One of the duties of the HAPS president-elect is to develop the ballot for the next year’s election. This year, the ballot consists of candidates for president-elect, secretary, central regional director, and southern regional director. When I became president-elect, I knew this task would be one of my most important in this upcoming year. It also was a task that stressed me out immensely. What if I was unable to find enough qualified candidates who were willing to run for the position? Would I become the equivalent of the garrulous party guest that everyone tries to avoid, as I tried to solicit nominations for the ballot? And if I did ‘build’ a good ballot, would the voters ‘come’ to the polls and vote?
Luckily the president-elect does not need to take on this task alone. S/he appoints members to be part of a Nominating Committee to help with this procedure. So how to appoint such a committee? Lesson #1 – first ask these dedicated, overachieving and hard-worked individuals if they would like to be candidates for the ballot, but if they cannot run, to consider being part of the Nominating Committee. And *that* is how I quickly populated my Nominating Committee. It is all a matter of perspective. 🙂
HAPS is populated with with many qualified, hardworking individuals who would make great officers. But many of these people (yes, I am talking to YOU) doubt themselves, and hesitate to run. They think that they may not do a good job, that the work may be too much, etc. In other words – some of these people are their own worst critics. Thankfully, not everyone feels this way. While some may have some concerns about running and may be a little hesitant at first, they don’t let their fears prevent them from helping an organization that is important to them. Thus, the HAPS nominating committee was able to prepare a ballot with multiple qualified candidates.
So, now that we have a great ballot, will all of you do your part and vote? I would love for this to be the year where we have the highest voter participation record ever for a HAPS election. We ‘built’ the ballot – please ‘come’ to the election and make your voice heard! (All you have to do is click on the photo.)