Election Information

Membership Requirements

As of February 1, 2019, unit elections are permitted in Scouts BSA, Venturing, and Sea Scout units. The Order of the Arrow membership requirements are as follows:

• Be a registered member of the Boy Scouts of America.

• Have experienced 15 nights of Scout camping while registered with a troop, crew, or ship within the two years immediately prior to the election. The 15 nights must include one, but no more than one, long-term camp consisting of at least five consecutive nights of overnight camping, approved and under the auspices and standards of the Boy Scouts of America. Only five nights of the long-term camp may be credited toward the 15-night camping requirement; the balance of the camping (10 nights) must be overnight, weekend, or other short-term camps of, at most, three nights each. Ship nights may be counted as camping for Sea Scouts.

• At the time of their election, youth must be under the age of 21, and hold one of the following ranks corresponding to the type unit in which they are being considered for election: Scouts BSA First Class rank, the Venturing Discovery rank, or the Sea Scout Ordinary rank or higher, and following approval by the Scoutmaster, Crew Advisor or Sea Scout Skipper, be elected by the youth members of their unit.

• Adults (age 21 or older) who meet the camping requirements may be selected following nomination to and approval by the lodge adult selection committee.

The induction ceremony, called the Ordeal, is the first step toward full membership and is usually held in the spring and again in the fall in the Denver Area Council. During the Ordeal, candidates maintain silence, receive small amounts of food, work on camp improvement projects, and are required to sleep alone, apart from other campers. This entire experience is designed to teach significant values. To alleviate lingering concerns in some quarters regarding the ceremonial aspects of the Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scouts of America has officially stated:

“The induction is not a hazing or an initiation ceremony. The Order of the Arrow is not a secret Scout organization, and its ceremonies are open to any parent, Scout leader, or religious leader. There is an element of mystery in the ceremonies for the sake of its effect on the candidates. For this reason, ceremonies are not put on in public. The ceremonies are not objectionable to any religious group.”

Information on scheduling an election for a Unit

Elections will always be conducted by an election team from your OA Chapter. Contact your chapter for more information: