Unit OA Elections
Order of the Arrow is Scouting America’s National Honor Society. Membership is both a privilege and responsibility. Tamegonit Lodge encourages units in the Heart of America Council to hold an annual election to recognize those scouts deserving of membership to the Order of the Arrow. A successful Unit Election is the first step to attaining membership in OA.
Don’t postpone your unit elections! Click Here for information on how to schedule an election.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the Vice Chief of Chapters or the Associate Adviser of Chapters:
Vice Chief of Chapters – Adrian P. – [email protected]
Chapters Adviser – Mike P. – [email protected]
Unit Leader Approval
To become eligible for election, a unit member must be registered with Scouting America in Scouts BSA, Venturing, or Sea Scouts, and have the approval of their Unit Leader prior to the election. The unit leader must certify their Scout spirit (i.e., their adherence to the Scout Oath and Law and active participation in unit activities). The unit leader must also certify that the nominee meets all specified requirements at the time of this annual election.
Youth Membership Qualifications
All members of, or candidates for membership in, the Order of the Arrow who are under 21 years of age shall be considered youth members or candidates for youth membership, subject to meeting the following requirements:
- Be a registered member of Scouting America.
- Hold the Scouts BSA First Class rank, the Venturing Discovery rank, or the Sea Scout Ordinary rank or higher.
- After registration with a unit, have experienced 15 nights of Scout camping during the two-year period prior to the election. The 15 nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of five consecutive nights of resident camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of Scouting America. The balance of the camping must be overnight, weekend, or other short-term camps. Candidates for youth membership shall be elected by other youth members in accordance with policies set forth by the National Order of the Arrow Committee.
Scouts with Special Needs
The Order of the Arrow is committed to including Scouts and Scouters who have special needs because of a disability.
In the case of special-needs units, election teams should follow the same procedures, keeping in mind that any Scout who is classified as a youth member of a unit, regardless of age, will be considered a youth (voting) member. All other membership requirements remain the same.
When inducting a Scout or Scouter with a special need, as with any candidate, lodges should make the activities challenging within the individual’s limitations, and plan accordingly. Accessibility to ceremonial circles, sleeping sites, and appropriate work projects should be taken into consideration to ensure a meaningful induction.
Adult Membership Qualifications
- Adult Leaders in Units – Each year, upon holding a troop or team election for youth candidates that results in at least one youth candidate being elected, the unit committee may nominate adults to the Lodge Adult Selection Committee. The number of adults nominated can be no more than one-third of the number of youth candidates elected, rounded up where the number of youth candidates is not a multiple of three. In addition to the one-third limit, the unit committee may nominate the currently-serving unit leader (but not assistant leaders), as long as he or she has served as unit leader for at least the previous twelve months. Recommendations of the Adult Selection Committee, which consists of the Lodge Adviser, the Chairman of the Council Committee on which the Lodge Adviser serves, and the Lodge Staff Adviser, with the approval of the Scout Executive, serving as Supreme Chief of the Fire, will be candidates for induction, provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
- Selection of the adult is based on the ability to perform the necessary functions to help the Order fulfill its purpose, and not for recognition of service, including current or prior achievement and positions.
- The individual will be an asset to the Order because of demonstrated abilities that fulfill the purpose of the Order.
- The camping requirements set forth for youth members are fulfilled.
- The adult leader’s membership will provide a positive example for the growth and development of the youth members of the lodge.
- Adult Leaders in Council and District Positions – The Lodge Adviser, District Chairmen, Council President, or members of the professional staff may nominate adults to the Lodge Adult Selection Committee. All requirements set forth for adult leaders in units must be fulfilled, with the exception of the camping requirements, which may be waived at the discretion of the Lodge Staff Adviser and Scout Executive. A request for waiver of the camping requirement should be sent to the Lodge Staff Adviser. Recommendations of the Adult Selection Committee, with the approval of the Scout Executive, serving as Supreme Chief of the Fire, will become candidates for induction. Adults may be nominated for membership only one time per year as either unit Scouters or Council/District Scouters, but not both. How they are nominated depends on where they maintain their primary registration. Because the Order of the Arrow is principally a youth organization, Unit, District, and Council Scouters are not selected for membership as a recognition. Selection should take place only when the adult’s position in Scouting will make Order of the Arrow membership more meaningful in the lives of the youth membership.
