Check your mailbox in the coming days: if you are a voting member of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association, you will soon receive your ballots in the mail.

Why is voting still being done by mail? As you may recall, following a recent amendment that passed overwhelmingly, the Eastern Division bylaws now allow for electronic ballots. However, the national APA bylaws do not. Because this year’s ballots include a number of proposed amendments to the national APA bylaws—including one that, if passed, would allow the use of electronic ballots in the future—it is necessary to use old-fashioned mail ballots again this year. We fully expect that this will be the last time the Eastern Division will vote by mail ballot.

Via the ballots you will soon receive, Eastern Division officers will be elected and amendments to the APA’s national bylaws will be approved or rejected. The results of the voting will have important impacts on the future of the APA, and I hope you will take the time to participate.