Who can vote in the election in November?
All ‘eligible’ members of the Society can vote at any time through a three-week period. That means active or retired Accredited, Full, or Camera Crew members. To be active a member must be financial.
What will I be voting for?
You’ll be voting to elect your:
- branch committee members,
- branch president, and
- branch delegate(s) to the national board.
Each branch has one delegate except for the three largest branches (NSW, VIC and QLD) which get two delegates.
It is important to know that once elected, branch presidents and branch delegates are automatically members of the ACS board that runs the Society at the national level for the year ahead.
How do I vote?
It’s very important to have your correct mobile phone number and email address in your ACS member profile prior to the voting window opening.
Provided they’re correct, you’ll receive an Email and SMS with a unique link to vote online from absolutely anywhere on the planet.
Important: Sometimes your email server may consider an email from ElectionBuddy as spam, so if you miss a link to vote via email please check your spam folder.
Understandably, you’ll only be able to vote once, but it can be done from any of your devices. It will also be possible to vote via a printable postal vote ballot paper, but we expect nearly all members will choose to vote online.
Note: Voting is not compulsory!
How is the election actually run and is it a secret ballot?
While there is an ACS committee steering the election process, the actual vote is managed through a specialised online voting platform called ElectionBuddy. All votes are confidential and anonymous. Nobody will ever know how you voted.
When will we know the election results?
The outcome of the election is declared at the ACS AGM in November. (In 2025 that will be on Sunday, 30th November.)
What about national roles like National President and Vice-Presidents?
The incoming ACS board, made up of the elected branch presidents and delegates, will decide who takes up those positions at their first board meeting after the AGM.
What about branch positions like vice-presidents, secretary, and treasurer?
Similarly, those positions will be decided at the first branch committee meeting held after the AGM.
We are confident the online election process will strengthen the ACS, making the process more transparent, and give many more members the opportunity to contribute to their branch through greater access to voting and better awareness of the members who are standing.
Everyone is welcome to stand for election and contribute to their branch.
