• If you sign up (join or renew) your membership anytime from January 1 through December 1 of a given year, your membership will expire on January 31 of the next year. This ensures that you have the right to participate in the election of that year. For example, if you sign up on March 23, 2008, your membership will expire on January 31, 2009.

• If you sign up between December 1 and December 31 of a given year, your membership will expire on January 31 of the year after the next. For example, if you sign up on December 2, 2008, your membership will expire on January  31, 2010. (The reason for the difference is that, by December 1, it is too late to participate in the upcoming election. The extension to the following year grants you the right to participate in the election that will take place in that year.)

• Of course, you can still sign up for multiple years. We will just add the appropriate number of years and your membership will expire on Jan. 31 of the appropriate year.  For example, if you sign up for three years on November 27, 2008, your membership will expire on January 31, 2011.