by One of the stumbling blocks to get on the ballot for NRA Board of Directors by petition was that it required the candidate to get signatures in ink on a paper petition. Judge Joel Cohen referred to this in the New York trial as “antiquated” and “20th Century”.
He was correct and he said in his Final Order that an online alternative must be offered. With the petition process opening at approximately 2pm on Saturday at the close of the Meeting of Members, candidates can now gather petition signatures either the old fashioned way on paper or through electronic signatures. They just need to send a request to NRA Secretary John Frazer for the petition packet and an online petition link. Just email Mr. Frazer at john.frazer@nrahq.org
My longtime friend and fellow Board member Amanda Suffecool agreed to be one of the trial candidates. Both the Complementary Spouse and I have signed her petition. It could not be easier as you can do it on a smart phone, a tablet, or a regular computer. It just asks for name, address, and membership number. Then you sign with your mouse or finger tip, hit submit, and it is done.
Here is Amanda’s petition. If you are a NRA Voting Member (life or five year continuous annual member), please sign!
My good friend Todd Vandermyde has decided to run again. He just barely missed being elected and we need people like Todd on the Board. I could really see him shaking up the Legislative Policy Committee given his decades of experience as a 2A lobbyist in the lion’s den of the Illinois General Assembly.
Here is Todd’s petition.
If you know of other reform minded activists who wish to run by petition, let them know how to obtain the link. I think this is a change that needed to come. One advantage to using the online petition is that candidates know how many signatures have been gathered and they know they are valid so long as the system accepts them. If they run into issues, they should contact the Office of the Secretary. The NRA’s records could have had the signer’s name misspelled.
One final note: Candidates will need 363 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. According to the Bylaws Article VIII, Sec. 3(b), there is a limit of five candidates qualifying by petition per state. If more than five qualify, then it will be the top five in terms of numbers of signatures obtained.