Pacifica Members Vociferously Reject Anti-Democratic Bylaws Proposal

Berkeley – Voting closed in Pacifica Radio’s bylaws referendum on March 19, 2020, after a month-long balloting period. When the results were released on the afternoon of Monday March 23, 22% of listener-members and 50% of staff had voted, which is approximately twice the number of voters in delegate elections. They voted overwhelmingly by a 2-1 margin to reject the bylaws proposal. 

Here are the numbers released by election staff. 

Listener Members

9,713 voters. 6,340 voted no. 3,273 voted yes. 101 abstained (sent in a blank ballot).  66% – 34%

Staff Members

512 voters. 331 voted no. 177 voted yes. 4 abstained (sent in a blank ballot)  65% – 35%

As a result of the vote, the 2020 Pacifica National Board, who had been denied seating until the completion of the voting process, will assume their seats for the duration of their terms, and the five local station boards will resume general operations as soon as the public health situation permits. 

Congratulations to the many who worked extremely hard to defeat this pernicious proposal. 

As a community, Pacifica can begin developing a sensible bylaws revision proposal in an open and inclusive process that respects the democratic rights of all Pacifica members and workers for the 2021 delegate election ballot.

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Started in 1946 by conscientious objector Lew Hill, Pacifica’s storied history includes impounded program tapes for a 1954 on-air discussion of marijuana, broadcasting the Seymour Hersh revelations of the My Lai massacre, bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, going to jail rather than turning over the Patty Hearst tapes to the FBI, and Supreme Court cases including the 1984 decision that noncommercial broadcasters have the constitutional right to editorialize, and the Seven Dirty Words ruling following George Carlin’s incendiary performances on WBAI. Pacifica Foundation operates noncommercial radio stations in New York, Washington, Houston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and syndicates content to over 180 affiliates. It invented listener-sponsored radio.

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