Restoring Order to the WBAI Elections
by Mitchel Cohen, 11-19-07
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This morning, the WBAI Elections Supervisor -- Dale Ratner -- decided that he'd better follow the Judge's Order that we served on him and other Pacifica/WBAI officials Friday and Saturday. Dale Ratner correctly IMPOUNDED all the ballots from the Post Office, hooray! (of course it was 2-1/2 days late, and the Judge will decide what to do about that).
Most likely, the walk-in ballots collected at the Station last Friday will be included by the Court, but nothing thereafter, except for ballots from those who had notified the Supervisors before last Friday that they had not received one.*
The ballots were gathered at the Peck Street Station Post Office and placed, uncounted (as instructed), into a padlocked box, sealed, locked and taken to a storage facility to which Dale Ratner has the only key. This was witnessed by Carolyn Birden and Jennifer Jager, with Nia Bediako observing at the Post Office as well.
We go for Court-ordered conference with WBAI's lawyers on Tuesday, November 27th, and into Court to argue for an Order to Show Cause on November 29th. The Court appearance is open to the public.
* It is crucial that if you or anyone you know was entitled to a ballot but had not received one in the mail AND if you notified the Election Supervisors and requested a replacement ballot from them before November 16, that you email FRANK LEFEVER and ME a copy of that communication, so we can compile them and bring them to Court. You should do this even if you brought a walk-in ballot last Friday, or if you were one of the few who actually received a replacement ballot and mailed it in after Nov. 14 -- otherwise, those may not be counted.
Frank's email address is fflefever (at) yahoo.com Mitchel's email address is mitchelcohen (at) mindspring.com
The very least that we hope for -- and we will raise related issues -- is to restore the need to follow the bylaws, which state that all ballots had to be received at the Post Office by November 15. The only exception is for those who did not receive ballots and who requested replacement ballots before that date. The Court probably would accept ballots for those who brought them in on Friday as well, but that is not certain.
So please get copies of those emails, and letters concerning phone correspondence, as proof that you requested a Replacement ballot. DO THIS, PLEASE, EVEN IF YOU RECEIVED A REPLACEMENT BALLOT AND SENT IT IN -- to be sure that it is included.
This goes for staff as well as for listener-members. We expect ballots arriving or collected after Friday, Nov. 16, to not be accepted, unless they are replacement ballots that were asked for but not sent to the voter or sent to them too late to be returned on time.
Please note that this is just one of numerous remedies that we'll be bringing to negotiations and to the Court. But it's the place some of us have decided to start: The right to vote, and to have our votes counted. Please support these efforts, and spread the word.
Mitchel Cohen