"The ballots went out to the active members' permanent addresses," Guild spokeswoman Angie Gimmel said. "We are looking at other options too to get the ballots in their hands because they move around so much."

The ballots are being returned to an independent certified public accountant in Louisville, Ky., and Gimmel said the goal is to announce the results on or before June 6.

Under an amended bylaw that was approved in March, nine senators will be elected from three regions, and members choose which region in which they will vote. If they vote in more than one region or for more than nine people, their ballot will be disqualified.

The three regions are: Western (west of the Missouri River), Central (Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama), and Eastern (the remaining eastern states). In the Western region, at least three of the senators must be Quarter Horse riders.

"It's a little awkward, but they have determined it is the fairest way to determine who is going to represent them and to keep from overloading one region," Gimmel said.

In all, 58 jockeys have placed their names on the ballot. Previously, one senate position was given to almost every track in the country that raced for at least five weeks.

The new senate will be in charge of electing a new board of directors and officers and selecting a national manager or management team. Darrell Haire is the interim national manger after the Guild fired Dr. Wayne Gertmenian and his top aides last November.

"They have gotten a number of resumes back on that," Gimmel said. "But no decision has been made, and as it stands now, it would not be until the new board is in place."

Here are the jockeys running for the 27 senate seats:

Eastern region:
Joseph Bravo
Parker Buckley
Abad Cabassa
Eddie Castro
Thomas Clifton
Eibar Coa
Walter Cullum
Manoel Cruz
Stewart Elliot
Josiah Hampshire Jr.
Mike Luzzi
Rajiv Maragh
Anthony Mawing
Richard Migliore
Mario Pino
Edgar Prado
Mike Smith
Cornelio Velasquez
John Velazquez
Jose Velez Jr.

Central region:
Robby Albarado
Rafael Bejarano
Shaun Bridgmohan
Tony Caminita
Kendrick Carmouche
Kerwin Clark
Perry Compton
Mark Guidry
Jeff Johnston
Casey Lambert
Jerry LaSala
Shane Laviolette
Lupe Macias
Randy Meier
Glen Murphy
DeShawn Parker
Brian Peck
Rodney Prescott
Scott Spieth
Rex Stokes III
Dana Whitney
Mike Ziegler

Western region:
Paul Atkinson
Joey Castro
Jon Court
Kent Desormeaux
Francisco Duran
David Flores
Kevin Krigger
Leslie Mawing
Kevin Radke
Alex Solis
Jose Valdivia Jr.