Election Process Open for Petitions in Support of Additional ABA Board Candidates

Under the American Booksellers Association’s Bylaws, any bookstore member may submit petitions to have the names of additional candidates added to the ballot for the 2016 Board of Directors elections. Upon receipt of valid petitions, additional director candidates will be added to the ballot, alongside the four candidates put forth by the ABA Nominating Committee and approved by the Board at its January meeting. Those candidates are:

• Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri
• Chris Morrow of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont, and Saratoga Springs, New York
• Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop in Westerly, Rhode Island
• Robert Sindelar of Third Place Books, with two locations in the Seattle, Washington, area and a third scheduled to open in spring 2016.

Philbrick and Sindelar are coming to the end of their first three-year term as Board directors and are eligible for a second three-year term; Sindelar is also in the first year of a two-year term as ABA vice president.

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 10, 2016, 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, 2016; 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 2016 Board elections will be sent to ABA members via e-mail in mid-March, 60 days prior to the ABA Annual Membership Meeting, to be held on May 12 at McCormick Place in Chicago 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 Bookselling This Week for future coverage.