ABA Announces 2024 Board Candidates

The petition process is now open, which means members may write in candidates to stand for election. Find more information below.

The ABA Board of Directors met last week and approved the ABA Nominating Committee’s recommendation of candidates to stand for election to three-year terms as directors on the ABA Board. The election will fill one vacancy: Board Director Kelly Estep’s (Carmichael’s Bookstore) second term on the Board is coming to an end.

Recommended to stand for election to three-year term (2024–2027) is:

• Christina Pascucci Ciampa, All She Wrote Books, Somerville, MA, Founder/Owner
   

Other Directors on the current Board are up for re-election:

• Kathy Burnette, Brain Lair Books, was appointed last year and is running for her first term.
• Danny Caine, Raven Book Store, is running for a second term.
• Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, Solid State Books, is running for a second term.
   

A ballot for the 2024 Board elections will be sent to ABA members via email at the beginning of March, at least 60 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting; the deadline for return of the ballots will be 11:59 pm ET April 3. THERE WILL NOT BE AN EXTENSION.

The ballot will include space for write-in candidates. The new Board of Directors will be announced in BTW on April 10. The virtual ABA Membership Meeting will be held on May 23, 2024, at 2:00 pm ET.

In accordance with ABA Bylaws, any bookstore member may submit petitions to have the names of additional candidates for Board Officers and/or Directors added to the ballot. Should bookstore members wish to submit a petition, 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.
• Booksellers who wish to petition to be put on the ballot should ask their supporters to email [email protected] with their endorsement of the petitioner; the supporters will then be asked to send their original signature to ABA by mail. Petitioners are also asked to email Nominating Committee Chair Jake Cumsky-Whitlock to let him know that their petition is on the way. Emails should be sent to both no later than February 22, 2024 at 11:59 pm ET.
• All original signatures must be postmarked by February 22, 2024, and mailed to the Chair, ABA Nominating Committee, C/O American Booksellers Association, 600 Mamaroneck Ave, Suite 400, Harrison, NY 10528.
• The names on the petition in support of the candidate must reflect at least two percent of ABA Bookstore Members as of January 1, 2024; that is a minimum of 47 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.
• Upon receipt of a valid petition, the candidate’s name will be added to the ballot sent to ABA membership.
   

The ABA Board would like to thank this year’s Nominating Committee:

• Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, Solid State Books, Washington, DC (Chair)
• Diane Capriola, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA
• Derek Holland, Tattered Cover Book Store, Denver, CO
• Lane Jacobson, Paulina Springs Books, Sisters, OR
• Kelly Justice, Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA