Fellow AEA Members,
I will second most heartily what Jess W. Speaker says; please, please vote in the current AEA Council Elections.
You can vote either by paper ballot or on the Web.
If you've never voted before, and you think you don't know enough about the issues, read the candidates' statements on AEA's web site, in the current issue of Equity News, or in the mailing with the paper ballot, and find a voice or voices that may echo your own ideas.
Unlike Jess, however, I encourage you to vote for the maximum number of candidates possible in each category, or for as many candidates whose ideas and statements speak to you. It takes all kinds of experience and many different opinions to populate a successful legislative body, and bullet voting can only deprive us all of the diversity necessary for success.
And, please, encourage all your AEA friends and colleagues to do the same, actors and stage managers alike. And if I'm preaching to the choir, if you are a regular voter, then find someone who isn't and encourage them. And then ask them to encourage someone else, and so on.
Just over 6000 of us, out of about 35,000 members in good standing voted in the last elections. We can do better this year!
Ruth E. Kramer
Eastern Region Stage Manager Councillor
(No, I am NOT on the ballot this year.)