Fellow JAT members,
The 2017 JAT election is drawing near.
Announcements concerning the election will be sent by send-only e-mail, like this message, and clicking the reply to button will not work. Please direct any queries to [email protected].
1. Election Committee
The Election Committee has at least three members, as mandated by the JAT Bylaws. This year, the committee comprises Marian Kinoshita (Chair), John Brown, Yumeko Futaki, and Yoichiro Tachibana (technical support).
2. Number of positions to be filled
This year, there are up to seven director positions and one auditor position to be filled. JAT can have a total of 12 director positions. Currently only 9 of the 12 positions are filled. Two of the current directors are at the end of their second term, one is up for re-election, and one was appointed by the Board during the past year and needs to be elected in this election. JAT has a total of two auditor positions; one of those is held by an auditor at the end of her second term.
Board Status:
Ben Tompkins (President): serving the last year of second two-year term, cannot run again
Akiko Endo: serving the last year of second two-year term, cannot run again
Hideaki Maruoka (Vice-president): serving second year of second two-year term, not up for re-election
Stacey Jehlik: serving second year of second two-year term, not up for re-election
Tobias Rushbrook: serving second year of first two-year term, not up for re-election
Shigeki Fukuoka: serving second year of first two-year term, not up for re-election
Chiharu Hirabayashi: serving second year of first two-year term, not up for re-election
Phil Robertson: up for re-election for second two-year term
James Singleton: serving the end of a specially appointed one-year term, eligible to run for a full two-year term
Auditors:
Gwen Clayton: serving first year of two-year term, to be approved at 2017 OGM
Nora Stevens Heath: serving the last year of second two-year term, cannot run again
3. Election schedule
The election is scheduled for May to June this year, as follows.
2017/5/13 (00:00:00 JST) to 2017/5/26 (22:00:00 JST): Candidacy Registration period (14 days)
2017/5/28 (00:00:00 JST) to 2017/6/3 (22:00:00 JST): Campaign period (7 days)
2017/6/4 (00:00:00 JST) to 2017/6/10 (22:00:00 JST): Election voting period (7 days)
2017/6/12: Announcement of election results
Candidacy Registration Period [May 13 to May 26]
Members seeking to run for office must first declare their intent to run for office and submit 3 endorsements from JAT members. Instructions on how to do so will be provided in a subsequent message and on the JAT website.
Candidates for director must have been JAT members in good standing for the entire year preceding the deadline for submitting candidacy statements, which is the end of the declaration/registration period at 22:00:00 on May 26. Candidates for auditor do not need to be JAT members. Endorsers (3 for each candidate) must be members in good standing as of the date on which they submit their endorsement statement.
As per the JAT Bylaws, candidates need to supply full name, gender, nationality, address of current residence, home telephone number, and primary JAT e-mail address, together with the full names, primary JAT e-mail addresses and endorsement statements of 3 endorsers.
Candidacy statements should provide some indication of how candidates envision JAT’s evolution. Endorsement statements should give some indication of the endorser’s relationship with the candidate and the skills/attributes the endorser believes the candidate possesses that make him or her a good choice. Candidacy and endorsement statements may be up to 300 words or 600 characters in length.
The Election Committee requests endorsers to send a brief e-mail to [email protected] confirming the names of each candidate they have endorsed, together with their endorsement statement/s.
The Election Committee will not announce any candidates until after the registration period closes and the eligibility of the candidates and their endorsers has been verified. Candidates will be deemed registered only upon said verification.
As the Election Committee needs time to verify eligibility and endorsements, we encourage candidates to submit candidacy statements early. There may be a delay in the start of the campaigning period if necessary for verification of candidate and/or endorser eligibility.
Campaign period [May 28 to June 3]
The JAT Webmaster will establish a dedicated forum for discussions pertaining to the election. Please feel free to use this to conduct campaign discussions. Although the Campaign period officially lasts for seven days, campaigning is not limited to this period. Members and candidates may continue to interact even after the start of the Voting period.
Voting period [June 4 to June 10]
Votes will be cast online. Each member may cast eight votes in this election; that is, one vote each for seven director candidates and one vote for one auditor candidate. Members will be sent an e-mail with a link to a personalized ballot before the start of the Voting period. Please vote in accordance with the instructions in the e-mail.
The election results will be emailed to members as well as posted on the JAT website as soon as possible after the voting closes. Results should be available on June 12, barring any unexpected difficulties.
JAT is run by hardworking volunteer members. Joining the JAT Board of Directors enables you to contribute to the growth of JAT and to the translation community as a whole, and in some instances, have a beneficial effect on the translation industry. Your vote, as well, offers the opportunity for capable professionals within our organization to help JAT improve and expand. We encourage you to run in the election and/or vote as a sign of your support!
Sincerely,
2017 JAT Election Committee
Marian Kinoshita (Chair)
John Brown
Yumeko Futaki
Yoichiro Tachibana (Technical support)