Badlands, Great Lakes, Prairie, California and Turquoise circuit director positions and two (2) national roping director positions.

Adult cardholders, who have returned to the WPRA office their 2023 signed and paid membership application on or before the 1^st business day of January 2023 (for nominations and February 1, 2023 for an election ballot) and who have a voting designation in a circuit/division up for election in 2023 on their application. If the voting designation is invalid or left blank on the application, it defaults to circuit designation or card type.

Sent from: WPRA Election Coordinator — noreply@directvote.net

Subject line: 2023 WPRA Nomination (2023 WPRA Election for the election portion)

For 2023 only, a paper ballot will also be mailed to the address on file with the WPRA.

1. Be sure to check your spam/junk folders.
2. Check with the WPRA office to confirm your eligibility, voting designation, email address and or mailing address.
3. Request a digital ballot re-send through the WPRA office.

Each eligible voting member is assigned unique credentials to access their digital ballot; these credentials are also present on your paper ballot. These credentials are your voter identifier/ballot number.

Once your electronic ballot has been submitted, you will be directed to a confirmation screen with the option to input your email to receive an email confirmation. There will be no confirmation for physical ballots. Any nomination ballots sent to the WPRA office will be destroyed.

If a member submits both an electronic and printed ballot, only the electronic ballot will be counted.

The WPRA Board has elected to go this direction in 2023 only for two (2) reasons:

To Offer Faster Delivery/Response Options: Historically the WPRA has relied on a paper process totally dependent on the US mail system for delivery. Experience has shown that US mail delivery has gotten increasingly slower and is not always reliable. In addition, as the world adapts to online services in their everyday life, they are looking for those same options from the WPRA.

To increase Eligible Member Voting Participation:  Eligible member voting participation rates have been historically very, very low. This is because the paper system is slow and increasingly lacks mail delivery reliability, members often read the materials and forget to respond, or they are on the road and can’t get mail delivery. Online voting is popular and should increase member participation and having their voices heard.

Voting members may only submit their ballot by filling out the digital ballot or by mailing their ballot using the pre-addressed envelope provided with their paper ballot.

Yes, only the outside 3^rd party election vendor sees and records votes.

The 3^rd party election vendor will send out an email reminder to eligible members that have not submitted a ballot.

The newly elected Board will take office either 20 days following the certification of the election or at the first full Board meeting, whichever is sooner.

Members can only vote for their designated circuit director or roping director. Please reference rule 4.1.3.1., 4.1.3.2. and 3.4.6. in the 2023 WPRA rule book.

Any card member nominated for office, in order to be eligible, must have been a WPRA card member for 2 out of the last 3 years prior to the year you wish to run, must not have been found guilty of a major rule violation, and must not be eligible to run for roping director (see below).

The sport of breakaway is growing rapidly and as a result, WPRA approvals and roping memberships are growing as well. An additional national roping director position is being added to offer more representation for the roping membership and to share the ever-increasing task load that comes with being a director.

The nation roping director candidate with the most votes will be the R1 director and will serve until the 2026 election cycle. The national roping director candidate with the second most votes will serve as the R2 director and will serve until the next election cycle in 2025. Please reference rule 4.1.3.2. in the 2023 WPRA rule book.

Highlights per rule # 4.2 (read for other details) all directors are responsible to see that the rules of the WPRA are carried out, appoint spokeswomen to aid and assist in rodeo administration, attend all Board meetings (whether in person or telephonically), attend as many general membership meetings as possible, and create and empower committees as necessary. Few of the other main responsibilities not listed in rule 4.2. are answer member questions, contact and work with rodeo committees, stock contractor (if necessary) and DC producers on event details.

Once the two (2) national roping directors are elected they will work with the Board to determine how they will equitably handle membership and all rodeo/DC administration.  Once a plan of action is agreed upon by the roping directors and approved by the Board, a communication will be sent out the membership with those details.

Both national roping directors are directors representing all of the roping members, so it only seemed logical and equitable that the roping members should be able to decide which two people would be representing them.

