To be eligible for MSA Board, one must be:
Here is a summary of the election process deadlines:
The Board must schedule exact dates, times and locations for each of the above steps before the beginning of the spring semester. Election Heads: visit berkeleymsa.com/events and follow these instructions according to the deadlines specified in the MSA calendar.
At least five weeks before the Elections Night, the Board will select one brother and one sister as Election Heads. They will be responsible for managing election logistics as is outlined in this section. Election Heads serve to prevent conflicts of interest during the election process. Election Heads will be made ineligible to hold office, but may vote.
The Board should update OCF email forwarding such that elections@msa.berkeley.edu forwards to the two Election Heads' email addresses. See instructions here.
At least five weeks before the Elections Night, the Election Heads will make the Nominations Form publicly available. The Nominations Form must follow this template . This form will ask for the name of nominees, position(s) for which they are nominated, and reasons for nomination. An eligible active member must be nominated by at least two other active members (self-nominations are not allowed). The nominators must have been active members for at least two weeks prior to the election to be eligible. The Nominations Form will therefore require a verification of identity (name and Berkeley email address) to ensure that those who submit the form are eligible. All information collected through this form however, except for the names of nominees, will not be disclosed publicly to anyone who is not an Election Head. Nominations will be due three weeks before the Elections Night.
The MSA Board may not view the names of nominees until the Nominations Form has closed. All other information will never be disclosed by the Election Heads.
Do not forget to make a copy of this and other Google Forms to ensure that only Election Heads have access to responses. Click on the
icon beside each link to do this easily.
In order to ensure that there are enough candidates at the Election Night, it is crucial that a large number of members are nominated at this stage. Marketing is incredibly important. On the day that the Nominations Form is scheduled to be made public, an Election Head should make a post in the MSA Facebook group announcing the opening of the Nomination Form and encouraging members to apply. It is helpful to announce that the goal is 100 nominations and to publish progress throughout the week as an encouragement. A gift card raffle could also be used to incentivize members, allowing members who nominate at least 3 people to enter for a chance to win. Feel free to make use of the following graphics. The Communications Director must publicize the Nomination Form in every email newsletter that gets sent out while the form is open.
A Note on Campaigning: The Prophet Mohammed (SAW) said in a saheeh hadith, "We will not (or, we do not) appoint for our affairs anyone who seeks that position." Leading our community bears great responsibility, a matter which cannot be taken lightly. It is contrary to Islamic etiquette to seek a position on MSA board. The election process is designed with this principle in mind. Asking people to nominate or vote for oneself, creating political parties around a candidate, and campaigning of any kind will not be tolerated. This should be mentioned in the first Facebook post and newsletter.
Once the Nominations Form has closed, the Election Heads will verify that all nominees are eligible to be elected for MSA Board. They will then send out an email that must follow the first template here . This email will inform of the time and location of the mandatory Nominee Information Meeting and the board positions that the community suggested for each nominee. It will be made clear that these positions are merely suggestions and each nominee may still be elected to any position. Nominees will be blind carbon copied (bcc’ed) such that the official list of nominees is not made public. A mail merge service may be helpful for this step.
Two days before the Nominee Information Night, the Election Heads will send out a reminder email to all nominees that must follow the second template here .
Three weeks before the Elections Night and once the nominations due date has passed, the Election Heads will coordinate with the Board to hold a Nominee Information Meeting. During this meeting, Board Members will use these slides to review the criteria for eligibility and the specific responsibilities that will be expected from those interested in serving on the Board and be available to answer questions. Election Heads will record attendance at this meeting. Nominees that do not attend will be ineligible to hold office, unless they organize an alternative meeting with the Board prior to the elections to review expectations and answer questions.
Election Heads will make the Nomination Acceptance Form available to nominees immediately after the Nominee Information Meeting by way of an email that must follow the first template here .
The Nomination Acceptance Form must follow this template . This form will gauge the nominee’s understanding of eligibility criteria and expectations, ask for the nominee’s goals, platform, and the Board position(s) for which they think they are qualified, and collect other information regarding experience and commitment. All information collected through this form is subject to being made public when candidate profiles are released. The Nomination Acceptance Form will be due at least ten days before the Elections Night.
Two days before the deadline, the Election Heads will send out a reminder email to all nominees that must follow the second template here .
The morning after the deadline, the Election Heads will send out a one-day deadline extension email that must follow the third template here to all nominees who attended the Nominee Information Night but have not yet formally accepted or denied.
Before making it public, make sure to review all fields of the Nomination Acceptance Form template to ensure that deadlines and dates are updated.
Immediately after the Nomination Acceptance Form deadline has passed, the Election Heads will send out an email to all candidates requesting that they each respond with a personal mission statement. This email must follow this template . Each candidate will be allotted a maximum of 2 minutes to read their mission statement at the Elections Night. Election Heads will simply advise candidates to word their statements in a way that embodies the Islamic attitude towards accepting a position of leadership. This is simply to ensure that candidates are not speaking as though they are campaigning for a position but humbly presenting their ideas for the future of the MSA instead. Election Heads will pre-approve the mission statements only to make sure that candidates have embodied this attitude to the best of their ability. Mission statements will be due three days before the Elections Night.
