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Election Rules Adopted by the Pacifica
National Elections Supervisor that supplement the bylaws
requirements
1. Fair Campaign Provisions Extended to the Internet
- Adopted 9/18/2003
Website endorsements: All members and programmers that maintain
a website utilizing Pacifica or station logos or call letters
and/or references to their own Pacifica or station programming
that could be mistaken for an official web site, are subject
to and shall be bound by these rules:
a. Endorsements of candidates on such web sites are not
permitted. Any such Website reference to a specific candidate
or slate of candidates is not permitted, either explicitly
or via hyperlink to another web-page. This directive includes
all programmer Websites linked through official station
web sites. Any web site may generically encourage voting
and contain links to official election web sites.
b. Endorsement emails (web-based & list serve) using
private email lists not from station or Pacifica sources
are permitted.
c. Email endorsements shall be fact based, and contain
no personal attacks
2. Fair Campaign Provisions Extended to All Station
Resources - Adopted 9/21/2003
No station resources, including, but not limited to, services,
and meeting space may be provided to some candidates but not
equally to all candidates.
3. When Fair Campaign Provisions Begin -
Adopted 10/7/2003
A listener member will be deemed a candidate (subject to
the fair campaign provisions) once the individual has submitted
his or her petition signatures to the Local Election Supervisor.
The Local Election Supervisor will provide the General Manager,
and post on the elections web site, a list of all Listener-Sponsor
Delegate Candidates. Staff will be expected to check this
list before scheduling any guests, or participating in a call-in
show, etc. in order to assure compliance with the fair campaign
provisions.
4. Staff and management are prohibited from endorsing
prospective candidates as well as candidates - Adopted
10/7/2003, revised 10/9/2003
Pacifica and station staff and management are prohibited
from making endorsements on the air, or on any Pacifica or
station-identified web site, or at any other Pacifica controlled
venue or facility, of either prospective candidates before
the nomination deadline, or actual candidates after the nominations
are closed.
5. Listener-organized meeting announcements -
Adopted 10/10/2003
Any listeners may organize community meetings to bring together
listeners and prospective candidates for the purpose of learning
about prospective candidates and collecting petition signatures.
Any such events may be announced equally on-air provided they
have been approved by the Local Election Supervisor, are open
to any listener, are in a handicap-accessible location, do
not endorse any candidates, and do not raise money for any
candidates, or promote events to raise money for any candidates.
6. Candidate Statement Guidelines - Adopted
11/19/2003
Information about candidates and Candidate Statements included
in the ballot mailing will follow these guidelines:
1. FORMAT:
Candidates are strongly encouraged to submit their candidate
statements in an electronic format, if possible, to avoid
the need to re-type statements, with the risk of typographic
errors. The computer format must be one that can be opened
by the Election Supervisors (.txt, .rtf, MS WORD .doc)
2. DEADLINE:
Some form of candidate statement must be received by the
Local Election Supervisor no later than December 5, 2003.
However, up until the time that the Local Election Supervisor
must submit the final copy for printing preparation, candidates
may submit revised versions of their statement. Although
it is anticipated that the final revision deadline will
be a few days after the close of nominations, there is no
guarantee that this final revision date will be later than
December 5. Any candidate who asks, will be notified by
the Local Election Supervisor of the revision-deadline once
it is established. If any revisions are accepted after December
5, they must be in an electronic format that can be opened
by the Election Supervisors (.txt, .rtf, MS WORD .doc).
3. NAME:
In the candidate information booklet mailed with the ballot,
the candidate's name will appear above the candidate's statement.
The name as printed may not contain "message"
nicknames (like Jesse "the body" Ventura).
4. NAME ONLY:
No other information will appear above or below the candidate's
statement (no reference to town of residence, gender, race,
ethnicity, occupation, slate, etc.). A candidate who wishes
to provide such information must insert it into the candidate
statement itself.
5. FIRST 50 WORDS:
The full candidate statement (up to 500 words) will be included,
but the first fifty (50) words of each statement will be
printed in a larger and/or bolder font, to facilitate voters'
ability to get an overview understanding of a large number
of candidates. Candidates are encouraged to write (or re-write)
their statements with this in mind, and to highlight themes
or qualifications, etc. they want to make sure voters are
aware of in this fifty-word opening section.
6. CONTACT INFO:
Candidates who wish to include contact information (such
as phone, email or web addresses) may do so. This contact
information will count towards the 500-word maximum. Candidates
are requested to locate such information near the end of
their statement.
7. NOMINATORS:
The Bylaws allow the statement to list a maximum of five
of the candidate's nominators (petition signers) at the
end of the statement. Any such names will count towards
the 500-word maximum.
8. LIES:
As a general rule, candidate statements will not be subject
to any editing by election supervisors. However, to allow
for a fair election, candidates are encouraged to be scrupulously
truthful in their statements. The Local Election Supervisors
are not required to make special efforts to "fact-check"
candidate statements, but if presented with compelling evidence
of lies or factual errors in a candidate statement, after
notifying the candidate and providing opportunity for response,
any statements that the Local Election Supervisor concludes
contain falsehoods, may have those lies stricken, or noted
as factually incorrect as an edit comment when printed.
9. PHOTOS:
Candidate photographs might be included in a station’s
ballot mailing. At the discretion of the National and Local
Election Supervisors, photographs may be included along
with the candidate statement. Photographs may only be printed
in the ballot mailing if the Election Supervisor conclude
that there is a reasonable opportunity for all candidates
who wish to use one, to have one. This means giving candidates
the opportunity of submitting photographic prints that will
be scanned into a digital image, or inviting candidates
to submit a high-resolution digital photograph, or making
an appointment with a photographer designated by the Local
Election Supervisor to have a photograph take at a central
location such as at the station. No candidate will be required
to have a photograph included with their statement in the
ballot mailing, even if other candidates are using photos.
If photographs are allowed, as printed they will include
no more than head and shoulders, and will likely be around
1.5 inches tall and 1.25 inches wide (though submitted print
photographic prints should ideally be much larger, so that
they can have adequate resolution when reduced to the final
size.)
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