[Fwd: [council] Proposed alteration to Schedule for the rounds ofConvention Style Voting]

[Louis Touton <touton@icann.org>]

To the GNSO Council:

 From a bylaws perspective, Bruce's suggestion on the revised schedule
is permissible.  The GNSO Council can adjust the schedule in the
manner that Bruce identified.  For clarity, the schedule would be:

SCHEDULE FOR THE ROUNDS OF CONVENTION STYLE VOTING
    1a. March 6, 15:00 UTC - First-round ballot distributed by
secretariat
    1b.  March 13, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from second round must be
returned to secretariat
    1c.  March 13, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
second-round ballot

(as needed:)
   2a.  March 13, 18:00 UTC - Third-round ballot distributed by
secretariat
   2b.  March 15, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from third round must be
returned to secretariat
   2c.  March 15, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
third-round ballot

(as needed:)
   3a.  March 15, 18:00 UTC - Fourth-round ballot distributed by
secretariat
   3b.  March 18, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from fourth round must be
returned to secretariat
   3c.  March 18, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
fourth-round ballot

(as needed:)
   4a.  March 18, 18:00 UTC - Fifth-round ballot distributed by
secretariat
   4b.  March 20, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from fifth round must be
returned to secretariat
   4c.  March 20, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
fifth-round ballot

Rounds 5 and subsequent, as needed:  As scheduled, in Rio de Janeiro.

Please note that four rounds of e-mail voting is not guaranteed to
reduce the current field of six candidates (or a larger field) to a
single winner.  Thus, there is the distinct possibility that there will
be two candidates still under consideration after the fourth round.
Under Bruce's proposal, that pool of remaining candidates would be
narrowed to one in subsequent rounds to be held in Rio de Janeiro.

In reviewing the published procedures, I noticed two matters that should
be clarified before the voting begins:

    A.  The specifics of eliminations from subsequent rounds of voting:

    1.  On the first round, all candidates getting zero votes, and
all candidates receiving the lowest non-zero number of votes are
eliminated from subsequent rounds.  Example first round:

     Candidate 1             receives 0 votes
     Candidate 2             receives 2 vote
     Candidate 3             receives 4 votes
     Candidate 4             receives 6 vote
     Candidate 5             receives 8 vote
     Candidate 6             receives 2 vote

Candidate 1 is eliminated because he or she received zero votes.
Candidates 2 and 6 are eliminated because they both received two votes,
which is the lowest non-zero number.  Candidates 3, 4, and 5 appear on
the ballot in the next round.

    2.  On all rounds after the first, all candidates receiving the
lowest number of votes are eliminated from subsequent rounds.  Example:

     Candidate 1             receives 2  votes
     Candidate 2             receives 11 votes
     Candidate 3             receives 2 votes
     Candidate 4             receives 9 votes

Candidates 1 and 3 are eliminated because they both received two votes,
which is the lowest number.  Only candidates 2 and 4 appear on the 
ballot in the next round.

    3.  In the final round, one candidate must receive a majority of
the total number of votes that all members of the GNSO may cast.
Example, assuming 24 votes total on GNSO Council:

     Candidate 1             receives 6 votes
     Candidate 2             receives 12 votes
     Candidate 3             receives 6 votes

Candidates 1 and 3 are eliminated because they both received six votes,
which is the lowest number.  Because candidate 2 did not receive
thirteen votes (a majority of 24), he or she is not selected in this
round.  An additional round will be run, with a single candidate, and
candidate 2 must receive 13 affirmative votes to be victorious.

    B.  GNSO Council Members Eligible to Vote

As noted by Bruce, the Registrars Constituency only has two
representatives, there being one vacancy.  They are each entitled to
cast two votes.  Until the vacancy is filled, only the existing
seventeen members of the GNSO Council are entitled to vote, so there are
a total of 22 votes to be cast and a majority is 12.  Once the
Registrars Constituency selects a member to fill the vacancy (by
notifying the ICANN Secretary), that member will receive (and may vote)
all subsequently distributed ballots.  There will then be a total of 24
votes to be cast and a majority is 13.

If the Registrars Constituency notifies the ICANN Secretary that it has
selected a member to fill the vacancy during a round of e-mail voting,
the member may participate in that round of e-mail voting only if the
notification is given to the Secretary at least 24 hours before the
ballots are to be returned to the GNSO Secretariat.

Please voice any objection to the above clarifications within 24 hours.
In the absence of a specific objection, these procedures will be
followed in the voting.

