Dear GAOR Members,
The 2022 Leadership Election is coming up! Please review this important information for voting members and for candidates. These Frequently Asked Questions outline the petitioning and voting process. Stay tuned for future communications from GAOR as the election date gets closer.
When are the election results announced?
The results will be announced at GAOR’s General Membership Meeting on Wednesday, July 14. Please note that we added a few days to the end of the election calendar in order to accommodate our regular town hall audience which normally meets on Wednesdays. Under this schedule, the online election will begin as on Wednesday, June 23, and will close at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 9. The deadline for turning in petitions is now Friday, June 18. These minor changes are in keeping with GAOR’s bylaws and policy. Contact GAOR for more details.
I want to petition to run for a seat on the Board of Directors. What do I do now?
GAOR’s election policy requires petitioners to collect signatures from 5% of the membership in order to get onto the ballot. Based on current membership levels, GAOR will place petitioners onto the ballot who obtain at least 80 signatures from GAOR members in good standing.
How do I obtain signatures for my petition? Does GAOR have a standardized form? How does GAOR know when enough petition signatures are collected?
GAOR does not have a standard form for a petition. Under our rules, we must only count signatures from members in good standing, so petitioners are encouraged to collect signatures and names of members supporting them. As a petitioner, you are recommended to include language on your signed petitions such as: “I, the undersigned, support [PETITIONER NAME] to be on the ballot for the position of [BOARD POSITION] for the 2022 Leadership Election.”
GAOR accepts signatures in any the following ways:
- Signed petition faxed, emailed, or hand-delivered to GAOR. Please do not send in the mail.
- DocuSign, Adobe Sign, or any other e-signature format.
- The petitioner may create their own webform, Google Forms, or any other online tool to submit a list of names. Please provide proof that agents were emailed a link to your web form in order to validate their submissions.
- If signers are concerned about privacy, then they may send an email directly to GAOR’s CEO David Kissinger (david@gaor.org) expressing their support for a petitioner.
Petitions will be accepted through Friday, June 18.
Is my petition signature kept secret?
If you sign a document sent to you from a petitioner, then your signature may not necessarily be secret. If you want to sign a petition but are concerned about privacy then you may send an email to David Kissinger as described above.
Does my petition signature count as a vote?
Signatures received by any of the formats listed above will not count as votes. After signatures are received, they are discarded and are not added to the vote count. Only the actual votes during the election will be considered. If you sign a petition and do not vote in the actual election, then your preferred candidate(s) will not receive your vote.
Is my vote kept secret?
Yes. GAOR will under no circumstances release the names of members who vote nor the names of candidates whom they voted for. During the vote count, the staff captures your identifying information in order to ensure that you are qualified to cast a ballot because only GAOR members in good standing are permitted to vote in the election.
How are the votes counted?
On June 23, members will receive an email with a link to the online voting platform. You must enter your member number so that we can validate your vote and add it to the count. Only GAOR staff will count the votes. The final tally will be submitted to the Election Committee who will certify the results before the winners are announced.
How do I get people to vote for me?
Like in any ballot election, candidates should meet with potential voters and ask for their support. Due to pandemic restrictions, opportunities are limited for you to reach GAOR members in order to campaign and ask for votes. To help make it easier we are giving you, and all candidates, these three opportunities:
- Town Hall – Officer candidates are invited to speak at the June 23 Town Hall and Board candidates may speak at the June 30 Town Hall. Watch for a separate message with more details.
- Email – GAOR will send one email to the members with your statement on it. See below regarding your statement. The emails will go out on or after June 23.
- Website – On or after June 23 we will publish web pages for all the candidates and encourage our members to visit and learn about the candidates.
Your written statement: Your statement can be anything you want related to campaigning for your seat and asking members for their votes. You can include your bio, links to your personal website, information about why you are running for the seat, and more. Please follow these ground rules:
- No political partisanship (i.e. Democrats vs Republicans).
- No negative comments about another candidate, another REALTOR®, or anyone else.
- No fundraising, recruiting, or transaction-related content.
- You must write your statement yourself. Staff will not help you write or edit, so be sure that it’s spell-checked, grammatically correct, and factually accurate.
- If you submit photos or videos you must own or have a license to publish that media. We cannot guarantee that our webpage layout will match your vision for publishing your photos or videos.
- Please submit your statement by Wednesday, June 23.
Voting begins on June 23 and closes on July 9. You may continue campaigning during the voting period but remember that some people will have voted by then.
