Associates Voting Rights: A Brief History

CAS Fellows to vote on ACAS suffrage this summer

The question of whether Associates should be allowed to vote was posed in the last three membership surveys (2018, 2013 and 2008), and the percentage of members that believe that Associates should be allowed to vote has increased with each survey:

In 2009 the CAS set up an Associate Rights Task Force, based on the results of the 2008 membership survey. The task force recommended that CAS Associates (1) be granted the right to vote five years after earning their designation, and (2) be granted the right to serve on the board of directors five years after earning their designation. In 2011 the CAS Board of Directors approved putting the measures to a vote of the Fellows, since the changes would require amending the CAS Constitution and Bylaws. With 61% of voters (812 Fellows) voting no, the measure did not meet the two-thirds majority required to amend the CAS’s governing documents.

Growing support

As shown in the table above, support for Associate voting rights has increased steadily from 2008 to 2018. In 2019 candidates for the CAS Board of Directors and the candidate for CAS President-Elect were asked whether they supported ACAS voting rights. Of the eight candidates for board seats, four did not support ACAS voting rights, three did support ACAS voting rights and one didn’t have a strong opinion on the issue. The nominee for CAS President-Elect did support ACAS voting rights. While voters considered the positions of candidates on a variety of issues, including a CAS/SOA combination, it is interesting to note that of those who were subsequently elected, three did not support ACAS voting rights and one did.

In its November 2019 meeting, the board reviewed results from a Member Advisory Panel (MAP) survey that found that there was considerably more support for Associate voting rights than there was in a similar 2013 survey. Based on the MAP and the membership survey results, the board directed the CAS Executive Council to develop proposals for amending the Constitution and Bylaws to expand ACAS rights.

Associates … contribute substantially to the profession through their professional work and their volunteer efforts….

The plan for 2020

In February 2020, the CAS Board approved a plan to put forth a constitutional amendment that would give Associates the right to vote five years after earning ACAS. This August Fellows will vote once again on whether to approve voting rights for Associates. As mentioned before, in order to pass, proposed Bylaws amendments need an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Fellows voting. If the Fellows who vote in the upcoming election have the same opinions as the Fellows who expressed their views in the membership survey, then the measure would just barely pass. However, there may be selection bias in the elections — remember that 48% of the membership approved ACAS voting rights in 2008, but only 39% voted Yes on the measure. Voter participation may also have an impact; roughly 2,100 Fellows responded to the membership survey and the number of FCAS who vote in elections has averaged about 1,700 over the last four years. (Notably, about 1,950 FCAS voted in the 2019 elections.)

Making voices heard

I support Associate voting rights for a few reasons. First, Associates are members of the CAS and are affected by the outcomes of elections, and therefore deserve the right to participate in those elections. Second, Fellows are no more qualified to vote in non-exam matters than Associates; the upper-level exams don’t have membership issues on their syllabi, so having passed all of the exams doesn’t improve the value of one’s opinion on those issues. Third, career Associates are valuable members of the CAS. They contribute substantially to the profession through their professional work and their volunteer efforts within the organization. Their input is valuable, and the CAS should treat it that way.