Board Approves Process for Mediating Election Violations

APA’s Board of Trustees approved the following four recommendations proposed by the Ad Hoc Work Group on Election Violation Issues to resolve allegations of violations of APA’s election guidelines.

• When there is an allegation of a violation of the election guidelines, the Elections Committee will decide whether a violation did in fact occur and its severity.

• If the violation does not immediately disqualify a candidate from the election, the Election Committee will call for a timely telephonic mediation between the opposing candidates with the chair of the Elections Committee serving as a mediator. Each candidate will have the right to ask a fellow APA member to be on the call for moral support and advice.

• If the parties agree upon a remedy, then the Elections Committee will follow that path. If they do not agree upon a remedy, the Elections Committee will determine a remedy giving due consideration to the remedies proposed by the candidates.

• APA should discourage the concept of “leveling the playing field” by suspending the rule or allowing the opposing candidate to also violate the rules.

APA’s election guidelines are posted in a PDF here. ■