Wisconsin Polka Music

RULES & REGULATIONS EXPLAINED

RULE #1. BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE
All ballots, whether mailed in, submitted online, or delivered in person, must be received between 12:00 AM, June 1st and 11:59 PM, June 30th. If you are mailing in your ballot, we recommend mailing it sometime between May 31st and June 25th to ensure we receive it within the month of June.

RULE #2. YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR "EXCEPTIONAL ACHIEVEMENT" MUST DIFFERENT THAN BOTH OF YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR "PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR" AND "BAND OF THE YEAR"
For example, if you vote Joe Schmoe for "Personality of the Year" and the Joe Schmoe Band for "Band of the Year", you cannot nominate either for "Exceptional Achievement".

RULE #3. DO NOT VOTE FOR TOM BRUSKY
WPM webmaster Tom Brusky has automatically disqualified himself from the awards just case anyone might be swayed to nominate him out of friendship, knowing that he is the person charged with reading and tallying the ballots.

RULE #4. ENTER JUST ONE NOMINEE ON EACH LINE
Sometimes we have to disqualify a vote because we can't figure out who it's for. For example, if someone writes "Joe Schmoe - WXYZ Radio" we don't know if they are voting for Joe or the radio station. Only one nominee can be entered on a line. Any couple that works together as a team (i.e. husband & wife tavern owners) may be entered as one nominee.

RULE #5. CAMPAIGNING IS NOT ALLOWED. DO NOT VOTE FOR ANYONE FOR WHOM YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED, SWAYED, OR EVEN SUBTLY PERSUADED
These awards are meant to honor people for their contributions to Wisconsin's polka music industry -- NOT for how many votes they can harvest for themselves or others. No one is allowed to strategize to try and win these awards through campaigning. Campaigners tarnish the integrity of the awards because they "steal" nominations away from all rule-abiding nominees. EVERY POTENTIAL NOMINEE, LIVING OR DECEASED, MUST BE AFFORDED AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO WIN THESE AWARDS. Someone who is deceased cannot campaign for votes, so we mandate that no living person do so either.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

► WHAT DEFINES "CAMPAIGNING"?

Campaigning is any method one uses to harvest votes for oneself or any other particular nominee(s), whether it is obvious or discreet. Campaigning is strictly forbidden. Examples of campaigning:

"I'd appreciate your vote"
"Please vote for Joe Schmoe."
"I recommend voting for for Joe Schmoe and his band because..."

Examples of disguised campaigning:

"I can't ask you to vote for me, but..."
"Gee, we've never won before." [looking sad]
"Here's a ballot. I hope you make the right choices." [wink]
"Don't forget to vote!" [pointing to oneself]
Sending ballots to friends and family who are not into polka music.

Don't mail ballots to your distant relatives in Idaho or hand them out to your co-workers at the insurance banquet. Obviously they will vote for you because they like you and don't know anyone else in Wisconsin's polka scene. Play fair. If you distribute ballots, only target people who have some familiarity with Wisconsin's polka scene. Allow deceased nominees the same chance of winning as yourself.

Encouraging or allowing people to complete their ballots while attending a specific polka event, hoping they'll be swayed by their immediate surroundings.

Voters must take their ballots home or to their workplace where they can vote in a neutral environment with a clear mind. If voters are pressured into voting quickly, such as during a polka dance, they may be swayed by the band playing, the people sitting next to them, the dance hall, etc.

► WHY IS CAMPAIGNING NOT ALLOWED?

The concept of the WPM Awards is to figuratively poll a cross-section of the polka public to find who they consider the best in Wisconsin's polka music scene. But, in order for the results to be accurate, the voters cannot be swayed or influenced in any way. Their choices have to be strictly their own. Campaigning sways voters.

Polka people are kind people. If you ask them to vote for a particular nominee, many will without thinking too much of it. They believe they are committing an act of kindness, completely unaware that they are helping someone cheat. Campaigning takes advantage of the kindness of voters. It will not be tolerated.

