In 1988 the Bylaws were rewritten to conform to Delaware law. Prior to that point, the Bylaws contained the following description of the Nominating Committee:

A Nominating Committee shall be convened each year. It shall consist of the Vice President as Chair, three Board members, and three other members not currently Board members. A priority list of non-Board members to be invited to serve on the Nominating Co mmittee shall be compiled at the spring Board meeting. The Executive Secretary shall contact listed members until three willing to serve are found.

Joe Miller described the nominating process as it existed in the mid 1980s in a memo to Simon Ottenberg in 1988. The following description summarizes that memo:

At the Spring Board Meeting, the Board selects non-Board members of the Committee, with due attention to the diversity of the membership. Practice has been to allow each Board member to nominate one person for at-large membership of the committee, with the Board then voting to select three individuals and an appropriate number of alternates. The Executive Director then contacts the people nominated until s/he has secured agreement by thre e to serve and notifies the Vice President of the composition of the committee.

The VP then takes over and should inform committee members of procedures to be followed:
1. An initial mailing would include a copy of the Bylaws, the Board resolution (Denver 1987) concerning diversity, and an outline of procedures (with dates) and an invitation to the breakfast meeting set for the convention in the Fall.

2. The committee must nominate at least one person for each vacancy. It normally names only two candidates for VP and no more than six for the three Board positions. More candidates than this number disperse the vote too widely and pre-empt the right to make meaningful nominations by petition.

3. The committee will consider prospective nominees who present themselves, or who are suggested to it, upon receipt of a letter of consent to stand and a letter stating qualifications and/or a vitae. These materials ought to go to the Executive Director a nd are the responsibility of the potential candidate.

4. The committ ee does not recognize constituency candidates as such and will not in any sense guarantee a nominee to any group within the Association. The petition procedure is available to interested constituencies. The committee does not solicit nominees from any grou p but will consider names received.

5. Committee members may each suggest one nominee for VP and two nominees for the Board, supported by a statement of consent from the prospective nominee and a letter stating qualifications and/or a vitae. Such materials should be sent to the Secretariat by September 15. The committee should not consider suggested names not documented sufficiently for all members to participate in an informed discussion of them.

6. Although the Bylaws are silent on the question of successive terms on the Board, as a matter of practice, individuals have never been nominated to serve a second term as a Board member. As a matter of practice, persons nominated to serve as Vice-Preside nt often have served a term as a Board member.

7. The Executive Director duplicates materials on candidates and distributes them to the committee members by October 1 to allow for adequate time for review and further investigation prior to the meeting of the committee.

The committee meets at the fall conference, before the annual business meeting of the Association. The Executive Director normally attends the committee's meeting.

1. The committee should nominate no more than two candidates for VP and no more than 6 candidates for the three positions on the Board.

2. Names of candidates must reach the president of the Association in time for the annual business meeting. The incoming president (e.g., the VP who chairs the committee) reports on the slate at the business meeting. The report should list the names of candi dates, their disciplines and their affiliations.

3. Candidates are informed of their selection after the Annual Meeting by the Executive Director.

Following the Annual Meeting, the President (e.g., previous VP who chaired the committee) updates the information outlining procedures and policies and hands it to the Executive Director for inclusion in the Manual of Policies and Procedures. The President also may follow up with an appropriate note of appreciation to at-large members of the committee for their service.

Nomination by petition procedures are open for 75 days. Persons nominated by this method have no contact with the Board Nominating Committee but deal directly with the Executive Director.

The Executive Director announces names of Board candidates via the minutes of the Business Meeting, which are published in the January/March ASA News. Biographies and statements of candidacy are published in the April/June issue of ASA News , which also includes the ballot.