What is a Candidate Member Approval Election?

A Candidate Member Approval election is a unique process that some organizations use to decide whether a new member can join the organization. Current members of the organization are presented with a ballot containing any potential new members, and the current members evaluate, one by one, whether each potential new member is welcome.

Usually, this is not a single-winner election (i.e. where only one of the potential new members would be able to join the organization). If it is, the election is quite similar to an Executive Officer election, where multiple candidates are running for a single vacancy.

In some cases, the new members may apply for membership themselves, or some organizations only take potential new members based on nominations from current members of the organization. If the organization only considers new members based on current member nominations, there may be a limit as to how many potential new members a current member can nominate. A seconder may be required for nominating new members.

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Possible Voting Methods for a Candidate Member Approval Election

When presented with a slate of candidates for a Candidate Member election, our scored voting method can allow your voting members to quickly and easily make decisions about whether they approve of the candidate joining or not.

Common Ballot Features Used in Candidate Member Approval Elections

Common features used when building a ballot for a Candidate Member Approval election include:

• The “Abstain” option, which allows for voters to abstain from voting on the Candidate Member Approval ballot question.