ABA Board Ballot on the Way

Bookstore members of the American Booksellers Association will soon begin receiving a ballot to approve new officers and to elect directors to the Board for terms beginning June 2008.

The envelope, arriving by U.S. mail, also includes a cover letter from ABA Nominating Committee Chair Beth Puffer of New York City's Bank Street Bookstore, biographical data on the Board candidates, and a special postage-paid envelope for return of the ballot to ABA's auditor, Marks Paneth & Shron LLP.

On the ballot for member approval to serve one-year terms are officers selected by the Board: Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, for president, and Michael Tucker of Books Inc. in San Francisco for vice president/secretary.

The three director candidates on the ballot are booksellers recommended by ABA's Nominating Committee and approved by the Board. No petitions to place the names of additional candidates on the ballot were received.

Director candidates up for election to serve three-year terms are Dan Chartrand of Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, New Hampshire; Ken White of SFSU Bookstore in San Francisco; and Tucker, a current Board member who is eligible for a second three-year term. In accordance with ABA's bylaws, space is also provided on the ballot for write-in candidates.

Board ballots must be returned in the postage-paid envelope addressed to Marks Paneth & Shron LLP. The return envelope must be postmarked by Wednesday, April 30, 2008, and received by the auditors by Wednesday, May 7. Ballots received after that date will not be counted.

A flier detailing ABA's programming at this May's BookExpo America is also included in the mailing.

Watch for interviews with this year's Board candidates in upcoming editions of Bookselling This Week.