Three days before the Elections Night, Election Heads will compile the candidates’ responses from the Nomination Acceptance Form into a single report that will be made public via the MSA’s weekly newsletter email. This report must follow this template . An example from the 2019 elections can be found here. It serves to allow community members the opportunity to better understand candidates and save time at the Elections Night.
Candidate Profiles should not be released until all Mission Statements have been received.
During the first two weeks of March, the Election Heads will facilitate the Elections Night. The date and location of this meeting must be made public and circulated through the primary methods of communication one month in advance.
The Election Night takes place during the first two weeks of March to allow enough time for the new board to be completed and the training curriculum to be executed.
Election Heads will use this slide deck (make a copy) and begin by presenting a 3 minute khaterah, or Islamic reminder, to help those present renew their intentions followed by an explanation of the election process. The Election Heads will then reveal all the names of the candidates who submitted the Nomination Acceptance Form as well as the position(s) in which each has demonstrated interest. Next, Election Heads will call upon each candidate in a random order (using a random number generator or names in a hat) one by one, giving him or her two minutes to read their pre-approved mission statement. After the candidate’s speaking time has elapsed, the Election Heads will call for questions from the members who are attending through an anonymous electronic form (use this template
). The Election Heads will select a number of these questions, filtering out questions that are politically-charged or accusatory, to ask the candidate. The questioning period will not last for more than 5 minutes. After all questions have been asked or the time allotted for the questioning period has elapsed, the Election Heads will ask the next candidate to come forward and read their mission statement in front of the community members present before calling again for questions.
Be sure to make a copy of this slide deck and correct all names, dates and links with updated information. Read the footnotes under each slide for important talking points. You will see custom links in these slides. In order to setup URL forwarding for a link like berkeleymsa.com/custom-link-name follow these instructions.
After the last candidate is called upon, the Election Heads will request that the members who are present cast their votes for three brothers and three sisters from the candidates who they would like to elect to the Board. The only exception to this gender parity is when no candidate indicates that they are interested in the brothers or sisters directors position, in which case voters need to be instructed to vote for 2 brothers and 4 sisters (or vice versa) instead of the default 3 brothers and 3 sisters (this reduces the likelihood of imbalance in gender representation on board).
The ballot must follow this template . Only members who have been active members for at least two weeks prior to the election are eligible to vote. Proxy and absentee votes are not allowed. Ballots may not be handed out to latecomers who enter after the last candidate finishes speaking in order to be fair to all candidates. Once all votes are cast, Election Heads will immediately tally the results using this template
. The results will not be announced until the votes have gone through the Elections Shura Council.
On the same day of the Elections Night, the Election Heads will make the Candidate Concerns Form publicly available. The Candidate Concerns Form must follow this template . The purpose of this form is to collect any serious concerns and other information from community members that may invalidate or highly suggest against having a candidate serve on the Board. This form will be entirely anonymous and due 4 days after the Elections Night.
One week after the Elections Night and once the Candidate Concerns Form’s deadline has passed, the Elections Shura Council will convene for a meeting facilitated by the Election Heads. The Shura Council requires at least 7 members in order to constitute a quorum, and only current and previous board members who are not up for another term are eligible to attend the Shura Council meeting (in addition to the Election Heads). The Election Heads will begin by presenting the council with a table that organizes the voting numbers. This table should follow the vote tally template 's format. This table does not include the candidate’s names but an anonymization (ie Candidate A, Candidate B, etc) and a column that indicates the gender of each candidate as well as the votes they received for each position. The first goal of the council will be to identify the 6 elected candidates and the positions for which they are appointed according to the following instructions.
The council will first focus in on assigning candidates to the three executive positions. Based on the votes in the President’s column (see example table below) the council will appoint the candidate with the most votes in that column to the presidential role. This candidate will then be removed from the vote tally table. The council will now appoint the candidate with the most votes in the Internal Vice President column to the respective role before removing this second candidate from the vote tally table. The same will repeat for the appointment of the External Vice President, focusing only on the candidate who receives the most votes in the External Vice President column.
According to the simulated election data in the table below, this will result in Candidate H being appointed to the President’s role, Candidate I to the Internal Vice President’s role, and Candidate B to the External Vice President’s role.
Candidate | Gender | Pres | IVP | EVP | Treas | Comm | Edu | Sis Dir | Bro Dir |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A | M | 5 | 16 | ||||||
B | M | 40 | |||||||
C | F | 23 | |||||||
D | F | 3 | 6 | ||||||
E | M | 4 | |||||||
F | F | 8 | |||||||
G | M | 25 | |||||||
H | F | 32 | 18 | ||||||
I | F | 17 | 6 | ||||||
J | F | 5 |
Election of the fourth candidate will proceed as follows. Focusing in on the remaining five columns (Treasurer, Communications Director, Educational Coordinator, Sisters Director, and Brothers Director), the council will locate the largest absolute number in the vote tally table. The respective candidate that received that number of votes will be appointed to the position for which they received those votes. This candidate will then be removed from the vote tally table.
