ABA Board Candidates and Petition Guidelines

At the recent meeting of the American Booksellers Association's Board of Directors, the Board approved the report of the ABA Nominating Committee, chaired by Neal Coonerty of Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California. The committee presented the Board with the names of three candidates for three-year terms as directors on the Board (2004-2007). (Under the current ABA bylaws, each year three members of the nine-member Board come to the end of their terms.)

The booksellers nominated as candidates for the upcoming elections are: Carla Jimenez of Inkwood Books in Tampa, Florida; Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver; and Linda Ramsdell of Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vermont. Jimenez is currently a member of the ABA Board and is eligible to seek one additional three-year term.

Under the ABA bylaws, in addition to candidates put forth by the Nominating Committee and approved by the Board, any bookstore member may submit a petition for a director candidate. Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee will add the petitioned candidate's name to the Director ballot.

Should any bookstore member wish to submit a petition, the following apply:

• To be a candidate for the Board of Directors, one must be an employee/owner of an ABA member bookstore. The member bookstore must be in good standing and the individual candidate must have at least three years experience in a bookstore-member company.
  

• Each petition can present only one candidate.
  

• All petitions must be submitted by March 8, 2004, to Chair, ABA Nominating Committee, c/o ABA, 828 South Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591.
  

• The names on the petition in support of the candidate must reflect at least two percent of the Bookstore Members as of January 1, 2004, which, for this year, would be a minimum of 37 signatures. The petition must contain original signatures, name of the ABA member bookstore, addresses, and telephone numbers.
  

• The names on the petition in support of the candidate must come from at least five states, with representatives of no one state constituting more than 50 percent of the total number of petition signatures.
  

• Upon receipt of a valid petition, the Nominating Committee will add the petitioned candidate's name to the ballot for Board of Directors' elections sent to the membership.
  

To help BTW's coverage of the election process, if any bookstore member is working to circulate a petition, please let us know by sending an e-mail to [email protected].

For more about the recent ABA Board meeting, click here.