With around an hour left, and the band winding down, if you haven’t already, NOW is the time to VOTE.
Let the Board know that we want an association made up of, and focused on, machine stenographers. Full Stop.
Thank you for voting. Thank you to everyone who has sent us so much valuable information along the way. We’re all in this together.
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
PLEASE DO NOT MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE AGAINST VOICE WRITERS AND VIDEOGRAPHERS BECOMING VOTING MEMBERS OF NCRA!
Please exercise your right to VOTE while it is fresh on your mind. E-mails from NCRA were sent yesterday with the subject line “NCRA 2026 Bylaw Amendments.”
Remember … Bylaw No. 3 is a back door for including voice writers in NCRA.
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to every stenographer that you know so that they know that the deadline to VOTE is fast approaching.
At the end of the day, the only influence that we have over NCRA is our VOTE.
So, exert that influence and let your voice be heard RIGHT NOW! by voting AGAINST all proposed amendments – with an emphasis AGAINST allowing videographers and voice writers in as full-voting members.
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to every single machine stenographer that you know so that they know that the time to VOTE AGAINST videographers and voice writers is NOW!
*As many of you probably know, the way that the math works, an abstention is effectively a vote in favor of a proposition
A simple fact of modern life is that most of us don’t live on farms or “live off the land” to sustain ourselves, our loved ones, and everyone and everything we hold dear. Instead, in the modern world, we have jobs. And for all of us here at WUNCRA, and for probably everyone reading this post, that “job” is the profession of verbatim machine stenography.
So, how does it help verbatim machine stenographers to allow voice writers and videographers to become full-fledged voting members of NCRA? Simple. IT DOES NOT! Not one bit.
As we’ve said before, allowing voice writers and videographers to become full voting members ABSOLUTELY DILUTES the voice of machine stenographers and endangers our professional lives that underpin everyone and everything in our personal lives.
So, it’s not dramatic to say that our very lives depend on the outcome of tomorrow’s vote. It’s just logic. Pure and simple math. If our vote gets diluted and we lose control of NCRA, we will lose control of our profession. Simple as that.
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to every verbatim machine stenographer that you know to make sure that they VOTE tomorrow, too!
Our lives depend on it.
EVERY … SINGLE … VOTE … MATTERS!
Bylaw amendment No. 2 notes in its rationale that it “will promote consistency and transparency.”
The Board of Directors came to us last year asking for a dues increase. The dues increase passed, but with 44.5% of the voting members voting against it. The voters approved a lifeline, but with a message to the NCRA Board that we do not approve of the direction that NCRA is heading.
A post going around social media and inboxes includes a frightening comment:
“NCRA’s tagline is ‘dedicated to advancing the interests of court reporting, captioning, and legal videography professionals.’ … At present, no national organization explicitly exists to promote machine shorthand [emphasis in original].”
It is also becoming clearer where all of the “capture” language is coming from. The same post stated: “STAR merged with AAERT to form CAPTUR, creating yet another organization seeking to represent multiple reporting methods.”
Do we have puppets leading NCRA? Who exactly are the puppeteers? Is it possible that the puppeteers are former STAR leadership steering NCRA?
The Board of Directors is still NOT listening to its membership. Let us send them a protest message that WE WANT CONSISTENCY AND TRANSPARENCY by voting AGAINST every single bylaw amendment. We want new leadership! We want the Board to live and breathe for verbatim stenographic reporters ONLY!
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to every single NCRA member that you know to remind them to VOTE AGAINST EVERY BYLAW AMENDMENTthis Thursday, July 16th.
Vote AGAINST voice writers and videographers being full members of NCRA!
The voice schools are not even trying to hide that they are “teaching” their students to use ASR! One is switching to ASR right now – July 2026! They are telling their students that they can get out of the “program” in four months. Imagine the dilution of stenographic reporters if we allow them to be full-fledged voting members! Giving them the voice will take away stenographers’ voices!
If you don’t VOTE AGAINST! these bylaws, your voice may never be heard again!
Please pay attention to the wording of the bylaw amendments. NCRA should publish the wording of the actual ballots! But they haven’t. SURPRISE!
We must not let them trick us into allowing voice writers and videographers into NCRA as voting members!
Also, please VOTE AGAINST! Amendment No. 3 which is just a back door to allowing voice writers and digi’s – other “capturers” – into the association.
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to EVERY STENOGRAPHER that you know and implore them to VOTE AGAINST! voice writers and videographers being full-fledged voting members of NCRA!
P.P.S. Please place July 16th on your calendar as a reminder to VOTE!!!
Under the “rationale” of the voice writers’ bylaw amendment, so many of the same-old/same-old proposers talk about NCRA’s commitment to stenographic reporting:
“This amendment does not [emphasis in original] alter the Association’s commitment to the promotion of stenographic reporting as a professional discipline …”
If we recall back to arithmetic lessons in our elementary school days, if voice writers are added as full-fledged voting members, that will absolutely dilute the voting power of verbatim stenographic reporters. You know, fractions, percentages, basic math. It is simply a mathematical certainty that dilution absolutely equals altering NCRA’s commitment to verbatim stenographic reporters. To use a technical math term for the “rationale,” WUNCRA calls MALARKEY! It gets a big, fat F!
Already the executive director and past boards have been diluting stenographers by lumping us in as “capturers” in NCRA’s Mission Statement. If voice writers (and videographers) are given full voting privileges, IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.
WE NEED AN ASSOCIATION THAT REPRESENTS VERBATIM STENOGRAPHERS … ONLY!
