Draft Rule 27
- Laura Kolker
ALAC Rules of Procedure
Rule 27 – Selection of At-Large Board Member
This rule describes the process by which an At-Large Board member is selected to fill the Board seat referred to as Seat 15 within the ICANN Bylaws.
Overall Rationale: Implement the rules that have been decided upon keeping as much flexibility so that future ALACs can adjust the details without having to re-write the Rules of Procedure.
27.1 Timing
For any regular term as defined in ICANN Bylaw Article VI, Section 8(1.g) the timing of the process described in Rule 27 must meet the ICANN Bylaw Article VI, Section 8(4) requirement to provide written notice of the person selected to the Secretary of ICANN no later than five months after the conclusion of the annual meeting preceding the beginning of the new term.
27.2 Board Selection Process Committee
The ALAC shall name a Board Selection Process Committee (BSPC) which will oversee the entire selection process including the election culminating the process but excluding those responsibilities specifically given to the ALAC or the Board Candidate Evaluation Committee. At the ALAC’s choice, the ALAC shall either name a chair of the BSPC or may instruct the BSPC to select a chair from amongst its members.
Rationale: Until we go through the process once, we don’t really know what will be required of the BSPC, so this gives some flexibility for future years.
27.3 Board Candidate Evaluation Committee
The ALAC shall name a Board Candidate Evaluation Committee (BCEC) to compile an initial slate of candidates for election to Seat 15. A new BCEC consisting of two delegates selected by each of the RALOs plus a chair selected by the ALAC will be convened for each Board seat selection process. The BCEC shall solicit Statements of Interest (SoI) and only those submitting such SoIs may be considered by the BCEC. The task of the BCEC is to identify applicants who would each make an excellent Board Director, who have the highest integrity and capability, who are knowledgeable about both ICANN’s and At Large's mission and environment, and who are best able to articulate and advance the views and needs of the global community of Internet end-users to the ICANN Board. The BCEC Operating Principles in use for the 2010 selection can be found at https://st.icann.org/absdt/index.cgi?draft_bcec_operating_principles. <<Note need a permanent non-wiki URL>>
27.4 Committee Overlap
No person who is or was a member of the current BCEC may submit a SoI to that BCEC. A member of the BSPC who submits a SoI must resign from the BSPC prior to such a SoI being submitted.
27.5 Procedures
The BSPC and the BCEC shall adopt such operating procedures as they deem necessary. Such operating procedures shall be published and are subject to ALAC oversight and review.
Rationale: The first sentence was taken from the ICANN Bylaws for the NomCom. The second is the wording used for the Board being ultimately responsible for the GNSO Rules of Procedure.
27.6 Final Candidate List
Following the publication of the BCEC slate of candidates, RALOs have an opportunity to add candidates to that list. Candidates shall only be added if they had previously submitted a SoI to the BCEC during the current selection process, and if they receive the support through formal action of at least three of the five RALOs.
27.7 Electorate
The electorate for the final election shall be the fifteen ALAC members plus the five RALO chairs.
27.8 Voting Process
a) All votes shall be by secret ballot. Votes may be cast in person if during a face-to-face meeting. For telephonic meetings or for face-to-face meetings with some voters participating telephonically, votes may be cast telephonically to a trusted third party. <<Option: Proxies are allowed only in accordance with explicit ALAC Rules of Procedure governing their use, or with explicit BSPC rules governing their use.>>
Rationale: We never talked about proxies before, and currently have no rules for their use. We may want to use them here to ensure that no one is disenfranchised. This rule gives the flexibility to do that if we wish.
b) If there is only one candidate on the Final Candidate List, that candidate shall be acclaimed the winner.
c) If there are more than three candidates on the Final Candidate List, the first vote shall be using an accepted voting method which allows the three most preferred candidates to be selected.
Rationale: This year we will use an STV vote for this, but the rule is worded generally so that some other method, if thought to be preferable, could be used in the future.
d) When there are three candidates remaining, there shall be vote of the electorate. Should one candidate receive greater than 50% of votes cast, that candidate shall be declared the winner. If not, the candidate with the least votes shall be removed. If there is a tie for last position, a random selection by a method determined in advance by the BSPC shall be used to identify the candidate to be removed.
e) When there are two candidates remaining, there shall be vote of the electorate. Should one candidate receive greater than 50% of votes cast, that candidate shall be declared the winner. If there is a tie, a random selection by a method determined in advance by the BSPC shall be used to identify the winner.
f) <<Option>> In any cases where a random selection is called for in sub-sections d) and e), if sufficient time remains, the BSPC, at its sole option, may choose to run the tied election over again in case voter positions have changed. In any given step of the process, this can be done just once.
Rationale: This is something that we have not talked about before. I think that we really want to avoid either eliminating anyone, or declaring a winner, based on random choice. This option allows a re-vote to eliminate a tie. It may come out the same, in which case random choice will have to be used.
27.9 History
The ALAC shall preserve BSPC and BCEC operating procedures and non-confidential documents to ensure that the process history is not lost despite the infrequency of At-Large Board Member selections.
Rationale: With a selection process being held only every three years, there will be very little “corporate memory” of the process. Many of the ALAC members and RALO leaders may change over that time. So it is important that we capture as much as possible to learn from the past and not have to re-invent it.
27.10 Transition Rules
a) For the initial selection process, the At-Large Board Selection Design Team (ABSdt) shall serve as the BSPC.
b) This subsection 27.10b is applicable only if the ICANN Bylaws stipulate that there will be a separate term for Seat 15 beginning at the conclusion of the 2010 ICANN annual meeting and ending six months later at the start of the first regular term.
The process used to fill Seat 15 for the first term prior to the first regular term beginning six months after the ICANN 2010 annual meeting, shall be deemed to also fill Seat 15 for its first regular term.
Rationale: If the Board decides to not change the term lengths in the draft Bylaw revisions, this will cover it.
c) With the exception of Rule 27.8 on Voting Processes, all other aspects of this Rule shall apply retroactively for the first selection of a person to occupy Seat 15. Any process which has generally followed these procedures is deemed to have been valid.
Rationale: This addresses the issue of the overall selection process starting prior to the enactment of this rule and the ICANN Bylaws.
Comments
Comments will be accepted in the six UN languages.
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While not strictly linked to the above text, it might be worth mentioning that many ALAC members will see their vote directed by their RALO.
How the RALOs organize their selection is their business. However, in order not to influence those ALAC members that have not yet voted, and prevent last minute lobbying, it may be worth keeping the RALO selections secret until the end of the vote.
contributed by patrick@vande-walle.eu on 2010-08-24 10:55:03 GMT
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Not sure how we could reliably bind a RALO to such secrecy.
The only issue regarding directed votes in the previous documents was that if RALOs do this, they must very carefully follow their own rules so that it could pass an audit if challenged. That is more advice than a rule, since presumably all rules should be followed. But I would like to hear what others think about this.
contributed by alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca on 2010-08-24 12:44:30 GMT