The Co-op board election will be held the first week of March, and we look forward to having a lively line-up of candidates to choose from. If you love your Co-op and have 12-20 hours per month you can volunteer, then we hope to see an application with your name on it in December.

The candidacy packet will be published and available at the Co-op on December 1. The deadline for submitting applications is December 31. The elections committee will conduct candidate orientations during the first two weeks of January. Anyone who has been employed or sought employment at the Co-op within the last two years is not eligible. See this article for explanation.

The candidates will be officially presented to membership in the February newsletter, which will also contain an election guide.

The elections committee will hold a formal candidate forum during the fourth week of February, and in-store voting will run from Friday, March 2, until 8 p.m. on Friday, March 9, during an election event. The winners will be announced later that night.

The process of voting will be changed a little. The Co-op technology folks will be determining a “primary member” for every membership card. This will alleviate the problem of the election personnel having to make sure that only one person votes per membership.

You can vote in the store by getting a ballot at the customer service desk, after the customer service employee has checked that you are the primary person on the membership. Primary members who will be out of the area during the election can obtain an absentee ballot.

We hope the streamlining of this system will make your participation easier.