[pretty pic, for sure … praps symbolic of “to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors” (the Pacifica mission statement) – so some graphic representation of love/hate]

[describe the period before the adoption in ?2003 of a new constitution (when KPFK LSB revisited the matter, & by one vote became the 3rd LSB in favour), codified in a set of by-laws]

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• the beauty of the blank ballot

The Pacifica constitution requires a three-year election cycle, with half of delegates elected in the first year, the other half in the second, then having a breather in the third. (Well, sharpening the axes, anyway.) So, elections in 2003 & 2004, 2006 & 2007, . . ., 2018 & 2019, with a 7th cycle in 2021 & 2022 – unless the breakers triumph in the June-July 2021 referenda.

Not an easy task

. . . PacificaWorld compared with RealWorld:

“The Elections Staff of the Pacifica Foundation election has a uniquely difficult role. I can best demonstrate its difficulty by making an analogy to municipal elections, in which I have participated for many years as campaign staff for a variety of candidates and initiatives.

“The City of Berkeley has over 73,000 registered voters. (The Pacifica Foundation has over 95,000 registered voters.) The following organizations, agencies, and corporations participate in a City of Berkeley election:

• Diebold, the corporation that provides and operates the election machinery and the software.

“I believe that my point is obvious. In the Pacifica election, a staff of six part-time people is expected to guarantee the accuracy of the election lists and the technical fairness of the ballots (the Registrar of Voters’ job), to govern ballot access and the nomination process (the City Clerk’s job), to oversee the Fair Campaign Provisions (the job of the local and state FCPC), to publicize the elections and create informative forums (the job of the LWV and others), and to operate the election machinery and software (that would be Diebold).”

NES Kenneth Mostern, Complete Certification and Final Report: November 2004 Election, pages 18-19 (a 244-page report) – https://mega.nz/file/ZJViWa6J#wJsFNrw0EbI4A6wBPvkqaFi5i_GM91ZCIklRSwGTy14

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In a US presidential election one doesn’t vote for a presidential candidate as such but for an electoral coalition’s state list of candidate Electors. In PacificaWorld, not for a Local Station Board member but for a local station delegate – it’s simply the case that a responsibility of a local delegate is to be a member of that LSB. Terry Peg Terry ‘Pacifica Election Guy’ Goodman:

add quote

doc – LINK

In discharging this responsibility, delegates exercise a privilege in representing their fellow members – so representing neither ‘their station’ nor their class of members: “Delegates who shall serve as representatives of the Members” – https://pacifica.org/indexed_bylaws/art4sec1.html. However hard it is to acknowledge, & to practise, LSB delegates serve Pacifica, not ‘their station’: they are mandated by by-law 4/1 to further the interest of Pacifica, not a particular such as a station.

~

National Elections Supervisor (NES), 2003-present

2021 … Renée Asteria Peñaloza (name per her 2021 final report)

NES’ final reports

Folder: thru 2021 delegates elections, 9 of the 13 (missing are 2003, 2009, 2016, 2018 (the report by NES Graeme Drew of his Oct cancellation); note, the 2013 never happened) https://mega.nz/folder/RUdTkLBL#wqNLVr0ZYkbuL-TJ2SA6Tg

[as the inaugural election, the whole of each local station board was elected, but half of the seats had a much reduced term so they could be filled by those running in the 2004 election: “[f]or this transition election only, the 3 Staff Delegates and 9 Listener-Sponsor Delegates for each radio station highest ranked in this first election shall serve for a term expiring December 2006, and the next highest ranked 3 Staff Delegates and 9 Listener-Sponsor Delegates shall serve for a term expiring in December 2004. Beginning with the 2004 election of Delegates, Delegate elections shall thereafter proceed in accordance with the remainder of the provisions of this Article of these Bylaws” – https://pacifica.org/indexed_bylaws/art4sec7.html ]

[“This was the second Pacifica Foundation election conducted under the present bylaws. In fact, inasmuch as the timeline that determined the election of January 2004 [the 2003 results certification?] was determined not by the bylaws, but by a judicial decision and legal interpretation, it is more accurate to say that this was the first election conducted under these bylaws.” (p. 20)]

2006: https://mega.nz/file/BRlHhazJ#-SMpCKeh99pHWBLs6CN1p3DDOlP7vkK-SsxLiZbB_Go (92pp.)

2007: https://mega.nz/file/lB8Hnb7T#s_TPo7wGDd6BYhZNA7lnzoRytMALgliRBFuxNh7HD9I (62pp.; missing from the doc deposited are the appendices (15 no., 69pp. – p. 61); also in the folder is the earlier, 21Jan2008, Pacifica 2007 Elections: Summary Report (2-page Word doc))

2009: search failed, but is it online?

2010: https://mega.nz/file/QF0wxQiI#9qbnLJvfekHvf2j9wBOg7Ma_FPc3M6ircfVk6VDJbpg (“Conclusion […] I would do this job again only if work conditions changed significantly and if a switch was made from paper to paper & electronic ballots. I do not think that any human being can live happily and work efficiently the way things are currently. This process took an irreversible toll on my body and mind. It was frustrating to invest myself fully only to have my work thrown in the trash time after time” – p. 32 (emphases added). Unbelievable.) (Missing from the doc deposited are the appendices (#1-#18) & the 5 station final reports, presumably from the LES’s – “table of contents”, p. 1.)

