Re: [registrars] ELECTION FOR ICANN BOARD MEMBERS - SEAT 14

[Eric Brunner-Williams in Portland Maine <brunner@nic-naa.net>]

Tim,

This is my last comment on this subject. Elections I have personal knowledge
of, conducted under mature, well-known election laws, by experienced election
workers, are not "simple". Campaigns managed by staff with a simple model of
elections are not competitive when the margin is at or within the sampling
error of the better available polling data.

To move from the general to the practical, I can't assume that anyone who is
attempting to influence an election process has no interest in its outcome.
In my limited experience, "simple rules" have practical beneficiaries.

Bill Rehnquist worked as a poll watcher for the GOP in Phoenix. He applied
"simple rules" in some precincts in Phoenix, objectively, those having the
higher percentages of Latino or non-White potential voters. [For the non-US
RC interested, BR campaigned for Goldwater in '64, was appointed Assistant
Attorney General under Nixon, and elevated to the Supreme Court, also under
Nixon. This will partially illuminate why Florida's 2000 election was such
"fun", BR's vote was obvious in advance.]

You can either advocate "simplicity" because you are simple, or idealistic,
which may come down to the same thing, or you can advocate "simplicity"
because it is a form of partisan advocacy. If the former, that's life. If
the latter, its technique. I respect technicians. Whether you are out to game
this ballot, or game balloting, is immaterial to me.

Personally, it seems to me that the only issues present in the momentary
ballots are who wears what bits of brocade on the poop deck of the Good
Ship Lollipop, not substantive issues affecting the business rules of the
RC, and the businesses that agree to conduct business under those rules.

The suggestion that the RC's "election law" is made better or worse by any
criteria, by our conduct, seems specious to me, and obviously plain as the
light of day to you. How much traction you get out of this position is TBD.
I'm at a disadvantage, having different experience, and am unlikely to ever
be convinced of the correctness of your claim on this specific topic.

Eric