The Board wanted to make sure that the national roping directors were knowledgeable and experienced in roping, especially in pro rodeo breakaway, without excluding ropers that may have been long time members. 

Badlands, Great Lakes, Prairie, California and Turquoise circuit director positions and two (2) national roping director positions.

Adult cardholders, who have returned to the WPRA office their 2023 signed and paid membership application on or before the 1^st business day of January 2023 (for nominations and February 1, 2023 for an election ballot) and who have a voting designation in a circuit/division up for election in 2023 on their application. If the voting designation is invalid or left blank on the application, it defaults to circuit designation or card type.

1. Be sure to check your spam/junk folders.
2. Check with the WPRA office to confirm your eligibility, voting designation, email address and or mailing address.
3. Request a digital ballot re-send through the WPRA office.

Each eligible voting member is assigned unique credentials to access their digital ballot; these credentials are also present on your paper ballot. These credentials are your voter identifier/ballot number.

Once your electronic ballot has been submitted, you will be directed to a confirmation screen with the option to input your email to receive an email confirmation. There will be no confirmation for physical ballots. Any nomination ballots sent to the WPRA office will be destroyed.

If a member submits both an electronic and printed ballot, only the electronic ballot will be counted.

The WPRA Board has elected to go this direction in 2023 only for two (2) reasons:

To Offer Faster Delivery/Response Options: Historically the WPRA has relied on a paper process totally dependent on the US mail system for delivery. Experience has shown that US mail delivery has gotten increasingly slower and is not always reliable. In addition, as the world adapts to online services in their everyday life, they are looking for those same options from the WPRA.

To increase Eligible Member Voting Participation:  Eligible member voting participation rates have been historically very, very low. This is because the paper system is slow and increasingly lacks mail delivery reliability, members often read the materials and forget to respond, or they are on the road and can’t get mail delivery. Online voting is popular and should increase member participation and having their voices heard.

Voting members may only submit their ballot by filling out the digital ballot or by mailing their ballot using the pre-addressed envelope provided with their paper ballot.

Yes, only the outside 3^rd party election vendor sees and records votes.

The 3^rd party election vendor will send out an email reminder to eligible members that have not submitted a ballot.

The newly elected Board will take office either 20 days following the certification of the election or at the first full Board meeting, whichever is sooner.

Members can only vote for their designated circuit director or roping director. Please reference rule 4.1.3.1., 4.1.3.2. and 3.4.6. in the 2023 WPRA rule book.

Any card member nominated for office, in order to be eligible, must have been a WPRA card member for 2 out of the last 3 years prior to the year you wish to run, must not have been found guilty of a major rule violation, and must not be eligible to run for roping director (see below).

The sport of breakaway is growing rapidly and as a result, WPRA approvals and roping memberships are growing as well. An additional national roping director position is being added to offer more representation for the roping membership and to share the ever-increasing task load that comes with being a director.

The nation roping director candidate with the most votes will be the R1 director and will serve until the 2026 election cycle. The national roping director candidate with the second most votes will serve as the R2 director and will serve until the next election cycle in 2025. Please reference rule 4.1.3.2. in the 2023 WPRA rule book.

Highlights per rule # 4.2 (read for other details) all directors are responsible to see that the rules of the WPRA are carried out, appoint spokeswomen to aid and assist in rodeo administration, attend all Board meetings (whether in person or telephonically), attend as many general membership meetings as possible, and create and empower committees as necessary. Few of the other main responsibilities not listed in rule 4.2. are answer member questions, contact and work with rodeo committees, stock contractor (if necessary) and DC producers on event details.

Once the two (2) national roping directors are elected they will work with the Board to determine how they will equitably handle membership and all rodeo/DC administration.  Once a plan of action is agreed upon by the roping directors and approved by the Board, a communication will be sent out the membership with those details.

Both national roping directors are directors representing all of the roping members, so it only seemed logical and equitable that the roping members should be able to decide which two people would be representing them.

The Board wanted to make sure that the national roping directors were knowledgeable and experienced in roping, especially in pro rodeo breakaway, without excluding ropers that may have been long time members.