Camp Staff Members
Honorary Membership
Honorary membership in the Order of the Arrow is not authorized and shall not be given. Membership in the Order shall be gained only through fulfillment of membership requirements as stated in the official literature of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting America. Visiting Scouts or leaders cannot be given honorary memberships in the Order.
Life Membership
A life membership in the Order of the Arrow is not authorized and shall not be recognized. Membership in the Order of the Arrow requires current registration with Scouting America. There is no official or authorized life membership registration status for the Order of the Arrow in Scouting America.
Unit Elections Handbook
Unit Elections are conducted in accordance with National Order of The Arrow policies.
The revised National OA Unit Elections Handbook can be found here
Election Timing
Units are encouraged to conduct their Unit Elections between January 1 and March 31 of of the calendar year. This, however, is not required. You may conduct your unit election up to two weeks before the final induction weekend (this deadline is typically in mid-August).
Unit Elections should be scheduled through your Chapter Chief and/or Chapter Elections Team. Conducting your election before April 1 allows your units to be able to register for any of the year’s Induction Events.
Scheduling an Election
Unit Elections are scheduled via the online Lodgemaster System. An email will be sent to the Key 3 of each unit starting in early January, and once every 21 days until a visit is scheduled, or the unit responds to decline a visit. These emails will come from [email protected]
Unit Leaders should schedule via their unit portal that is linked on this page, where they will be able to submit a request for an election, and later be able to upload their eligible youth and adult nominations.
If Unit Leaders wish to have another adult, such as the Unit OA Adviser, perform this task, they simply just need to forward the email to that individual.
If a unit has not received their email, they may contact their District’s OA Chapter Adviser to receive the link.
It’s also good to double check that the unit’s Key 3 contacts are up-to-date in my.scouting before December to ensure emails get to the unit in a timely manner the following year.
If you need to change your visit information, please reach out to your Chapter Chief/Adviser. They can quickly edit in that information.
Once you submit, and the Chapter schedules the visit, you will receive another E-Mail as a receipt of the scheduling. At this point you can submit your eligible youth.
By submitting your youth early, the election team can generate ballots (if needed), and speeds up the paperwork at the visit. This allows the election results to get posted faster, and thus approved faster.
Eligible Youth
Two weeks before the date of the election, Lodgemaster will send out an E-Mail requesting units to upload the list of their candidates.
Unit Leaders can either use the online portal link from their email to submit eligible youth, or fill out the attached Excel spreadsheet (within the E-Mail) with the information.
If you have an adult in your Unit that you have handle all the OA stuff, this link may be forwarded to them to fill out.
They can use the portal, or the spreadsheet, like the Unit Leader can without any additional permissions needed.
Once an election is approved, the unit will be able to submit adult nominations. You will receive 2 nominations per 3 youth elected.
Adults are nominated similar to the youth, but they may only be nominated via the Lodgemaster Portal.
An E-Mail will be sent to the unit after the approval of the election results to be able to submit adults. Please make sure you get the adults nominations in before the induction weekend’s registration deadline.
Adult Nominations
Call-Out Ceremonies
As soon as the election is completed, the Unit Leader may or may not choose to announce to the entire unit the names of members who have been elected.
Newly elected candidates will be called out at the earliest possible time, either at a resident camp, a camporee, or a special ceremony. The Guide to Inductions, which is available for download and printing at www.oa-scouting.org, contains information on how to conduct a call-out ceremony. Call-outs should be conducted by Tamegonit Lodge or one of its Chapters in which the unit is chartered. This is the preferred method of call-out.