► WHAT STEPS ARE BEING TAKEN TO DETER CAMPAIGNING?

The voter registration fee: Free voting made it too easy for campaigners to harvest votes in the past. Now, only registered voters can vote, and voters can only pay for their own registrations.

Posting ballot statistics: The voting statistics will hurt a campaigner more than help. After the ballots are counted and the votes are tallied, we publicize the voting statistics. Campaigners win by unrealistically high percentages of the votes which usually results in negative publicity for the campaigning nominee. Statistically, as long as no one campaigns, no winner should ever win with a overwhelming percentage of the votes. (The only exception is when there are very few nominees for Recording of the Year. The likelihood that one nominee can win that category by a larger margin is increased.)

Disqualifying identical ballots: If voters make their own, independent decisions for every category, it is virtually a statistical impossibility that any two ballots will exactly match (see the next FAQ below). Multiple, identical ballots indicate that voters did not come up with their own choices, but were swayed by another person or persons. Although we don't advocate it, spouses sometimes prefer to concur with each other and cast identical ballots, so we will allow up to two identical ballots per household, as well as a third identical ballot cast by chance. Additional identical ballots will be disqualified.

Disqualifying campaigners: WPM will disqualify from these awards anyone personally witnessesed engaging in campaign activity.

Diversifying nominations: People who campaign for votes often get their names plastered clear across the entire ballot, hoping to win at least one of the four categories. To deter this practice, one's choices for Exceptional Achievement must now be different from one's choices for Personality of the Year or Band of the Year.

Appealing to the voter's conscience: Information printed on the ballot makes every voter clearly aware of why people campaign and how it damages the integrity of the awards for everyone. Voters who submit a ballot must declare that they've come up with their own, informed, independent decisions for each category, and have not voted for any nominee(s) for whom they have been asked or persuaded in any way, by anyone.

► WHAT IS THE PROBABILITY THAT TWO VOTERS WILL SUBMIT IDENTICAL BALLOTS?

If two randomly-chosen voters picked from anywhere in the world come up with their own choices for each entry on the ballot, the probability their ballots will be 100% identical, based on the total number of possible nominees, is estimated to be in the range of 1:1,390,000,000,000. However, that is not a practical statistic for these awards, since many people who vote live in the same Wisconsin cities, attend the same clubs, and share the same, limited exposure to their area's bands, venues, and radio shows as their fellow voters. Adjusting for that fact, if two randomly-chosen voters picked from the same city come up with their own choices for each entry on the ballot, the probability their ballots will be 100% identical is estimated to be in the range of 1:7,600,000. Two voters randomly picked from the same same venue: 1:500,000.

► WHY DOES WPM GO TO SUCH EXTREME MEASURES TO DETER CAMPAIGNING INSTEAD OF TRUST PEOPLE TO SELF-POLICE THEMSELVES?

This will be the fifth year for these awards. The honor system hasn't worked 100% yet, and we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it never will. In fact, we can assure you that as you are reading this very sentence, one or two people are trying to figure out a way to slip past every one of our campaign deterrents in order to win these awards unfairly. Unfortunately, some people's need to get these awards is far stronger than their desire to give them. Even in polka music, every rolled-out barrel has its bad apples.

We are deeply passionate about providing a people's choice awards program in which every nominee, living or deceased, has an equal chance of winning. Our rules and campaign deterrents are in place to give voters a sense of assurance that their individual ballots will make a real difference in the outcome of these awards instead of being squashed in the statistics by two or three people illegally harvesting votes. Every single person must play fair if this awards program is going to work the way it is intended. But, because not everyone plays fair, we have no choice but to take these extreme measures to level the playing field as best we can.

► HOW CAN I HELP TO PROMOTE THESE AWARDS WITHOUT ACCIDENTALLY CAMPAIGNING?