According to the simulated election data in the table above, this will result in Candidate G being appointed to the Communication Director’s role.
Election of the remaining two candidates will proceed as follows. Similar to the selection of the fourth candidate, the council will identify the next highest vote count in the table. They will then look at the gender of the candidate who received those votes. If the addition of the candidate will result in having more than 4 candidates of a given gender selected as part of the elected six, this candidate will not be selected. The council will proceed to identify the next highest vote count in the table. However, if the selection of this candidate does not violate the gender ratio rule, this candidate will be appointed to the role for which he or she received those votes. The election of the sixth candidate will repeat this same process, ensuring that the elected 6 candidates are comprised of no more than 4 of either gender.
According to the simulated election data in the table above, this will result in Candidate C being appointed to the Sisters Director’s role, Candidate J being skipped to prevent violation of the gender ratio rule, and Candidate A being appointed to the Brothers Director’s role.
In the case that there is a tie amongst the votes during the process outlined above, the council will refer to the total vote count (across all positions) for the candidates in question and appoint the candidate who received more votes. In the case that the candidates have the same amount of total votes (across all positions) the candidate of the least represented gender of the selected candidates will be appointed. In the case that both candidates are the same gender, the candidate who indicated a fewer unit count for the following academic year will be appointed. In the case that none of these measures breaks the tie, the shura council members present may vote and appoint the candidate who receives the most votes.
Once the list of 6 candidates and their respective positions has been formulated through the process above, the council will then review any concerns submitted through the candidate concerns form that may disqualify a candidate. The Election Heads will read only the concerns that are relevant to the six selected candidates. After a concern is read, the Election Heads will either classify the concern as worthy of consideration or as an invalid concern. Invalid concerns are those that are obviously insignificant and not severe enough to disqualify a candidate. For example, a concern that merely states an opinion that could be represented by a vote at the Elections Night is an invalid concern. More specifically, if an individual has a concern regarding a candidate’s personal mannerisms or the manner in which they present themselves, then that individual has the right to reflect their dislike by being present at the Election Night and voting. Because of this, the Shura Council should not have the authority to disqualify a candidate for a concern that falls under this criterion and should disregard this concern. This leaves it in the hands of the community members who come out to vote and their majority opinion can thus be quantified. Another criterion that would invalidate a concern is when it is a pre-emptive concern about a candidate that can be addressed through the formalized Board removal process. For example, if an individual is concerned about a negative quality or habit that a candidate might commit in the future, this should be left to the authority of the removal process, as it serves to protect against future behavior of Board members that may contradict Islamic values. Once again, the Shura Council will not have the authority to pre-emptively disqualify a candidate and should disregard such concerns that exist within this category. In the case that a council member disagrees with the Election Heads classification, that member may bring up their objection and the concern will be automatically considered worthy of consideration.
Now that the council has identified the concerns that are worthy of consideration, the Election Heads will have the council focus on the concerns one at a time in the order of decreasing severity. Election Heads will allow each council member up to two minutes to present their opinion regarding the legitimacy of the concern. After everyone has had their two minutes, each member will be given another minute for follow up comments. After these two opportunities for comments have been made available, the Election Heads will have the council members vote anonymously regarding whether the concern disqualifies the respective candidate. The majority vote will dictate whether the candidate is disqualified.
Election Heads must make sure to remind council members that the shura meeting is based on the ideal that candidates are considered “innocent until proven guilty” and should thus vote keeping in mind their personal experiences with the candidate. If personal experience of the majority of the council members cannot confidently justify an aspect of a candidate’s behavior that is discussed in the concern, then the concern cannot be used to disqualify the candidate. Council members will not vote based on their level of sympathy with a concern but based on how strongly they can corroborate the concern through their personal experiences and knowledge of the candidate. In the case that council members feel that not enough information is present or that the candidate in question is not known well enough, then this is in and of itself an indication that the concern being brought forward is not a consistent or fundamental flaw within a candidate.
Through this process, all concerns will either be disregarded or validated through a majority vote. However, concerns of exceptional magnitude may break away from this process. For extraordinary concerns (ie. candidate having a history of sexual or physical abuse) the shura may decide to refer the concern to an Islamic scholar and/or professional who can better address the severity of the situation.
Once the Elections Shura Council has met and identified the six candidates that are to be elected, the Election Heads will send an email to congratulate the candidates on their election. The Election Heads will also identify the soonest time when all current and rising Board Members will be available for a Kick Off Meeting. Additionally, the Election Heads will send an email to inform the non-elected candidates. These emails must follow these templates .