ABA Board Ballots to Mail Next Week

The American Booksellers Association's bookstore members should be on the lookout for an envelope coming next week via the U.S. Postal Service that includes the ballot to approve officers and elect directors to the ABA Board. The mailing includes a cover letter from ABA Nominating Committee Chair Collette Morgan of Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis, biographical data on the Board candidates, and a special postage-paid envelope for return of the ballots to ABA's auditors, Marks Paneth & Shron LLP.

This year the mailing also includes the text of proposed changes to the association's bylaws that will be put to a vote at the ABA Annual Membership Meeting on Friday, June 1, at BookExpo America. The changes to Article VII (Committees and Advisory Bodies) of the bylaws are explained in an accompanying letter from ABA President Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana.

Information about ABA programming at BEA is also included in the mailing.

The Board ballot includes the names of Russ Lawrence of Chapter One Book Store in Hamilton, Montana, for president, and Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, for vice-president/secretary. The director candidates listed on the ballot are Steve Bercu of BookPeople in Austin, Texas; Tom Campbell of The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, North Carolina; and Cathy Langer of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver. Langer is currently a member of the ABA Board and is eligible for an additional three-year term. Space is also provided on the ballot (as per ABA's bylaws) to include write-in candidates.

Board ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, May 1, 2007, and returned in the postage-paid envelope addressed to Marks Paneth & Shron LLP. Ballots received by the auditors after Tuesday, May 8, will not be counted.