Every year, voting members of the National Rifle Association (those with 5 or more years of consecutive membership and those with Life or higher-level memberships) are asked to participate in the governance of their organization by voting for a third of their 76-member board of directors.  And each year, due to a long and tumultuous personal and family relationship with the organization, I am asked to make recommendations among the candidates.  This year I am calling for voting members of the association to “Bullet Vote” for one candidate:  Mrs. Maria Heil.  There are certainly other candidates on the ballot whom I feel have been, and/or would be, good directors, and members who value my guidance should also feel free to vote for other worthy candidates, but I don’t believe any of those candidates needs my endorsement to win a seat.  Mrs. Heil has an impressive record in Pennsylvania and with the Second Amendment Sisters, but is not well known among NRA members.  I think she would be an excellent addition to the NRA Board and hope that my endorsement might give her the nudge she needs to be elected. 

Due to the way NRA elections work, the only real competition in the election is for the last few positions, and the vote totals for those marginal candidates are often within just a few votes of each other.  That means that just a few extra votes for a candidate can make a big difference, and voting for more than just a few candidates – especially voting for several who are expected to be in the bottom dozen vote-getters – can dilute an individual ballot and cost their favorite a seat.