[quorum not met in KPFK-listener & KPFK-staff elections; WPFW-listener election met quorum by 2 ballots – which included 9 blank ballots (NES’ final report, p. 2)]

[cancelled for calendar year 2013, then not run in 2014. (The 9Dec2013 PNB Elections Cttee wanted them in 2014, with the public process starting 1June2014 (after NES hired, etc.) – https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/elections/131209/elections131209a.mp3 (Michael Novick, KPFK listener-delegate, 4:37; Lydia Brazon, then KPFK listener-delegate, also spoke).)]

[NES L Joy Williams made her Pacifica public debut at the 10Mar2015 PNB Elections Cttee (58:05, albeit with dreadful sound quality): https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/elections/150310/elections150310a.mp3 ]

2016: search failed, but is it online? (Pacifica’s election site has 2016 materials, but not even one 2016 NES report there, neither progress nor final; not at Pacifica in Exile coz its ‘resources’ page ends with the 2015 report)

[no WPFW-listener election coz not enough candidates (8 for the 9 seats – and even 3 of those candidacies were invalidated)]

2019: https://mega.nz/file/8IN3RbbI#N2AmLp-WzCIcBaXDcMJ7EJWlEZaNp2YHio7_KHymuCc (it’s dated 13May2021 (sic), 18mths after the Nov2019 certification; 56pp.; also at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1opQsjVEZmWm8W0Sc977XAwLSUl0m_oQx/view)

2021: https://mega.nz/file/8B00kZJK#yA5izLBUNwCpWZ3EG2FC9EcLxUH0-n644XzMAVHN_nw (209pp. – sic)

Elections not occurring

2007: quorum not met in WPFW-listener election (NES’ 2007 final report, p. 35)

2010: quorum not met in both WPFW-listener & WPFW-staff elections (2010 NES’ final report, p. 24; & 2012 NES’ final report, p. 6)

2012: quorum not met in both KPFK-listener & KPFK-staff elections (NES’ final report, p. 2)

[didn’t occur in 2013 – the intent, 9Dec2013 PNB Elections Cttee, was to run them in 2014 (but never occurred) … many mtgs. late(?)2013 thru Apr2014 lacked quorum (faction(s) boycott?) … 1° 2014 quorum achieved 20May2014 … CHECK THE IN-PERSON PNB meets, 2013-2014, esp. c. Mar/Apr2014]

2015: it seems one set (but praps both) of WPFW elections didn’t occur: “ELECTION AT WPFW [the sub-heading] Following the nomination process, WPFW had less certified candidates than available delegate seats.” (NES’ 2015 final report, unpaginated; p. 3 of the PDF). [She says this was approved by PNB, so FIND that mtg..] As of 23Sep2015, it was both sets of elections: PNB Elections Cttee (8:08); & for the listener-members election there were 7 candidates for the 9 seats (13:30) – https://kpftx.org/archives/pnb/elections/150923/elections150923b.mp3

2018: no WPFW-listener election coz not enough candidates (8 for the 9 seats – and even 3 of those candidacies were invalidated)

The beauty of the blank ballot

If quorum is about to be missed, get on yer bike, exercise yer persuasive powers as well, & get disinterested members to do the status quo a favour & send in their ballot, even if it’s blank. Yes, when it comes to the crunch, blanks deliver the goods.

[contradiction re 2010: KPFK-listener elector roll 17 561 (NES’ final report, pp. 7-8), making 1 757 the quorum; received were 1 755 ballots (of these “[t]here were 15 invalid ballots”, making “1,740 valid ballots”, with turnout being “[a]bout 10.1%” (p. 20) – yet the election was certified: “KPFK staff and management helped us meet quorum in the final hour” (p. 29), & “I certified the results at all stations except WPFW which failed to meet quorum” (p. 18; & compare KPFK-listener election’s “ELECTED […] DEFEATED”, pp. 20-1 with “WPFW ELECTION UNCERTIFIED RESULTS”, p. 24). So what was the electorate, if not 17 561?]

2012: WPFW-listener election met quorum by 2 ballots – which included 9 blank ballots: 10 622 electorate, 1 065 ballots received (NES’ final report, p. 2)

(2016: BBB didn’t feature in the WPFW-listener election: 5 089 electorate, 565 ballots received, for 11.10% turnout, but only 7 invalid ballots)

2018: KPFK-listener election turnout was 11.03% (1 585 legal ballots from an electorate of 14 366), with 141 expressing no preferences (confusingly termed “[a]bstain” by the NES – final report, p. 5) – final report, pp. 3-5, 17 … as it turned out, these 141 blanks weren’t needed coz quorum, 1 437, was otherwise exceeded by 7: 1585–141=1444

2019: KPFK-listener election turnout was 10.97% (1 454 legal ballots from an electorate of 13 253), with 89 blanks (NES’ final report, 13May2021 (sic), pp. 2-3, 23) … as it turned out, these 89 weren’t needed coz quorum, 1 326, was otherwise exceeded by 39: 1454–89=1365

2019: WPFW-listener election needed blanks, coincidently using another set of 89: turnout 11.125% (700 legal ballots, electorate 6 292), quorum of 630 needed more than the 611 other ballots (same report, pp. 6-7, 23)

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Usefully, the NES reports {some? most?} give station membership data, by listener-members & staff-members, & these are presented at https://pacificaradiowatch.home.blog/non-financial-pacifica-data/the-knell-pacifica-membership-passing-over-time/ (also accessible via the above drop-down menu).

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