[NCUC-EC] NCUC Election Cycle

[William Drake]

Hi

On Oct 4, 2013, at 12:46 PM, Edward Morris <edward.morris at ALUMNI.USC.EDU> wrote:
> 
> Nominations:  20 November - 29 November
> Ballot development, statements:  30 November - 7 December
> Election period:  8 December - 17 December
> Results announced: consult with ICANN regarding date
> 
> Under this plan all election activity occurs after CD. Tapani has pointed out elsewhere a delay in the process is not prohibited by the Bylaws. Bill has correctly observed that not much will be done in mid December due to the holidays. 
> 
> My goal simply is to push all electioneering until after CD. I don't want those not in attendance to be at any disadvantage and I'd like all of us to be able to focus completely on work and not politics until after our Meeting responsibilities. 
> 
> Open to other thoughts…

I appreciate the spirit of inclusion Ed, however I don't really see the problem that requires a complex solution, which jamming this into the holiday season and asking ICANN for help would seem to be.  CD never has more than 20-30 tops members in attendance and yet NCUC does elections every year in the same way with about the same level of member participation.  Moreover, I don't really see how CD would 'advantage' anyone in the room or disadvantage anyone who is not.  Either way, everyone can participate whether remotely or F2F, people who want to stand will have to submit answers in statements on ncuc-discuss, etc. 

I also think it might be helpful though to a CD discussion to at least know what the field of candidates is like, so it's not like everything feels abstract and up in the air.  I suspect it would help to at least have parameters on expectations in order to advance planning a bit.  Bear in mind that ICANN has given us budget allocations to organize a one day working meeting for the new EC on 20 March and a big policy conference on 21 March in Singapore.  Plus Fadi wants to do a Roundtable with us, probably in Instanbul late January-early February.  We should start talking about these and putting processes in place, and NCUC and the new EC will need to get going pretty early in January.  If we have zero idea whether we'll even have the requisite candidates it could be harder.

I would therefore counter-propose that we just push it back just one week from last time, so that there's the beginnings of clarity before BA but the election can commence just afterwards.  There's also an important operational reality here, which is that we need staff support during the election.  I just got off the phone with Glen, who has to push the button to begin the tally machine.  She will be on vacation and offline in Argentina Nov. 23 (Saturday after BA meeting) to December 3, which I think is too late to start.  But she can push the button on Nov. 22, Friday.  While she is away, Nathalie can be the support person who responds to "I didn't get my ballot" messages etc.

Hence, I would propose this:

October 21-November 7: Nominations submitted to ncuc-discuss (2 1/2 weeks, negates the IGF aspect)
November 8-21: Nominees submit statements (BA attendees would have a week prior, and can advance plan, nominations having gone on for weeks before)
November 22- December 5: Election period
December 6: Results announced

Thoughts?

Bill