- The following week, send out a reminder that nominations are due Friday by end of day. If you have no nominations for a certain area, include that in your reminder.
- Last week in March: contact each nominee and make sure they accept their nomination.
April
- Create ballots in Qualtrics for each category of nominees.
- Email ballots to the faculty members eligible to vote in that category. You must wait until the start of April to send these out, per the Constitution.
- Send a reminder for voting; include ballot links again.
- After voting closes, email all winners AND nominees, informing them of the results.
- At the last CAL Council meeting of April, announce the winners and remind everyone about department
First Steps:
If there are no Fall elections, you’ll need to do the following at the beginning of Spring semester. If there are Fall elections, you’ll need to do this both in the Fall and Spring.
Step One: Get master list from Deb Corkins in Dean’s office of all lecturers and T/TT faculty.
Step Two: Create (or edit) email lists in Outlook to reflect current faculty. Lists should be broken up into the following categories:
- For At-Large and CCAP elections:
- Arts Tenured/Tenure track
- Humanities Tenured/Tenure track
- Social Sciences Tenured/Tenure track
- For Lecturer elections:
- Arts Lecturers
- Humanities Lecturers
- Social Sciences Lecturers
- At-Large Lecturers
Step Three: Contact Graduate Council (see Graduate Council website) for their current roster. Contact Deb Corkins (Dean’s office) for a list of folks eligible to run for Grad Council positions.
- Create another email list for these individuals
Step Four: Review the Constitution and Bylaws to familiarize yourself with the election process, the seats to be filled, and voter eligibility. Articles and Sections of importance include Bylaws Sections 5 (C) and 8, and Article VII, Section 3 of the CAL Constitution.
Qualtrics Survey Tool:
- Navigate to the “Faculty & Advisor” section on your MyUT page.
- Under the “Academic Resources” section on the left side of the page, click the “Qualtrics Survey Tool” link.
- From that page, on the left side toward the bottom click “Create a new project.”
- At the top of the page, you’ll see “Create a project” > “From scratch”; select the “Survey” box.
- A new menu will pop up on the right side with a bar at the bottom; click “Get started.”
- Title your Survey based on which election it’s for (example: Humanities at-large), then click “Create project.”
- Sample text used for the ballot question: “Vote for up to TWO representatives from the names listed below. (You will not be able to access the ballot more than once.)”
- Default settings on the surveys work for the most part, but there are several available options. The one that you’ll need to change depending on how many people are being elected is "Edit question” > “Answer type” on the left side menu; select either “Allow one answer” or “Allow multiple answers.”
- If you choose, click the “End of survey” box to edit the default End of Survey message (options to customize will appear on left menu).
- When your survey ballot content is complete, click “Publish”; click “Publish” again in the pop-up window to activate the survey.
- Copy the posted anonymous link, which you will send in an email to the appropriate group with the ballot so they can vote.
- Note that you can access and copy the link at any time – no need to copy-paste the
link at that moment; to do so:
- When on the XM home page, click/open the survey ballot you want the link to
- Click “Distributions” at the top of the page
- Select “Anonymous link” > “Copy survey link”
Additional Notes on Qualtrics:
Click the XM on the top left of the page to view a list of your surveys on the left side. Next to each survey there will be three dots; clicking this opens a new menu with a “Collaborate” option. This allows you to include information for the other committee members, so everyone has access to the results.
To close the survey, click the survey’s three-dot menu, then “Close.” If every voter has not exited their survey, it will ask if you want to “Pause response collection” - if the voting deadline has passed, you should deactivate/pause the survey regardless. The survey will stay visible on your menu, and you still have access to the results.
Some tips:
- Set dates for when each step is due and include those dates in all emails.
- CC all committee members on all emails.
- Include links to the Constitution and Bylaws in the emails asking people to accept or turn down their nominations. Also, when possible, include information like meeting time/day.
- Don’t hesitate to ask questions of past members.
- Elections will likely need to be run for: CAL Council, CCAP, and Graduate Council. Occasionally you may have to run elections for replacement Faculty Senate positions; those run very similarly.
- Make sure you contact the necessary people with the names of the winners so that they can reach out about dates and information as needed.
Sample Emails:
You’ll have to change positions, details, dates, etc., where necessary. Reword/format these as you see fit.
Call for nominations:
Hello!
This is a call for nominations for the College of Arts & Letters Faculty Council on behalf of the Elections Committee. There [is an open seat up/are two seats up] for election for the at-large Arts position on CAL College Council. Nominated faculty members for this position must be Tenured or Tenure Track faculty members. Please send any nominations as a response to this email by (insert date). Self-nominations are accepted.
Thank you,
Your name(s)
Elections Committee
2022/23
Nomination Acceptance:
Hello!
You’ve been nominated for a Lecturer At-Large representative seat on CAL College Council beginning Fall [2023] (however, the first meeting you would be asked to attend is the last meeting of Spring [2023] on May [2]). I am writing to see if you would like to accept or decline the nomination. Meetings are from 4:00-5:20 every other Tuesday (opposite Faculty Senate), and meetings are currently held via Webex online. The position is for a two-year term. Information about the responsibilities of CAL Faculty Council and its members are available on the CAL Faculty Council webpage, where you can also view the Constitution and Bylaws. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have, and I can either answer those for you or point you in the direction of someone who can. If you accept this nomination, your name will go on the ballot with other nominees and an election will be held. Please let me know by [date] if you would like to accept or decline the nomination.
Thank you!
Your name(s)
Elections Committee
2022/23
Ballot Email:
Hello all,
The ballot for the At-Large Social Science seat for CAL College Council is now available. You can vote only one time. The ballot will close on (insert date).
Please let a CAL Council Elections Committee member know if you have questions or concerns.
Ballot link: https://toledouw.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3rd8eiYuaQBsD0q
Thank you!
Your name(s)
Elections Committee
2022/23
Email to those that did not secure the position:
Hello (insert name),
Thank you so much for running for the Graduate Council Representative position. Unfortunately, the votes are in and we regret to inform you that you are not the winner.
We appreciate your continued support of faculty governance in our college.
Thank you!
Your name(s)
Election Committee
2022/23
Email to those that did win the election:
Hello!
Congratulations! You have won the Graduate Council representative position! Someone will contact you to let you know the meeting schedule.
Thank you!
Your name(s)
Election Committee
2022/23