PLA Nomination by Petition Process

Prior to running for a PLA elected position, it is recommended that members review the nomination process, office qualifications, and campaigning for elected office policies:

Responsibilities of the PLA Board

PLA Campaign Guidelines for Candidates

The PLA Bylaws allow for any current PLA member to run for an elected office through petition:

Article X. Nominations, Elections, and Appointments

Sec. 3. Petition Nominations.
Additional nominations may be made by petitions signed by not fewer than twenty five members of the Association. These petitions must be filed with the executive director not less than four months before the annual conference of ALA. No person may be nominated by the committee or by petition who is not a member of the Association and whose written consent has not been filed with the Nominating Committee.

The process to run for a PLA elected position by petition:

  1. Candidates must sign and return a PLA Board Nomination Acceptance form.
  2. Within 24 hours of returning a signed PLA Board Nomination Acceptance form, a candidate must create a personal e‑petition form. Instructions for creating a personal e‑petition form will be emailed to candidates by PLA staff. It is the petition candidate’s responsibility to obtain the required twenty five (25) signatures by the December 13, 2024 deadline. All PLA petition forms are kept behind a member wall to ensure signers are PLA personal members in good standing. This process enables PLA to accept all signatures as valid in real-time and expedite the process for ballot inclusion. If signers have trouble accessing the e‑petition form, they should contact ALA's Member Relations & Services team by email at loginhelp@ala.org.
  3. Petition candidates must fill out the 2025 PLA Election Candidate Details form, and the Candidate Biographical Form in the ALA Election Portal. The deadline for submitting these forms is December 13, 2024.*

*December 13, 2024 is the deadline to have all signatures, forms, and bios submitted to be included on the 2025 Election Ballot.