ALA election polls to open on March 15

Contact: Mark Gould

Director, PIO

312-280-5042

mgould@ala.org

For Immediate Release

March 6, 2007

ALA election polls to open on March 15

CHICAGO – The polls will open on March 15 for the 2007 American Library Association (ALA) election. All paid ALA members as of January 31, 2007, are eligible to vote. Members must submit their ballots by April 24, 2007, at 11:59 p.m. CST.

For 2007 elections, all Web voters will receive ballots between March 15 and March 17, 2007, in a 48-hour email blast. This will ensure that voters have more time to cast their ballots. Members without email addresses, or who have email addresses that bounce, will receive a paper ballot package.

Paper ballot packages will be mailed between March 15 and March 22, 2007. International paper ballot packages will be mailed between March 13 and March 15, 2007.

The ALA election domain name is https://www.alavote.org. This name allows the election broadcast email “From” line to be: 2007election@alavote.org.

Building on the association’s experience with the 2006 electronic election, a number of changes made last year will continue with the 2007 election process and ballot. The 2007 election will be ALA’s fourth online accessible election. The 2007 ballot meets all applicable W3C accessibility standards and can be read by common screen readers for the disabled. This allows ALA’s visually impaired members to navigate Web sites by converting text and other visual symbols to audible speech.

Council candidates' biographical statements will be available on the ALA web site for members to review and print. A link will be provided on the ALA web page: http://www.ala.org/ala/ourassociation/governanceb/electioninfo/alaelectioninfo.htm.