The key to promoting the awards is in being 101% content with not winning. You must be willing to essentially "un-campaign" for yourself by throwing the spotlight on everyone but yourself. If you wish to promote these awards by distributing ballots, please be aware that voters can be swayed by their immediate surroundings (which includes your presence) so this is how we recommend distributing ballots:

Briefly explain the awards (their history, purpose, the registration system, and the methods of voting).
Mandate that every voter take their ballot home and spend time thinking about all of the people, businesses, and groups who have made an impact on Wisconsin's polka music scene over the last year without mentioning any names.
Hand out the ballots, but do not to draw attention to yourself. If someone snaps, "I'm going to vote for you!" when you hand them a ballot, do not shake their hand and accept the nomination. Instead, stop them in their tracks and remind them that there are so many other qualified nominees out there, and that putting a lot of thought into each category is exactly what makes these awards work. Be cordial, but quickly move down the table to continue handing out ballots.

The Wisconsin Polka Music Awards are meant to be given, not gotten. If your heart's true desire is to win these awards, then we strongly encourage you to step back and let others do the promoting.

► HOW ARE THE AWARD WINNERS DECLARED?

The winners and runners up are declared solely by the highest numbers of write-in votes. Yes, this is truly a people's choice award!

► WHY IS VOTER REGISTRATION REQUIRED? VOTING USED TO BE FREE.

The registration system has three purposes:

To make harvesting votes too expensive for campaigners, yet keep voting affordable for everyone else
To significantly reduce the number of voter rules and regulations by simplifying the ballot validation process
To make online voting possible

► IS THE REGISTRATION FEE REFUNDABLE?

The registration fee will be fully refundable in the event the awards program cannot solicit a sufficient number of registrations to function properly in 2009, and partially refundable in the event the awards program changes format or ceases to function for any reason within three years of your registration date.

► WHY DID YOU STOP USING UNDERCOVER INFORMANTS TO REPORT ILLEGAL VOTING ACTIVITY?

Informants were often very close to the people they ratted out -- even as close as family. Therefore, it was very important for us to protect the identities of our informants by not disclosing any specific information we received from them. But, this posed a problem. If a nominee ever wanted to dispute the information we received from an informant leading to their disqualification, we would not be able to provide that information since it would blow the informant's cover. This kind of situation can cause tension between WPM and award nominees, so the informant program has been disbanded. Anyone is welcome to inform WPM of illegal voting activity they witness under the same guarantee of confidentiality, however, Tom Brusky must personally witness the activity in order to disqualify a nominee.

► WHAT SPECIFIC CRITERIA WILL INVALIDATE A SINGLE VOTE?

Votes for Tom Brusky will not be counted.
Votes for "Exceptional Achievement" must be different from "Personality of the Year" and "Band of the Year". Any repeating votes in these categories will not be counted.
Votes for any nominee disqualified by WPM for illegally harvesting votes will not be counted.
Only one nominee can be entered per category.

► WHAT SPECIFIC CRITERA WILL INVALIDATE AN ENTIRE BALLOT?

Ballots received by unregistered voters will be rejected.
Ballots with a wrong/invalid registration number will be rejected.
Up to three completely identical ballots will be accepted. Additional identical ballots will be rejected.
Only one ballot will be accepted per registered voter. If a voter submits more than one, all will be rejected.

► WHAT SPECIFIC CRITERA WILL DISQUALIFY A NOMINEE?

Tom Brusky must personally witness the nominee, or a representative of the nominee such as their spouse, relative, or friend, campaigning for votes.

► WHAT HAPPENS IF I MOVE OR CHANGE MY EMAIL ADDRESS?

If you are planning to move and/or change your email address, please inform us. We will need to update our records on file. When you contact us, you must provide us with your voter registration number.

► HELP! I LOST MY VOTER REGISTRATION NUMBER!

If you lost your voter registration number, please contact us right away. We will resend it to you at the address you gave us when you registered. You may send us an email, or write to us at:

WPM Voter Registration
c/o Polkasound Productions
4055 S. 103rd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53228-2005