It is recognized that there is some value in holding a call-out at a summer camp. A lodge may not call out candidates from a visiting out-of-council troop or team unless the unit leader presents a letter from the home Lodge Chief and Lodge Adviser, requesting the call-out and identifying the members to be called out. A signed copy of the home lodge’s unit election report must accompany this letter. The home Lodge Chief and Lodge Adviser must receive confirmation of the call-out following the event.
People Eligible to Vote in an Order of the Arrow Election
To become a member of the Order of the Arrow, a candidate is chosen by vote of the youths in their unit. This is a unique feature of the Order, since the majority of those who select their candidates for this honor are not members of the Lodge. However, Lodge members in the unit have a vote as well as nonmembers. In this way, membership is controlled by the youths in their own units and not by those who are already Arrowmen. It is important that the members of the unit have the membership requirements properly explained to them.
Every registered active member of the unit under age 21 at the time of election is eligible to vote. A scout who carries a current national membership card and participates in at least some unit activities during the year is considered to be a registered active member of the unit. For example, a youth away at college who participates in some unit activities when home, such as a campout, camporee, or occasional unit meeting, should be considered a registered active member. A youth who moves away or drops out of the unit because of other interests would not be counted in the registered active membership figure.
All elections must be conducted by the Order of the Arrow lodge of the council in which the unit is chartered. No unit may visit outside its own council and hold an OA election under the auspices of an OA lodge of another council. Elections are held only in Troops, Crews, or Ships. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
Candidate Status (Time Limits, Lodge Jurisdiction)
Scouts, or adults remain candidates until completion of the Ordeal and Ordeal ceremony. If this period of candidacy exceeds 18 months, the candidate’s name will be dropped. To become candidates again, they must be elected/selected again. The Executive Committee of the Lodge may extend the limit if a candidate is ill or there are other unusual circumstances.
If a candidate permanently relocates to a new Scouting America Council prior to completing the Ordeal, the candidate should immediately join a Unit in the new Council. A copy of the election report must be presented to the new Unit Leader to arrange induction in the new Lodge. The candidacy period is not restarted or extended.
Ordeal Candidates: Candidates for membership in the Order must complete the Ordeal and must be inducted into the Order by the lodge that serves the council in which the unit is chartered. Out-of-council Ordeals are not permitted except when religious custom and observance precludes attendance at the Ordeals of a Scout’s home lodge (e.g., Sabbath-observant Jewish Scouts). In this special case, the region Order of the Arrow chairman may be petitioned for an exception to permit the Scout to be inducted by another lodge.
What if my unit is not doing an election this year?
There may be various reasons a unit not wish to have a visit this year, such as having no eligible candidates.
Please remember that if you don’t have any candidates when elections open in January, but expect to have some in July, that you can wait until July to schedule an election. This is due to having the 2 Fall Inductions that the candidates could attend. Elections just have to be completed, and submitted, no later than 2 weeks prior to the last induction event of the year.
If you do not anticipate having any eligible candidates, or for whatever other reason not need an election, please make sure to shoot an email to your Chapter Leadership and let them know. This will let them close out the record for the year, and you will no longer receive election reminder emails until the next year.
Sealing your Brotherhood
From the inception of the Order of the Arrow in 1915, it was intended that all members should be of the same rank or standing. Brotherhood membership does not carry with it any degree of rank, status, or special privilege within the Lodge. It is not to be thought of as a separate honor in the same sense as the Vigil Honor. Except for making the necessary arrangements for Brotherhood ceremonies, it is not necessary for Brotherhood members to meet as a separate group. Social and service activities are not held for Brotherhood members apart from other members of the Lodge.
The Brotherhood is an opportunity for members to evaluate their unit service since their induction, to contemplate their future service to the lodge, and to reaffirm their belief in the high purposes of the Order. The ceremony is intended as a source of inspiration, motivating its members to render even greater service to Scouting. Brotherhood membership can only be conferred by an Arrowman’s home lodge – the lodge that serves the council in which the Arrowman’s unit is chartered.