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 2018–19 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:

• Kelly Estep of Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky
• Bradley Graham of Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.
• Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books in San Francisco, California
• Angela Maria Spring of Duende District Bookstore in Washington, D.C.

Mulvihill is coming to the end of his first three-year term on the Board and is eligible for a second three-year term. Estep and Spring have not previously served on the ABA Board. All three are standing election for three-year terms (2018–2021).

Graham is eligible to be nominated for the unexpired period of what would have been ABA President Robert Sindelar’s term as a Board member. (The 2017 election of Sindelar as ABA Board President created a vacancy on the Board, which the Board had filled by appointment until the next election.) Graham, who has been serving on the board by that appointment since May 2017, will be eligible for a full three-year term in 2019.

Leaving the Board will be Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo, New York, and Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas. Both are completing their second three-year terms as directors.

A ballot for the 2018 Board elections will be sent to ABA members via e-mail at the beginning of April, 60 days prior to the Annual Membership Meeting; the deadline for return of the ballots will be May 1. The ABA Membership Meeting will be held on May 31, 2018, at the Javits Convention Center during BookExpo. The ballot will include space for write-in candidates.

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 17, 2018, 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, 2018; 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.
• Upon receipt of a valid petition, the candidate’s name will be added to the ballot sent to ABA membership.

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

The members of this year’s Nominating Committee were ABA Board members Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo, New York (chair), and Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut, and Savoy Bookshop & Café in Westerly, Rhode Island; Kristen Gilligan of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado; Melanie McNair of Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café in Asheville, North Carolina; and Andy Perham of Books Inc. in San Francisco, California.