Page History
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The specific request is support for a At-Large community dialogue on the issue of suffrage, the right to vote, in the (s)election of Board Seat 15.. As part of the work of the Rules of Procedure (ROP), any changes to the definition of the electorate, specifically:
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What was approved was a request to the ALAC that this issue be discussed. As I understand it, the topic has ben been put on the table for the Beijing meeting. I beleive that is too little, too late. I have been requesting a full discussion of this issue for about 2 years now. As we approach the deadline for (s)electing Board seat 15 again, I am afraid that we are approaching the point where the status quo will prevail because it is too late to make any changes any more. In my view, this will mean that the issue was captured and was postponed for an entire election cycle without review by successful use of the ALAC bureaucratic processes.
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As my blog explains, I would prefer that once a Nominating Committee creates a slate of candidates, the registered members of the At-Large structures would be allowed to vote. I have come to realize that real suffrage for the At-Large is probably still improbable due to the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) that is constantly spread about the time in the past, before there was an At-Large, when they tried elections and there seemed to some gaming of one of the votes. Of course this is ICANN and everyone tries games the process and we need to constantly tweak our processes to minimize that tendency. In this case, the game played was to deny Users a vote for ever more. I worry more about capture, and I beleive that ALAC has captured this process to the detriment of the At-Large User. For me this is an issue about the accountability of ALAC to the ALS members.
In any case, since getting real suffrage for the At-Large seems improbable at this time, I want to suggest that at least each of the ALS representatives be given a vote. I understand there are practical issues that might need to be dealt with in setting this up, but I see no reason why a solution that includes ALS suffrage could not be put in place before the next (s)election for Seat 15.
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If we get this full dialogue I will argue for ALS suffrage during this (s)election (2013) with further discussion on full suffrage for the next (s)election (2016). I will probably ask the RALO to suppor this as well, but first we need to get the At-Large community discussion underway.
Thanks
- Suffrage: NOUN:
- The right or privilege of voting; franchise.
- The exercise of such a right.
- A vote cast in deciding a disputed question or in electing a person to office.
