Urgent: Pacifica Elections Nomination Process Extended

Pacifica Foundation, the non-profit licensee for non-commercial educational stations in NY, DC, Houston, L.A. and Berkeley, is launching an election process under new Bylaws, adopted without the required notice or member approval, that change many of the rules and strip the local station boards of any governance responsibilities or authority, ending local financial oversight or review of management and programming. The elections also reduce staff representation on both the disempowered local boards and the new national board. Critics see the centralization of governance and management as a step towards centralizing and narrowing the programming and the public affairs and analysis.

The election process is off to a rocky and confusing start which seems almost designed to suppress turnout by listener and staff members. But as a consequence, the window for making nominations has been extended until July 11 by the National Election Supervisor; as participation so far has been very limited, and many of those who have been able to enter nominations have wasted them, by only nominating a single candidate, instead of someone for each position — you can only use the unique nomination form link ONCE to make nominations — or by nominating someone who has no interest in or ability to serve in the position. Some of the “nominations” are actually just negative comments about the process.

So anyone who became a member or renewed a lapsed membership in June, and everyone else who received a unique individualized link to the nominations website, can still make nominations by July 11, though you must have become a member by 11:59 PM Pacific time, Tuesday June 30, 2026. The actual balloting will not begin until August 15, and members will have 45 days to vote (with a possible extension if “quorum” — 10% of the listener members, 25% of the (paid and unpaid) staff — is not met at any station.

Tuesday June 30 at 11:59 pm is the last chance to join a Pacifica station to qualify to run — candidate statement should be filed by then, too — to nominate by July 11, or to vote starting August 15.

To learn more about an anti-racist, pro-peace, anti-war platform, and the campaign to restore members democratic rights to participate in the governance of their station, see https://pacificamissioncoalition.com.

The official elections information website is https://elections.pacifica.org