ABSTRACT
There are over 180,000 incorporated and unincorporated communities in the nation. Most of these groups have boards of directors whose members are elected. An estimate of over a million private elections per year is probably conservative, even assuming that many organizations have only pro forma elections with a nominating committee or a major contributor controlling the outcome. Yet, public drama resulting from these elections is likely to be minimal, owing to lack of interest on the part of the communications media; but for the people involved, and the communities and interests they serve, these elections are very important. This chapter suggests which political techniques may be appropriate in private-election campaigning and shows how they can be used. Fortunately, the scale of these private elections is much reduced from that of elections for public office, and an individual interested member can more readily afford the costs both in time and in money.
