Another Screen Actors Guild (SAG) election has run its course, peppered with the usual cross accusations. I don’t know how the election played out to influence voters in Hollywood, New York, or the other branches, but here in New England the only two candidates heard from were Alan Rosenberg and Morgan Fairchild. Not one peep came from Robert Conrad, who evidently ran a spoiler campaign. Sadly the poor national turnout probably resulted from the abundance of he said, she said campaign rhetoric utilized by both Membership First and the Campaign for Unity as they pressed their causes.  

Traditionally, Membership First has historically been associated with an agenda of what is best for the Hollywood region. The Campaign for Unity was more oriented toward building SAG into a strong national presence.  

Based upon my personal exposure to both groups, through their websites and emails, I publicly supported Morgan Fairchild, Lee Garlington, and the Campaign for Unity after concluding they were most qualified to serve in the best interest of the entire national union. They were also supported by 17 of 21 regional branch presidents and 37 national board members.  

Ballots were mailed to 98,995 eligible voters of which a total of 27.33% participated. Less than 28 of every 100 members eligible to vote did so, electing Alan Rosenberg of Membership First with 39.99% of the votes cast. Morgan Fairchild running under the Campaign for Unity banner received 34.72% of the tally. Robert Conrad, with no visible national campaign alliance, held the third position with 25.29% of the voting members favor. Connie Stevens of Membership First defeated Lee Garlington of Campaign for Unity for the position of secretary-treasurer.  

Twenty-four of the 69 national board seats representing Screen Actors Guild’s Hollywood, New York, and Regional Branch Divisions were also at stake in this election with Membership First claiming a majority position.  

Presently more than half of the members eligible to vote are in the Hollywood Division, the location of our national headquarters. As the birthplace and current home base of American filmmaking more production days are enjoyed in the Hollywood Region than in any other part of the United States. One might think voter participation would be greatest there, yet only 12,555 (22.88%) of the 54,864 Hollywood ballots mailed were returned in time to be counted. Despite the fact that there were also 58 Candidates running for the 11 open National Board positions.  

The New York Division is the second most active SAG branch in terms of production and membership. With a slightly better percentage than Hollywood 5,499 (23.82%) of the 23,090 members eligible to vote did so. New York fielded 18 candidates for the 5 open National Board seats.  

Chicago and Philadelphia were the only other Branch Divisions to have contested national board elections and official tabulation results posted on the SAG website. Chicago posted 584 (17.02%) returned ballots from the 3,432 members eligible to participate, and Philadelphia proved to be a more interested branch with 379 (29.31%) of the 1,293 eligible members voting.  

The official tabulations for the remaining 17 branch divisions were not made available. However, doing some simple math shows there were 16,316 members eligible to vote throughout the rest of the country, and 8,036 of them did so – a whopping 49.25% participation.  

The only national excitement visible in this race was evidenced in the 17 branches that did not also hold elections for National Board seats. All those candidates ran unopposed. On the plus side, and in consideration of the strong national voter participation, maybe the members of these branches have justified faith, trust, and confidence in their current local leadership. 

SAG is estimated to have 120,000 national members; based on that total approximately 20,585 members were not eligible to vote due to various administrative reasons. Extrapolated percentages reveal Hollywood had 11,553 members not eligible to vote; New York had 4,831 ineligible members; and the combined remaining 19 branches (including Chicago and Philadelphia) total 4,201 members ineligible to vote. Looked at from a total membership perspective, this election was decided by 22.54% of the approximate 120,000 national guild members. Barely 22 of every 100 members participated in what could be a critical election result.    

Including the approximate number of members not eligible to vote, the 27,053 national ballots cast represented our membership as follows: Hollywood cast 12,555 of the total national votes with only 18.90% of their members participating; New York’s votes total 5,499 representing 19.69% of their members; and the remaining 19 branches spoke with 8,999 of the eligible votes, spread out across the rest of the United States, representing approximately 36% of their total membership. Even with Chicago and Philadelphia dragging the percentage down, the members of the 19 branches participated at a rate of 2 to1 versus Hollywood and New York membership.    

The Hollywood, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia Division memberships combined had a total of 82,679 (83.52%) of our 98,995 eligible voters. However only 19,017 (23%) of those members cast a ballot, and if you include the members that were not eligible to vote the percentage sinks to 19.04%.  

By comparison the other 17 Regional Divisions only had a total of 16,316 (16.48%) eligible ballots, yet 8,036 (49.25%) of those members participated in the national contest. Although the 17 Regional Divisions comprise less than 17% of the total eligible voters, they represented 29.70%, or 30% rounded, of the ballots cast.     

The new national leadership really needs to find a way to engage the disengaged membership. Hopefully the strong participation demonstrated by the 17 Regional Branches is just the beginning of the true grassroots national presence we can develop. Imagine the power SAG will have if we can get our entire national membership interested enough to participate in elections at a rate of nearly 50%.  

Mick Hoegen has appeared in over fifty New England films. Several films have played in various film festivals, including AN USI AT THE ALAMO (filmed in Rhode Island), which was recently picked up by Echelon Entertainment of Los Angeles for distribution.