Candidates will need to fill out the National Officer Application, register for the online National Leadership Experience, participate in the candidate interviews, and take an online parliamentary procedures test.

Yes.  Each interview will last approximately 15 minutes.  Interview times will be sent to candidates at a later date.  Local and state advisers of applicants are encouraged to attend.  The screening committee will consist of members of the national board of directors and current national officers.

Official campaigning for all offices for elected positions are restricted to virtual campaign booth hours. For FBLA: June 30 – Campaign Booths Open – 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET July 1 – FBLA Campaign Booths Open – 9:00 am. – 12 Noon ET For PBL: June 25 – PBL Campaign booths Open – 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET June 26 – PBL Campaign Booths Open – 9:00 a.m. – 12 Noon ET Candidates may campaign via social media during campaign hours. The Virtual Exhibit Hall will be open during campaign hours and will include the following final versions of materials that will be submitted on June 1 using the National Officer Candidate Campaign Materials Form:

• Candidate Headshot
• Candidate Flyer (Digital one-page outlining qualifications and goals – submit as 8 ½ “by 11” PDF)
• Link to Campaign Website (Use platform of your choice, graphics, videos, etc. Be creative!
• Campaign Details (i.e., using Facebook for social media posts, using videos on YouTube etc.)

Yes, candidates may spend no more than $500.

All speeches are pre-recorded and 2 minutes in length.  This is a straight speech.  No skits, music, or graphics may be used.  You must be dressed in business attire.   Video speeches for all PBL National Officers for elected office will be played during the PBL Online Opening Session.  Video speeches for the offices of President, Secretary, and Treasurer will be played during the FBLA Online Session.  Videos of speeches for FBLA Region Vice President will play during the Regional Meetings. Videos all national officer candidate speeches may be accessed on this area.

For FBLA the offices of president, secretary, and treasurer, the Q & A Session (not to total more than 15 minutes in length for each office) will take place in General Session II.

For FBLA, the offices of the regional vice presidents, a brief Q & A Session (not to total more than 15 minutes in length) will be conducted immediately following the campaign speeches during the Regional Campaign Rallies and State President’s Reports.

For PBL, all candidates for elected office will participate in the Q & A Session (not to total more than 15 minutes in length for each office) will take place in General Session II.

No.  A State can run more than two candidates, but only one can be elected.  If a State would run more than two candidates and both receive the most votes, the candidate with the lower office would be dropped.  In PBL, this does not affect unopposed positions.  A state may have one elected officer and a national parliamentarian since that office is appointed, not elected.

Candidates for elected offices will be elected by ranked voting. A majority vote will determine the winner for each elected office.

Definition: Preferential/Ranked voting is any election voting system in which voters use a ranked (or preferential) ballot to select more than one candidate (or other alternative being voted on) and to rank these choices in a sequence on a scale of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. If a majority is not reached on the first ballot, the ballots of the lowest-placing candidate are redistributed to the second choice. This process of dropping the lowest candidate and redistributed to the next highest remaining candidate continues until a candidate reaches the majority.

Each local chapter in good standing shall be entitled to send from its active membership, two to four local voting delegates and one alternate for each voting delegate to the National Leadership Experience in accordance with the following:

• Under 50 members—two voting delegates.
• 50–100 members—three voting delegates.
• Over 100 members—four voting delegates.

In FBLA, these delegates vote for their Regional Vice President.  In PBL, these delegates vote for all officers for elected positions. These are determined from those members that are registered and paid for the National Leadership Experience.  Each local adviser will be prompted to register their local chapter voting delegates as part of the NLC Conference Registration process.

Each state chapter in good standing shall be entitled to send two voting delegates its active membership. These State Voting Delegates vote on the election of the National President, National Secretary, National Treasurer, and any bylaw amendments.  State Key Contacts will determine each of their two State Voting Delegates based on a form which is due by May 22.  These State Voting Delegates must be registered and paid for the NLC.

Yes. For information about the process for the 2020-21 National Officer Elections, please visit our Campaigns & Voting page.

All final campaign materials must be approved by the FBLA-PBL Elections Committee prior to the candidate interviews. Candidates will receive an email from the Committee Chair approving the materials or noting any changes that need to be made.

Each State may nominate one member as a candidate for National Parliamentarian.

Endorsements of candidates can be made on social media following the closing of the opening session/campaign rally when campaigns officially begin.  Prior to that, candidates should be communicating about the campaign only with members from their individual state.  The expectation is that one-time endorsements will be made by fellow FBLA/PBL members (rather than advisers other than the candidate’s local and state advisers, Professional Division members, or others outside the organization.  Endorsements of a candidate should not include negative comments or insinuations about other candidates. Currently-serving national officers are not to make public endorsements.

All campaign violations will be emailed to Lisa Smothers (lsmothers@fbla.org). Violations will be reviewed by the Election Committee and may result in a disqualification by this committee.