You have only until June 30 to join or renew your membership in KPFT, in order to vote in this year’s elections. The same deadline applies to those who want to be a candidate (as we hope many of you will be). Read on for details.
An URGENT reminder:
To be eligible to vote or be a candidate, your KPFT membership must be current. That means you must have made a donation of $25 or more to your station in the past 12 months. If you haven’t donated since last July 1, or you are not sure, please donate to KPFT today The deadline is this Friday, June 30.
Donate to KPFT today.
Electing enough progressive candidates would give New Day reformers greater influence over major Pacifica decisions in our quest to save a stumbling Pacifica.
YOU could be one of those members who steps forward to help KPFT – by becoming a candidate for our Local Station Board (LSB), or a “nominator” of candidates we endorse.
Pacifica and its stations are under grave economic stress due to:
- decreasing listenership and donations at some stations due to poor quality programming
- unwillingness by some to make necessary changes so we can pay off debt and pay regular ongoing expenses
The programming we love – independent public affairs, news, and music – could all be gone without people on our boards who insist that we need to keep and add top-notch programming and retain professional management if the Pacifica mission is to survive!
PLEASE let us know by THURSDAY, June 29 at the latest, if you are interested or have questions. Email us at moveKPFTforward@gmail.com
Don’t worry about knowing the machinations of Pacifica’s election or governance machine — We are here to help and advise to whatever extent you need to feel comfortable participating! We can help you get nominators and fill out the (relatively simple) forms – and you can always change your mind later – but you can run only if you file as a candidate this week.
Do Your Part to Save Pacifica and KPFT!
- Convince just one friend to join Pacifica by June 30 so that they can vote. News alert: many of your friends are NOT members of KPFT, so please recruit one or more by June 30 — KPFT will continue its rebuilding process one person, one program, one movement at a time!
- Critical: Make sure your own membership for KPFT is up-to-date as of June 30 so you can vote ($25 for each person in your family since July 1, 2022). Donate to KPFT
Endorsements for 2021
Note: Endorsements for 2023 will appear here in July.
We proudly endorse the following candidates for the 2021 KPFT Delegate/Local Station Board (LSB) elections. They are listed in alphabetical order. Please rank ALL of these candidates for whom you are eligible to vote, in any order you wish.
Listener members may vote for only Listener candidates. Staff members may vote for only staff candidates.
It is very important to rank ALL of these candidates, not just your top one or two or three choices. You do not need to rank candidates who are not listed here.
Click on the names of any of them, or the heading (for Listener Candidates or Staff Candidates), to get more information about them and why they will be such good members of KPFT’s Local Station Board, to help Move KPFT Forward!
Jump to these sections for more information:
Listener Candidates
- Teresa Allen – outreach & fundraising enthusiast, team builder
- Susan Young – experienced community & non-profit organizer
- Sean Kelly McPherson – problem solver, attorney, KPFT supporter since high school
- Frank Henry Pratka – political union organizer, American Federation of Teachers
- Bill Stone – experienced nonprofit board member, mediator & attorney
- Ron Stubbers – engineer, writer, proficient board member
- Todd Walker – governance & finance experience, entrepreneur
- Bob Locander – professor, union officer, author, experienced board member
- Jane Scheidler – mediator, coalition-builder, former KPFT programmer
- Wendy Schroell – former KPFT staff, non-profit leader, development
Staff Candidates
- David Britton, Spare Change
- Lilian Care, Progressive Forum
- Dalton Harris, Bluegrass Depot
- Jerry Fowler, Church of the Infinite
- Tom Harper, The Prison Show and Veterans of War Show
- Egberto Willies, Politics Done Right
How to vote?
Ballots will be sent out August 16. Members for whom KPFT has a current email address in their member list should get an email on that day with voting credentials and a link for voting online.
The deadline for voting in this election is October 15, at 11 pm CST. But we recommend that you vote as soon as you get your ballot – in case you lose/can’t find your voting credentials, get sick, or whatever.
If KPFT has your e-mail address, you may get weekly e-mails sent from “Pacifica Foundation <vote@simplyvoting.com>”. So look for one of those e-mails. It will have your online voting credentials.
If KPFT does not have your e-mail address, you should receive an envelope with a paper ballot (or paper instructions and credentials for voting online) during the last half of August.
You can vote online. Use the Elector ID and password at the top of your paper ballot, or use that ID and password if they were e-mailed to you. In either case, go to pacifica.simplyvoting.com to enter that ID and password, and to access your online ballot.
Be sure to click on the Confirm or Submit button after you rank all of our candidates, so your votes will be counted!
Didn’t get a ballot?
Look in your e-mail for a message from Pacifica Foundation, vote@simplyvoting.com, with instructions on voting online. E-mail reminders may be sent regularly, if KPFT has your correct e-mail address. Otherwise, you should receive a paper ballot during the last half of August. If you do not get either a paper or electronic ballot by Aug. 23, please fill out the official ballot request form right away and provide all needed information – and be sure to click on the Submit button at the bottom. You should immediately get an e-mail confirmation of your request, but it may take up to two weeks to get your membership verified and for you to get a ballot.
If you donated at least $25 to KPFT during the period July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, then you are a member eligible to vote in these KPFT elections, and should receive a ballot. If two people in your family jointly donated at least $50 during that year, then each of you should receive a ballots. So fill out the above form if you did not get your ballot (or both ballots if there are two of you). If only one of you got a ballot, the second family member should fill out the form with their name and contact information, but indicate in the “other information” box at the end of the form the name and contact information of your first family member, so that both of you are listed on the form. That may help to locate your member information. If you remember when you donated, that may help, too.
Our National Election Supervisor has asked that we be patient on replacement ballot requests, especially if they have to look up donation records. She also asked not to submit two requests. But don’t wait until the last minute to request a ballot, as your ballot must be received by October 15 to be counted!
And thanks for supporting KPFT, our community station for peace, justice, and independent voices and music!
Move KPFT Forward Endorsers:
The following are some of the many people who are endorsing our candidates.
- Nibu Abraham, GenerAsian Radio
- David Baker (aka Maverick), Maverick’s Mid-day
- Marlo Blue, Execution Watch
- Duane Bradley, Open Journal
- David Collingsworth and Hank Lamb, The Prison Show
- Bill Crosier, former volunteer Pacifica interim Executive Director and PNB Director
- Lars Headington Tennyson’s Tapedeck
- Rick Heysquierdo, former host of Lone Star Jukebox
- Mike Honig, Thinkwing Radio
- Wally James, Progressive Forum
- Jill Morgenstern, Bayou Brew
- James and Colleen Nagel, Howlin’ the Blues
- Nuri Nuri, Blues Brunch
- Anne Paget and Genie Mims, Down Home Blues
- Freddie Rothstein and Rick Norris, All Day Music
- Mr & Mrs V and Nancy McAfee, Blues on the Move
- Larry Winters, Spare Change
- and more!