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Compromise between constituency/KPFA elections models
11-22-02


I've been informed that this is not the actual version of the "hybrid" model that was presented to the iPNB in Houston.


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Hybrid elections proposal - final version

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[Posted on the goodlight message board by steffie]
Donna Gould's hybrid proposal (repost)
Fri Nov 22 21:33:01 2002

Here is a hybrid election proposal that keeps most of the aspects of the Constituency Proposal’s nomination process but changes the election process somewhat in order to meet what seems to be the most frequent objections to the Constituency Proposal.

As in the Constituency Proposal, there would be two classes of members: listeners members and staff members. "Listener members" would be any natural persons who self-identify as listener and register with the station. "Staff members" would be any natural persons who meet the qualifications for either paid staff or unpaid staff and who register with the station at which they work.

There would still be 36 local Station Board seats. Fifteen of these would be allotted to the 13 Mission Constituencies described in the constituency proposal. Fifteen would be at large*, and 6 would be allocated to staff.

Nomination and Election of Listener Representatives Nominations for listener representatives to the Local Station Board shall occur during a nomination period which shall include a members’ convention at which members may either, in general session or in smaller groups, discuss and pass resolutions on Pacifica issues and encourage or endorse the nomination of members for board seats. Any listener member may be nominated for a board seat by the signatures of 50 listener members who are members of the same subclass as the prospective nominee (either one of the 13 mission constituency classes or the at-large class).

There would be only one election. All listener members would vote at the same time. The ballot would contain 14 boxes, one for each mission constituency and one for the at-large constituency. The nominees in each constituency would be listed in the box for their constituency. Each listener member may vote in all of the constituencies. For the mission constituencies in which there is more than one seat, and more candidates than there are seats, voters can indicate their 1st and 2nd choice and the instant runoff method would be used to determine the winners. In the at-large category, if there are more nominees that seats, voters would rank their preferences and the single transferable vote method of proportional representation would be used to determine the winners. Once the votes were tallied, the same process as used in the KPFA model would be used to insure at least 50% people of color and at least 50% women are seated.

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* I have eliminated geographic constituencies because I do not believe that the political, social and cultural differences between areas outside of New York are sufficient to warrant separate seats for New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, etc., though I think some representation of suburban areas on the Board is desirable. I would hope that this would be an outcome of having candidates from different outlying areas in the at-large category.

Nominations & Election of Staff Representatives Any staff member may be nominated for a staff seat by the signatures of 5 staff members who are members of the same subclass (paid or unpaid staff) as the prospective nominee. The staff members for each station area shall elect six representatives who shall sit on Local Station Board, according to the following breakdown by subclass:

Unpaid staff (4)
Paid Staff (2)

One third of the staff representatives shall be elected annually by the staff members of each radio station area by in-person, secret paper ballot, subject to diversity criteria. The proportional representation "single transferable voting method" shall be used. There shall be a three-week period for balloting and the ballots shall be counted and the election results certified by the Election Board not later than Dec 29th of each year.

Quorum and other minimum requirements for registration and voting.

A. If at the close of the voter registration period, any subclass of listener membership has not been selected by at least 50 members the registration period will be extended for any such subclass until the day before the start of the election period. If by the start of the election period, a subclass has still not been selected by at least 50 members the Delegate sear or seats assigned to that subclass will remain vacant until the following years election. B. For purposes of any election or written ballot, a quorum of the members shall be as follows: a. For the "At large" subclass of listener members, 10% of those entitled to vote b. For each of the other subclasses of listener members at least 50 registered voters c. For each of the two subclasses of Staff Members, one third of those entitled to vote C. If an election for any subclass has not fulfilled its quorum by the end of a two week extension, the minimum ballots cast are still insufficient, the seat(s) for that subcategory will remain vacant until the following election.

Hybrid elections proposal - final version


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