Petition Process Open for Additional Board Candidates

Under the American Booksellers Association’s Bylaws, any bookstore member may submit petitions to have the names of additional candidates for Board officers and/or directors added to the ballot for the 2015–16 Board of Directors elections. Upon receipt of valid petitions, additional director candidates will be added to the ballot alongside the three candidates put forth by the ABA Nominating Committee and approved by the Board at its February meeting. Those candidates are:

• Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas,
• Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books in San Francisco, California, and
• Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves…Books in Buffalo, New York.

Koehler and Welch are coming to the end of their first three-year term as directors and are eligible for a second three-year term.

Qualified candidates for the offices of ABA president and vice president who are supported by valid petitions will be added to the ballot beside the Board’s selection of current ABA vice president Betsy Burton of The King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a two-year term as president, and Board member Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington, for vice president/secretary. Their selection by the Board must be ratified by ABA membership.

Should bookstore members wish to submit a petition in support of additional candidates, the following apply:

• A candidate must be an employee or 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 and, to be valid, must name a candidate who meets the qualifications for office established under the Bylaws.
• All petitions must be submitted by March 20, 2015, to the Chair, ABA Nominating Committee, c/o ABA, 333 Westchester Avenue, Suite S202, White Plains, New York 10604.
• The names on the petition in support of the candidate must reflect at least two percent of ABA Bookstore Members as of January 1, 2015; that is a minimum of 25 signatures. The petition must contain original signatures and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of bookstore members in at least five states, with representatives of no one state constituting more than 50 percent of the total number of petition signatures.

The ballot for the 2015 Board elections will be sent to ABA members via e-mail by the end of March, 60 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting, to be held at the Javits Convention Center during BookExpo America. The ballot will include space for write-in candidates.

Bookstore members who are working to circulate a petition are asked to contact BTW for future coverage.