Are Girl Scout Elections Democratic?

Copyright: shock77 / 123RF Stock Photo

My city holds their municipal election this week. On the ballot are three candidates for Mayor and four candidates for two city council seats. In the voting pamphlet--for those candidates who bothered to submit--I have their picture, current occupation, and a full page statement explaining why they think I should vote for them.

My Girl Scout council also holds their annual meeting this week. On the ballot are eleven candidates to fill eleven board positions and two candidates to fill two board development committee positions. For each candidate I have their picture, the position they are nominated for, how many terms they have served, and when their term will end. Nothing about their qualifications, or why they want to serve on the Girl Scout council board, or what they think about current council policies. And no alternative choices. Just exactly the people they are telling me to vote for.

In Girl Scouts, "democratic" elections consist of approving a slate of candidates that someone else picked for you. And who are the people who put together this slate? Other people that were chosen in exactly the same way. A mechanism exists to make nominations from the floor, but this is not generally encouraged. It's the election method commonly used by large corporations to reduce the power of shareholders and insure that management maintains control. It's oligarchy, not democracy.

Admittedly, this system has benefits. One need only take a look at the present presidential campaign to see that contested elections can be incredibly messy and have the potential to result in poor choices. But when a membership organization has leadership as it's focus, isn't it a bit of a slap in the face not to allow those members to truly participate in choosing their leaders? Why can't we do something similar to my city's council elections? Have a ballot with a slate of the interested candidates and then vote for the number of seats available.

Most of the time, it wouldn't make any difference. Serving as a volunteer board member isn't a glamorous job. A board development committee will still be necessary to identify enough willing candidates and to help the membership understand their qualifications. Allowing for contested elections may rarely result in an actual contest. In fact, I belong to three other organizations that currently have board vacancies.

Contested elections bring greater transparency and participation to the process. They also give choices to the membership and provide for useful debate when the direction of the organization is questioned.

Please Girl Scouts, let your members choose their leaders.