WBAI BOARD ELECTION:
- WRITE-IN ESPERANZA MARTELL
VOTE FOR FATHER LAWRENCE LUCAS
- SEND PROTEST LETTERS
To all WBAI members:
Due to an administrative error by WBAI Election Supervisor Joy Williams, Justice & Unity slate member Esperanza Martell was excluded from the ballot for the Local Station Board, despite having fully satisfied the candidate requirements. We only learned of this after the ballots were received by voters. Esperanza is a respected longtime Puerto Rican independence leader, coordinator of ProLibertad (Freedom Campaign for Puerto Rican Political Prisoners), human rights activist, educator, trainer, life-skills counselor, mother, and poet/artist. Her advocacy for full Latino representation at WBAI and her skills in organizational management, political strategy, and conflict resolution will be crucial to this board.
Two other candidates, Bernardo Palombo and Alma Rodriguez (both on the "LIST-PROG" slate), were left off the ballot for similar reasons. They are challenging that decision. It is troubling that at a station with such continuing problems of Latino underrepresentation, three Latino candidates for the Board have been excluded in this vital election.
Yet another candidate, Father Lawrence Lucas, a prominent Black activist running on our Justice & Unity slate, was unfairly disqualified AFTER being put on the ballot. The Election Supervisor penalized him for simply speaking on the air about his global political analysis, with no mention of his WBAI candidacy -- yet this was deemed to violate the "equal time" rule.
We're asking you to do two things to help Esperanza Martell and Father Lucas win a seat on the board:
1. WRITE IN THE NAME "ESPERANZA MARTELL"AND RANK HER AS #1 anywhere on your ballot (and then number all other candidates you prefer in rank order). Pacifica's National Election Supervisor has ruled that write-ins WILL be counted for all eligible candidates. Also, RANK FATHER LAWRENCE LUCAS AS #2 ON YOUR BALLOT.
2. PROTEST THE EXCLUSIONS. Email, write and/or call the Local and National Election Supervisors to protest the exclusion of Esperanza Martell and the disqualification of Father Lucas, and insist that they immediately rectify these injustices. Sample text is below.If you email them, please cc a copy to us at <>
Remember: COMPLETED BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED -- NOT POSTMARKED -- BY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5.
If you have questions, write us at <> or call us at (212) 591-2111. You can write to Esperanza Martell at . To read her candidate statement, go to
WBAI Justice & Unity Campaign
(212) 591-2111 * *
REVISED (1/23/04)
ADVICE ON BALLOT MARKING – JUSTICE & UNITY SLATE
This form of election allows for preference voting. In other words, by writing a number showing your first, second, third, etc. choices, you can make sure your vote counts. For example, if you put your first choice down as “Mary Doe,” if she wins MORE votes than the threshold required to win, the votes she doesn’t need are redistributed to the second choices of the voters. On the other hand, if your first choice wins so FEW votes that winning is a mathematical impossibility, that candidate will be eliminated, and your 2d, 3d, etc. choices will be redistributed accordingly. This process continues until all the seats are full.
While it seems complicated, the main thing to keep in mind is that while you have only one vote, you should definitely put down your other choices in the order of your preference. Also, do not vote for a person you don’t want to win, because your vote may actually be counted for them in (say) the 27th round of the transferable-vote tabulation.
If you are only familiar with, say, 5 candidates on the Justice and Unity slate, you may want to rank them 1,2,3,4,5 and then randomly or alphabetically rank the remaining Justice and Unity candidates. (We have 16 listener candidates altogether.) Note that each candidate’s full statements and photos are online at
Quick reference guide to Justice/Unity listener candidates (in order/style presented on ballot):
__ Mariana R. Gaston
__ Zara Khan
__ Ray Laforest
__ Yvonne Liu
__ Lawrence E. Lucas
__ Jaqueline M. Mestre
__ Joel Meyers
__ Evan Tobias
__ Michael Warren
__ Frieda Zames
__ Vicente Alba - Panama
__ Anne M. Boylon
__ John Choe
__ Kym Clark
__ Diane DeVeaux
WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU:
1. WRITE IN Esperanza Martell (anywhere on the ballot). We recommend that you rank her #1 -- just write a "1" to the left of her name -- to boost her chances which have been severely injured by her exclusion. Then rank the other candidates accordingly. Pacifica's National Election Supervisor has ruled that write-ins WILL be counted for all eligible candidates.
2. Rank Father Lawrence Lucas as #2 to compensate for the ruling that he has been disqualified—which we are vigorously contesting. The Election Supervisor claims, without any valid foundation, that he breached the “equal time” rule by appearing on air recently to discuss his analysis of world events –- despite not uttering one word about his Board candidacy. More details are at .
3. Do not vote for Marie Hall, a former Justice and Unity candidate who had to withdraw for personal reasons after the ballots were printed.
SUGGESTED TEXT: LETTER OF PROTEST
Ms. Joy Williams, WBAI Local Election Supervisor <>
Mr. Terry Bouricius, Pacifica National Election Supervisor <>
Dear Ms. Williams and Mr. Bouricius,
I am outraged by the unjustified exclusion from the WBAI ballot of three qualified Latino candidates for the Local Station Board. Due to administrative errors by Ms. Williams, their names were not included on the ballot. This disenfranchises these candidates, the communities they represent, and the many voters who want to vote for them. It is a grossly inadequate remedy to announce that write-in votes are an option.
I call for you to mail all members a new ballot containing all eligible candidates, including Esperanza Martell. In the event this is impossible, at the barest minimum, you should immediately:
* announce frequently on the air that these three candidates were incorrectly excluded, and that write-in votes for them will be validated;
* include these candidates in the current on-air forums;
* include this information about their status on the wbai.org website;
* take any other possible steps to correct the effects of the exclusion of these candidates;
* if any of these candidates do not win a seat in this election, pre-certify them as a candidate in the next election for the Local Station Board (later this year).
In addition, I protest the unfair disqualification of Father Lawrence Lucas, a prominent Black activist, from the ballot after he duly qualified. I call upon you to restore his status immediately and count all votes for him.
I look forward to your reply as to what action you intend to take.
Sincerely,
______
CONTACT INFO (published at
WBAI Elections Supervisor Joy Williams
c/o BYD, P.O. Box 23725, Brooklyn, NY 11202
(718) 453-1721 * (347) 724-3315
National Elections Supervisor Terry Bouricius
(802) 864-8382 [home] * fax (443) 659-2399
56 Booth St., Burlington, VT 05401