Best regards,

Louis Touton
General Counsel and Secretary



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [council] Proposed alteration to Schedule for the rounds of
Convention Style Voting
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 12:58:33 +1100
From: "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au>
To: "council" <council@dnso.org>
CC: <DNSO.SECRETARIAT@dnso.org>, "Louis Touton" <touton@icann.org>

Hello All,

We now have at least 6 nominations for the ICANN Board seats.  It is
good we have so many good candidates willing to serve on the ICANN Board.

We are attempting to vote via a convention style process over the next
couple of weeks with the aim to finalise the election for seat 14 at the
ICANN meeting in Rio.

Given that it may take a few rounds to decide the final result, the
process proposed below allows for several rounds of voting within the 14
day voting period.

Now I propose that the first round we handled over a 7 day period,
instead of the suggested 5 day period described below.  ie the first
round would start on 6 March and finish on 13 March.   This effectively
combines the first two rounds in the schedule below.

The reasons for this are:

(1) The council needs sufficient time to consider the suitability of the
candidates.  Most of the candidates have only just been nominated.
This may involve consultation within constituencies and the wider
community, and also may involve council members asking questions of the
candidates.

(2) We have three new members of council in the past week, and a fourth
new member is in the process of being appointed by the registrar
constituency.  These new members need some time to familiarize
themselves with the issues, and review the candidates.

If we do not reach a conclusion by the end of the 14 day voting period,
then I propose that we hold the necessary additional rounds of voting at
the ICANN meeting in Rio on 25 March 2003 - prior to the beginning of
the council meeting.  I would rather not rush the voting process during
the initial stages of voting, to ensure a conclusion at the end of the
14 day period.

Please post any concerns or objections you have with this process within
the next 24 hours.
If there are no objections then we will run with the schedule below with
the exception that the first round will occur over 7 days (from 6 March
to 13 March), which will provide for 4 rounds of voting (instead of 5).

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin




   > [To: council@dnso.org]
   >
   > Dear Council Members,
   >
   > Please note the Schedule for the rounds of Convention Style voting.
   > Further notification will be sent when the nominations have closed on
   > Thursday 11:00 UTC.
   >
   > The GNSO Council will vote by e-mail between March 6 and
   > March 20, 2003 and
   > the vote will be confirmed at the GNSO Council meeting in Rio
   > de Janeiro on
   > March 25, 2003
   >
   > For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
   >
   > Each GNSO Council member will be sent an individual ballot
   > which must be
   > completed with one (x) and returned to the address on the ballot.
   >
   > The votes will be weighed according to the ICANN bylaws
   > http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-15dec02.htm#X
   > Registrar and Registry Constituency members' votes will count
   > for 2 for each
   > constuency member, while in the remaining 4 constituencies, each
   > constituency member's vote will count for 1.
   >
   > SCHEDULE FOR THE ROUNDS OF CONVENTION STYLE VOTING
   >      1a. March 6, 15:00 UTC - First-round ballot distributed by
   >  secretariat
   >      1b. March 11, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from first round must be
   >  returned to secretariat
   >      1c.  March 11, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
   >  first-round ballot
   >
   >  (as needed:)
   >      2a.  March 11, 18:00 UTC - Second-round ballot distributed by
   >  secretariat
   >      2b.  March 13, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from second round must be
   >  returned to secretariat
   >      2c.  March 13, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
   >  second-round ballot
   >
   >  (as needed:)
   >      3a.  March 13, 18:00 UTC - Third-round ballot distributed by
   >  secretariat
   >      3b.  March 15, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from third round must be
   >  returned to secretariat
   >      3c.  March 15, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
   >  third-round ballot
   >
   >  (as needed:)
   >      4a.  March 15, 18:00 UTC - Fourth-round ballot distributed by
   >  secretariat
   >      4b.  March 18, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from fourth round must be
   >  returned to secretariat
   >      4c.  March 18, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
   >  fourth-round ballot
   >  (as needed:)
   >
   >      5a.  March 18, 18:00 UTC - Fifth-round ballot distributed by
   >  secretariat
   >      5b.  March 20, 15:00 UTC - All ballots from fifth round must be
   >  returned to secretariat
   >      5c.  March 20, 18:00 UTC - Secretariat announces results of
   >  fifth-round ballot
   >
   > For other places see http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
   >
   > Each GNSO Council member will be sent an individual ballot
   > which must be
   > completed with one (x) and returned to the address on the ballot.
   >
   > The votes will be weighed according to the ICANN bylaws
   > http://www.icann.org/general/archive-bylaws/bylaws-15dec02.htm#X
   > Registrar and Registry Constituency members' votes will count
   > for 2 for each
   > constuency member, while in the remaining 4 constituencies, each
   > constituency member's vote will count for 1.
   >
   > At the start of the e-mail voting procedure, only the 17 current
   > members may vote.
   >
   > GNSO Secretariat
   >
   >