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Board of Publications Hosts Internet Candidates’ Page

It’s back! The board of publications is again hosting an Internet candidates’ page on www.acb.org.

This page is a read-only web page where all individuals who wish to announce their candidacy will be asked to respond to the same set of questions. We envision the online candidates’ page as a place where people who want to run for office can allow the ACB membership to get to know them. The page will also allow ACB chapters and affiliates to have more information at their disposal before they send delegates to the national convention. Over the past several years, a number of chapters have provided copies of the candidates’ responses to their members in braille or had read all the responses aloud at membership meetings. Lively discussions ensued, and many members have told us how much they appreciated the opportunity to participate more actively in ACB’s democracy because of the early dissemination of information which the online “forum” was able to facilitate.

In a meeting in early March, the board of publications came up with a set of questions for candidates for second vice president, the board of directors and the board of publications, as follows.

Questions for the Second Vice President

  1. What specific assignments would you prefer and/or anticipate that the ACB president would delegate to you?

  2. ACB is currently confronted by serious financial challenges. What concrete initiatives would you support to help ACB resolve its financial problems?

  3. What specifically would you do to promote smoother working relations among individual members, the board of directors, the administration and the office staff?

  4. What single important policy initiative would you attempt to emphasize in the one-year remainder of your term?

Questions for the Board of Directors

  1. What degree of responsibility do you have for completing your elected term on the board of directors, and what conditions do you think would relieve you of that responsibility?

  2. Are there current programs which could be eliminated or modified to relieve ACB’s financial crisis?

  3. What specific experiences have you had that contribute to your ability to act as a director for ACB?

  4. What steps are you prepared to take to bring members of the board of directors closer together and to resolve friction among its members?

Questions for the Board of Publications

  1. What do you feel are the most important duties of the BOP?

  2. What experience have you had in writing, editing, and/or producing a chapter or affiliate newsletter that prepares you for work on the BOP?

  3. What do you consider to be the purpose of “The Braille Forum” and how should its content reflect that view?

  4. What are your views on freedom of expression? Should it be limited or unlimited? Be specific.

Answer each question with a maximum of 250 words. Submit answers in any accessible, readable media, i.e., in print, or braille, on paper, computer disk (in ASCII text, WordPerfect 5.1, or Microsoft Word formats), or via e-mail. Pasting the text into an e-mail message is preferable to sending attachments, but attachments in ASCII text, Microsoft Word or WordPerfect 5.1 will be accepted. Submissions will not be accepted via telephone, voice mail, audiocassette, or in handwriting. Note that we will not edit submissions for spelling, grammar, or content. The only change which will occur to submissions is conversion to the HTML code to facilitate online posting. Note further that it is our webmaster’s role to convert documents into HTML, and we will not accept submissions which you have coded in this format yourself.

When submitting your answers, please place your name, address, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and employer and job title at the top of each page. Center each item. The top of your page should look like this:

Jane Smith
1234 Main Street
Anytown, AnyState 00000
(555) 222-3333 (home)
(555) 000-4444 (work)
E-mail: [email protected]
Writer/Editor at AnyJob, Inc.

Write each question, and then place your corresponding answer underneath. Please number your pages. Send your completed submissions to the following address: American Council of the Blind Candidates’ Page, 1155 15th Street NW, Suite 1004, Washington, DC 20005. Responses may be submitted by e-mail, according to the guidelines noted above, to [email protected].

Time Lines

Submissions should be mailed, either by postal delivery or electronic mail, so that they reach the ACB national office no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on May 28, 2004. When we receive a declared candidate’s materials, we will check the membership database to ensure that he or she is a member in good standing. We hope to have the online candidates’ page available at the ACB web site as soon after we have received all the submissions as possible, so that members will have access to the information in time for June membership meetings of local chapters. The pages will be available online no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, June 10, and will remain online at http://www.acb.org until the conclusion of convention. We encourage ACB members who have computer access to share the contents of the candidates’ page with members who do not. We will notify members on the day that the page goes live online on all the ACB e-mailing lists.

When official campaigns begin in earnest at the ACB national convention, declared candidates will present at formal and informal state and special-interest caucuses. In addition, the board of publications will sponsor a live question-and-answer Candidates’ Forum, which will be held on Thursday of convention week. The board of publications encourages all ACB members to submit written questions which will be considered for this forum to the convention communications center. More details about this and other aspects of communications center operations can be expected in the June issue.