> A "voting" membership is $100 for one year / $180 for two years.  
> I did get the impression from the sign-up process that if you're a 
> graphic designer, you can only vote in the design categories (and 
> so forth) but I could be wrong.

I was a voting member of NARAS for a few years, circa 1996-1998.
And somewhat unbelievably, one project I worked on that I nominated 
in it's category, Best Packaging, actually made it to the final round. The
designer was one of five finalists (he didn't win the Grammy, but he was
invited out to New York for the ceremony, and his nomination eventually 
led to him meeting people at another label who offered him a job..and
he's still working). Anyway, back to the nominations...As I recall, I offered 
up nominations in whatever specific category it was that I was eligible to 
do so, and then got back a fat booklet one day with all of the names in 
all of the categories. Then, I voted for finalists in the top album, song, etc.
the "main" categories, across the board -- basically NARAS members
vote the same way that the MPAAS members vote for the Oscars. Did
this for two years and spent whatever it was ($180 sounds right) before 
I decided it was a total waste of money and time.

Bryan