Voting is now closed. The new Coordinating Committee will be announced soon.

Introduction

Each spring United Students for Fair Trade will hold elections to confirm new leaders to make decisions about the organization's direction and be responsible for operations with the input of all affiliates. The graduating Coordinating Committee shall confirm an ad-hoc Elections Committee to administer and promote the election and verify its results. Responsibilities include coordinating logistics, publishing impartial information to educate affiliates on issues or candidates, ensuring all candidates in the election are presented and compliant with guidelines, and should not be outspoken proponents for an issue at stake.
Registering

United Students for Fair Trade will hold elections in March of each year. Members of affiliates must register to vote online beginning in March, and only registered voters will be allowed to vote in the election.
Nominating

USFT relies on motivated individuals to nominate themselves for the Coordinating Committee. Applicants self-nominate online and provide information to the broad affiliate base. We ask that no more than 2 students from each school run for the Coordinating Committee.

Term

Terms are 16 months. The members elected will serve formally until June of the following year, and will be responsible for recruiting candidates and transitioning in new leadership through the spring and summer.

Introduction to the Ballot Process

In the case of votes on plenary decisions, affiliates will case "Yes/No" votes and a majority of voters (more than 50% of votes) shall win. Affiliates will be given at least 7 days to vote.

In the case of leadership elections, affiliates will cast instant-runoff ballots online, with an option to vote "no confidence." Affiliates will be given at least 7 days to vote.
Verification

At the close of the voting period, all votes will be tallied electronically and be verified by the Elections Committee and the USFT paid staff. Coordinators Elect will be asked to confirm, and results will be released within 1 week of the close of the voting period.

Instant-Runoff Ballot Procedure Description (adapted from Wikipedia.org)

Each voter ranks at least one candidate in order of preference on one ballot. For example if there are 5 candidates, the affiliate group must rank at least one and at the most 5 candidates on the same ballot. First choices are tallied. If no candidate has the support of the majority of voters (more than 50%), the candidate with the least support is eliminated from list of candidates. A second round of counting takes place. All ballots where the eliminated candidate is the first choice, the second preferred candidate on that ballot will be counted. After a candidate is eliminated, he or she may not receive any more votes. This process of counting and eliminating is repeated until one candidate has over half the votes.

Rational for the Instant-Runoff System

Instant-runoff voting is more democratic than a simple majority system.. The system is favored by many third parties as a solution to the "spoiler" effect third-party sympathizers suffer from under plurality voting (i.e., voters are forced to vote tactically to defeat the candidate they most dislike, rather than for their own preferred candidate). Note that any candidate with a majority of voters in the first round will win, just as with a simple majority system.