Polls open for ALA election

Contact: Mark Gould


Director,


ALA Public Information Office


(312) 280-1546


mgould@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release,


March 17, 2009

CHICAGO – Polls open today for the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual election.

Candidates are running for ALA president-elect, ALA Council members-at-large and divisions/sections and round tables.




Beginning at 9 a.m., broadcast e-mails announcing that polls are open were sent. The last e-mail will be sent by 9 a.m. on March 19. The broadcast e-mails announce that polls are open and provide state the member’s with their unique passcode and instructions. All members who have a validated e-mail address will receive notice and their Web ballot.

Those without an e-mail address, or whose e-mail bounced, will receive a letter with credentials, including member number and a unique passcode. Also provided will be instructions for voting online.

The polls close at 11:59 P.M. CDT on Friday, April 24.

If you have not received your e-mail ballot by March 20, please call ALA Membership and Customer Service at (800) 545-2433 (press 5) or send an e-mail to
membership@ala.org. We will send you a Web ballot.

The Election Committee will certify the results on May 1. That day, the candidates will be notified and the election reports will be distributed.

This year’s election is a special one, since it will be the first to be held nearly entirely online. A printed version of a paper ballot will continue to be available upon request to members with disabilities and no Internet access.

ALA introduced online voting in 2003. Since then, the election has been conducted through a combination of Web voting and paper ballots. With the rise in printing and postage costs, the production and mailing of paper ballots has grown costly. The majority of ALA members now have e-mail addresses and access to the Internet at home or at their local library. The move to an online election will save in postage and printing costs, as well as nearly a half million pieces of paper.

It is important for voters to check with their library information technology personnel or Internet service providers to make sure that spam filters will not prevent ALA from e-mailing the ballot forms.