The Issues of Voting in the NRA: A Big Problem!
Ballots have to be received by March 29th. If you did not receive a ballot we need your help to make sure this never happens again. Why are we the ones to notice this and be motivated to do something? Merely looking at the voting results from last year’s election should have motivated directors to fix those problems or if nothing else at least acknowledge their existence! There must be accountability in our NRA. We must bring that accountability at the Members’ Meeting!
By Ron Carter
3/6/2020
This week in our Friends of Save the Second group, a few of our friends commented that they have not received a ballot for this year’s NRA director election. Now, typically there is some confusion as to who is voting eligible (5+ consecutive years of annual membership or life member or better) but the comments started to roll in and it quickly became obvious that there are some major problems in the voting system that the NRA uses.
For life members who receive the American Rifleman magazine in the mail their ballot usually arrives with it during mid-to-late January. For those that don’t receive the American Rifleman their ballots are sent later. Here’s the kicker: Apparently, there is a five day window for you to have requested a “replacement” ballot. One of our good friends learned that the hard way. After calling multiple times and spending a great deal of effort to find the answers, he posted,
“Called back again. Spoke with a paid solicitor again who tried to get me to upgrade my membership. She eventually transferred me to HQ…educational and credentialing division. Hung up, called back, same spiel, spoke with a supervisor and finally got connected to HQ member services. They said they sent it, and the time to request a replacement ballot ended Feb 28th. So I guess I don’t get to vote this year.”
In another thread we learned that one couldn’t request a replacement until February 23rd. Now we are told that the deadline to request a replacement ballot was February 28th. A five day window!
After seeing this, we took to Facebook to ask how many people didn’t receive their ballots. The results were rather shocking, to me. While I am sure that there are a few instances where an honest mistake has happened, this ballot SNAFU could very well be a large reason that only 6% of eligible NRA members voted last year. How many will vote this year?
We need to address this at the Members’ Meeting. If you did not receive a ballot and are voting eligible join us on April 18th, 2020 at Music City Center in Nashville. Be there, be heard, and get every single one of your friends to be there, too!
Ballots have to be received by March 29th. If you did not receive a ballot we need your help to make sure this never happens again. Why are we the ones to notice this and be motivated to do something? Merely looking at the voting results from last year’s election should have motivated directors to fix those problems or if nothing else at least acknowledge their existence! There must be accountability in our NRA. We must bring that accountability at the Members’ Meeting!