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this to every stenographer that you know so that they VOTE NO! to voice writers and videographers becoming voting members of NCRA on July 16, 2026.
EVERY … SINGLE … VOTE … MATTERS!
No. 1: On July 16, 2026, at 2:15 until 3:15, a session called “AI Legal Frameworks and Court Reporting” is being presented by a local Washington attorney. His presentation is going to be livestreamed.
No. 2: On July 16, 2026, at 4:45 until 5:45 (already at the end of a long day!) a session called “Jeopardizing Justice Panel on AI” is being presented by THREE past NCRA presidents, a past NCRA director, and an official reporter at Snohomish County Superior Court. Their presentation is NOT set to be livestreamed.
No. 3: We are anticipating that the excuse for not streaming the Jeopardizing Justice Panel is because the subject of AI is already being covered by a livestream.
No. 4: All of us here at WUNCRA believe that the Jeopardizing Justice Panel is THE MOST IMPORTANT session of the entire 2026 NCRA Convention!
Why are you afraid to have the Jeopardizing Justice Panel on AI livestreamed, Board of Directors?
STREAM THE JEOPARDIZING JUSTICE PANEL ON AI!
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
P.S. Please send this post to every single stenographer that you know so that they know to VOTE NO! to voice writers and videographers becoming full-fledged voting members of NCRA!
P.P.S. Tomorrow, July 8, 2026, is the last day for NCRA to have your email address on file to be eligible to VOTE NO! on July 16, 2026.
EVERY … SINGLE … VOTE … COUNTS!
On July 16th at 4:45 p.m. Pacific time, in Grand Ballroom E-K, there is a presentation, “Jeopardizing Justice Panel on AI.”
The session’s description: “This lively and highly interactive session will leave you feeling armed and empowered. This is your one-stop shop for updates on the state of AI in the field, including practical guidance on using AI effectively as a reporter while still preserving the integrity of the record. The Jeopardizing Justice panel will recap some of their work advocating for the profession and they will share some tools you can use in your own advocacy work.”
The panel consists of THREE past presidents of NCRA; one past very highly regarded director; and a Washington State RSR who is also a Phi Beta Kappa alumnus from a prestigious university. All but one of the presenters are founding members of the Jeopardizing Justice Coalition.
All of us here at WUNCRA submit that the most important session of the entire convention is the “Jeopardizing Justice Panel on AI.” We believe that the organizers of the convention also believe it’s the most important — because this session is set in the Grand Ballroom.
THE JEOPARDIZING JUSTICE SESSION NEEDS TO BE LIVESTREAMED!
As an aside, a session is being presented by the guy to whom we pay over $300 grand a year* about the fear of public speaking. You guessed it! It is going to be livestreamed.
It’s our opinion that the biggest fear that we are facing is that guy continuing to be in a leadership position at NCRA.
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
*Thank you, again, for the 2022 IRS form 990 filing.
P.S. Please send this to every stenographer that you know so that they know to VOTE NO! to voicewriters and videographers becoming full voting members of NCRA on July 16, 2026. To be eligible to vote, NCRA must have a current email address on file by July 8, 2026. Now is a good time to re-join NCRA to be able to VOTE!
EVERY … SINGLE … VOTE … COUNTS!
If the NCRA Board spent as much time focusing on stenographic reporters – like the bylaws demand – and less time scheming how to bring voice writers and videographers into the association, we would be light-years ahead of where we are right now. But, instead, the Board and the Executive Director have put stenographers in an uphill position in the fight against artificial intelligence*.
How about the Board using their efforts for finding a new executive director? The guy makes over 300 grand** a year. If he’s been there since 2018, we have paid him 2.4 MILLION DOLLARS! For what?
After chasing off literally thousands and thousands of stenographic reporters, any person heading up NCRA who wanted to keep their paycheck coming could have the “bright idea” of adding videographers and voice writers to the association. Remember, he only has to convince six of the 11 board members to get his way. And we don’t get to know which board members vote against his ideas.
We need new leadership! We need leadership that protects and serves stenographers. We need a female stenographer to lead the association. A female that believes in and loves the stenography profession and its association.
All of us here at WUNCRA have put our heads together and we think that the leader that NCRA needs is someone from the Strong Committee.
Remember the Strong Committee? It was disbanded by the current Executive Director and his bro president at the time. They said that the Strong Committee was no longer needed, and the association was going in a different direction in the battle against AI.
Alas, we still haven’t heard about that new direction, have we?
Now we are at an apex where the voice writers and videographers that the Board wants to make full voting members are running their audios through artificial-intelligence software – literally jeopardizing the justice system that stenographers have protected for time immemorial.
We have lost many years that should have been spent educating the public and lawmakers.
The Executive Director MUST go!
WAKE UP, NCRA!
FRANK N. SENSE
*Of course, we all know that there is ZERO intelligence in artificial intelligence. When you boil it all down, it’s just 1s and 0s, advanced statistics, and guessing!
**Thank you, again, for sending in the information on the 2022 IRS Form 990 filings.
P.S. For clarification, there is nobody at WUNCRA that is or has ever been a member of the committee formerly known as the Strong Committee.
P.P.S. Please send this post to every single stenographer that you know so that they vote NO! to making videographers and voice writers full-fledged members on July 16, 2026.
P.P.P.S. Any stenographer that would like to be eligible to Vote NO! on these very important amendments should join/re-join NCRA very soon. NCRA needs to have a current email address in the database by July 8, 2026. EVERY … SINGLE … VOTE … COUNTS!