ELECTION OF BOARD

October 2003

BACKGROUND

WPRA Bylaws Section 5.02 (January 2000) states: "Election of Directors shall be by secret ballot of the membership. The Board Operations Committee shall establish procedures concerning the conduct of elections, distribution of ballots to all members, voting and counting of ballots. Results of an election shall be made known to the membership by publication or other means as soon as practicable after the election."

ELECTION PROCESS

1. One membership, one vote. There will be only one vote per membership in the Wisconsin Public Radio Association (WPRA). The membership is determined solely through contributions to Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) made on behalf of WPRA.

2. Deadline for submission of nomination papers: Notice of an election of Board Members is made through notification in the autumn Resonance and on the WPRA web site (www.wpra.org). Nominations for elected seats on the Board, the deadline for submission and clear instructions will be in the posting. The deadline for submission of nomination papers is no less than 2 weeks before the regular January meeting of the Board of Directors in any year where there is an election of Board Members, or January 1st, whichever is earlier.

3. Nominees: Nominees must be members of WPRA and must reside in the WPR region for which they would represent membership on the Board. This will be determined by WPR membership data in advance of the election. The coverage area of the station or stations within that region determines the region and residence must be within the coverage area, generally determined by the zip code of the nominee. Members-in-standing currently are determined by the combination of zip code, mapping and self-selection.

4. Return nomination forms: All nomination forms must be returned to the regional office of the area from which the nominee intends to run. The Resonance and the web site will indicate that, if the forms are not returned to the proper office, that nominee will not be placed on the ballot.

5. Verification of candidate eligibility: Prior to submission for inclusion on the master list, each Regional Manager will check the membership and residence status of each prospective nominee in his or her region. Regional Managers will send their lists of names and residences to central WPR staff member to verify with the WPR Membership (Listener Development) unit that nominees hold current, certifiable

membership in the WPRA. Any issues arising from this verification process would immediately be resolved by the Regional Manager with the nominee in question. This would be accomplished before the nomination papers are given to the WPRA Board Operations Committee, which would create the ballot.

6. Development of the ballot: Each Regional Manager will collect the nominating papers, prepare a list of candidates, and forward that list, along with copies of the nominating members, to the central WPR staff member assigned to assist the WPRA Board Operations Committee. A master list will be compiled, verified with Regional Managers and the verified information will be given to the WPRA Board Operations Committee for their consideration during the regular January meeting of the WPRA Board of Directors. Regional Managers are responsible for developing candidate profiles.

7. Run-off procedure: In the case of a region where there are more than five (5) candidates, the Board Operations Committee may determine that a run-off (primary) election will occur to reduce the number of candidates to five. WPR central staff will mail a special run-off ballot along with candidate profiles solely to members of that region before the end of January, with a return date of the last day of February to ensure that the final ballot would be mailed by April 1.

8. Mailing of the general ballot: On or near April 1, WPR central staff will mail final (general) ballots along with candidate profiles solely to members of that region with a return date of April 30. Profiles are also available for viewing on the WPRA website (www.wpra.org).

9. Counting ballots: To ensure fair and neutral counting of ballots, the WPRA will engage an outside agency to collect and count the ballots. All ballots will be mailed by voters to the agency. The official vote count and list of winners will be provided to the central WPR staff member who will ensure that Regional Managers and the Director of WPR are informed of the results (winners and losers). All ballots will be returned to WPR in Madison for archiving for three years.

10. Notification of results: It is the responsibility of the Regional Managers to immediately notify the winners of their status and invite them to the May WPRA Board meeting. It is the responsibility of the Director of WPR to notify the President of the WPRA. It is the responsibility of the central WPR staff member to ensure that letters are mailed on behalf of WPRA to both winners and losers indicating their status. The staff member or Association member responsible for the WPRA website would ensure that notice is posted with the results of the election.

11. Welcome to new Board members: The President of the WPRA will welcome new Board members at the May Board meeting. The Director of WPR will ensure that new Board members are given the opportunity for an orientation to WPR.