Hello AoIR-istas, I am happy to announce that on 11 March 2021, AoIR will open your nominations for the new Executive Committee, to take office in October of this year and serve until October 2023. Below, you will find: a) a timeframe for the election, b) a description of the AoIR governance system and of the elected positions, c) our nominations and elections processes, and d) some key questions for candidates. * A. Timeframe of the Election:* 1. The call for nominations opens on 11 March 2021 and will remain open for fifteen (15) days. 2. Nominations for all positions close on 26 March 2021. 3. Candidates will be listed on aoir.org and further information will be made available on our membership system, where discussion fora will let you ask questions of the candidates. 4. Voting begins on 22 April 2021 at our online balloting site and will remain open for ten (10) days. (Details for accessing this site will be sent in a later message through our membership system.) 5. Voting ends on 1 May 2021, expiring at 12:00 noon, U.S. Eastern Time in the State of Delaware. Election results will be announced on the AoIR blog and air-list serv. The new Executive Committee is formally introduced and assumes its duties during the Annual General Meeting available via Zoom during the AoIR conference October 2021. More information about our election processes can be found in the AoIR Bylaws: https://aoir.org/bylaws/ Candidates should familiarize themselves with the duties laid out in the Bylaws. I also encourage persons interested in running for a specific position to contact me or any of the current office-holder(s) with any questions. Please also note that the position of Treasurer, in particular, requires a very specific skillset, which is outlined at https://aoir.org/aoirtreasurer/. Prospective candidates for Treasurer should reflect carefully on whether they have these skills. *B. AoIR Governance and Description of Elected Positions:* The organizational structure of AoIR is simple. There are 5 officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Graduate Student representative). The 9-member Executive Committee consists of these officers, plus the Past President and 3 Open Seat representatives. Elected officials hold their positions for two years. After two years, the Vice President becomes President. Nominations are invited for Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Graduate Student representative, and 3 Open Seats. You may nominate yourself or someone else you think would do a good job. Details on the nomination procedure follow below. Duties of the President: Article 4/Section 6 of AoIR's bylaws. Duties of the Vice President: Article 4/Section 7 of AoIR's bylaws. Duties of the Secretary: Article 4/Section 8 of AoIR's bylaws. Duties of the Treasurer: Article 4/Section 9 of AoIR's bylaws. Duties of the Graduate Student Representative: Article 4/Section 10 of AoIR's bylaws. Duties of Open Seat representatives: Represent the membership of AoIR, and contribute to decision-making. Members of the Executive have their membership fees waived for the duration of their term, and pay a reduced conference registration fee. *C. Nominations and Elections Processes:* Only current members of AoIR can run for a position. They may be nominated by anyone, including themselves. If nominated for more than one position, a nominee must choose to run for one (and only one) position in this election. You may nominate yourself or others. If nominating someone else, confirm with that person that they are willing to run, and eligible to do so. Self-Nominations: Email AoIR Association Coordinator Michelle at <ac at aoir dot org> and indicate the position for which you are nominating yourself. Please provide in your nomination email a short candidate statement addressing the questions below. Nominating Others: Email AoIR Association Coordinator Michelle at <ac at aoir dot org> with the name of the person you want to nominate, the position for which you are nominating this person, contact information for the person, and an indication of whether you know if this person would accept this nomination. (If you don't know, we'll contact them and ask.) All candidates for election will be required to provide answers to the questions listed below, have the answers posted to the AoIR election forum, and participate in an online candidate forum. In addition, the Graduate Student candidates must confirm in their response that they comply with the by-laws: the Graduate Student Representative must be actively enrolled in a degree program at the time of nomination and election. Further, because of the specific legal duties and skills requirements for the position of Treasurer, candidates for this position should demonstrate experience with budget management and familiarity with U.S. tax law. Treasurer candidates should provide a detailed statement on their ability to meet the requirements of that role, as outlined at https://aoir.org/aoirtreasurer/. The voting system used by AoIR allows one vote per member for each of the elected positions listed above. Votes will be tallied using a balloting software. In the case of the four directly elected officers, the candidate with the highest number of votes shall be declared the winner; in the case of the Open Seats, the candidates with the highest, second-highest, and third-highest votes shall be declared the three winners of the Open Seats. In the case of tied results for the officer positions, the winner shall be determined by the ballot counters, by drawing of lots, using a method that ensures each of the tying candidates has an equal chance of success and witnessed by at least 1 person independent of the association. In the case of tied results for the open seat positions, the drawing of lots shall be used only when there are more tied candidates than seats available. *D. Questions for Candidates (these questions must be answered in your nomination email):* 1. What are your qualifications for this position (including prior experience and participation in AoIR)? 2. Please describe two or three short-term goals you would like to achieve through membership on the executive (including a rationale for each and how you would contribute to their achievement). 3. What is your long-term vision for AoIR? 4. What else should voters consider when deciding on whether or not to vote for you? In answering the questions, please be concise and give information specific to the position for which you are nominating, to enable voters to assess your case for election to that position. Candidates for Treasurer should also address the further specific requirements for that position: https://aoir.org/aoirtreasurer/. I sincerely hope that you will consider running, or nominating someone who you think would help advance AoIR and its community of Internet scholars. Many thanks in advance to those willing to serve! Lynn Schofield Clark President, Association of Internet Researchers