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<p>Hi, <br>
</p>
<p>Would the real compromise not look like this: NOTA votes do not
spoil the ballot, NOTA votes have no power not force a rerun of
the election of a candidate. (Basically the Avri position from
2011)<br>
</p>
<p>This way the old votes stand and its a compromise that hurts
everybody equally. The best compromises are the ones all involved
dislike most.</p>
<p>Just a thought</p>
<p>Klaus<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 8/23/2016 3:33 PM, Amr Elsadr wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:269C9992-2F64-4698-8BF2-EE3DC3FF47BD@egyptig.org"
type="cite">
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<div class="">Thank you for this, Robin. You have my full support
and gratitude.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Amr</div>
<br class="">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Aug 23, 2016, at 9:09 PM, Robin Gross <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:robin@IPJUSTICE.ORG"
class="">robin@IPJUSTICE.ORG</a>> wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<div class="">
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charset=utf-8" class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div class="">It is unfortunate that what began as one
careless out-of-bounds comment from the chair on this
list yesterday has had the effect of disenfranchising
every NCSG’s member’s right to vote for or against any
candidate, but that is why the appeal had to be
launched: to restore meaning to our votes.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">The entire NCSG Executive Committee is
responsible for monitoring the elections, providing
oversight to the election, and specifically overseeing
the chair’s performance of executive functions under
NCSG’s Charter. Our charter is clear that it isn’t
appropriate for the chair to unilaterally declare an
interpretation of NOTA on this list - but it is
especially disappointing that the interpretation
provided renders every member’s vote for council
meaningless. Further concerning was the dismissive
attitude displayed against those questioning his
interpretation and the claim that NCSG elections are
merely symbolic gestures. But instead of fixing this
unfortunate error, the chair seems to be digging in his
heels on his interpretation of NOTA, which prevents
members having the ability to vote for or against every
candidate on the ballot. It is the least democratic
interpretation of NOTA possible. </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><b class="">No rationale has been provided
by the chair as to why this interpretation is best for
our members or how it serves our members’ interest. </b></div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I brought this issue to the NCSG EC list
yesterday and asked for a meeting to be scheduled so we
could work through it. That request was denied and the
chair said we’d use the email list to discus the issue
instead, which is fine, except he declared the
discussion closed within a few hours of opening it and
before all the EC members could even wake-up to see the
discussion let alone weigh in on this critical issue.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">As we face a new interpretation of NOTA that
does not take democracy or elections seriously, but only
as a symbolic gesture, where everyone who runs
automatically gets a seat, irrespective of whether there
is sufficient support from the members to be represented
by that person, the group of 21 members lodged the
formal appeal of this decision to try to get this
election back on track and restore the voting rights of
members. Now that the appeal has been launched the
chair is calling for an EC meeting tomorrow, so I am
hopeful we can get this straightened out quickly.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">If we can accept the definition of NOTA as
explained by Avri, Rafik, and myself, who were the
previous EC Chairs and were involved in the drafting of
the charter, an interpretation which provides members
REAL choice, not merely symbolic gestures in our
elections, we probably don’t need to redo the ballots
for this year, and we can just continue with the
understanding those candidates who receive less votes
than NOTA are not elected this year. So we can fix our
ballots for next year, but use the NOTA interpretation
which restores the right of members to approve (or not)
of the candidates for this year.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">This seems to be to a reasonable compromise,
which allows us go forward with the election now, but
without the cloud of illegitimacy it will otherwise have
if we use the new NOTA interpretation that
disenfranchises our members. Let’s find a constructive
path forward and try to work cooperatively to fix this,
not spend more time pointing fingers at each other, but
in <u class="">fixing</u> this error.</div>
<div class=""> </div>
<div class="">Thanks,</div>
<div class="">Robin Gross</div>
<div class="">NCSG Executive Committee Member</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<br class="">
<div class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class="">On Aug 23, 2016, at 8:13 AM, James
Gannon <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:james@cyberinvasion.net" class="">james@cyberinvasion.net</a>>
wrote:</div>
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<div class="">
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charset=utf-8" class="">
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after-white-space;" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class=""><font class=""
face="Calibri,sans-serif">Sam I suggest
you read the letter from all 3 previous
chairs of the NCSG to the current EC
(which has been dismissed by the current
chair) on that point:</font></div>
<div class=""><font class=""
face="Calibri,sans-serif"><br class="">
</font></div>
<div class=""><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mailman.ipjustice.org/pipermail/ec-ncsg/2016-August/001083.html"
class="">http://mailman.ipjustice.org/pipermail/ec-ncsg/2016-August/001083.html</a></div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><u class="">-James</u></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;" class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;" class="">
<br class="">
</div>
<span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"
style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;
font-size: 14px;" class="">
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size:
12pt; text-align: left; border-width: 1pt
medium medium; border-style: solid none none;
padding: 3pt 0in 0in; border-top-color:
rgb(181, 196, 223);" class="">
<span style="font-weight:bold" class="">From:
</span>NCSG-Discuss <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU"
class="">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a>>
on behalf of Sam Lanfranco <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:lanfran@YORKU.CA" class="">lanfran@YORKU.CA</a>><br
class="">
<span style="font-weight:bold" class="">Reply-To:
</span>Sam Lanfranco <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:lanfran@YORKU.CA" class="">lanfran@YORKU.CA</a>><br
class="">
<span style="font-weight:bold" class="">Date:
</span>Tuesday 23 August 2016 at 16:08<br
class="">
<span style="font-weight:bold" class="">To: </span>"<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU"
class="">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a>"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU"
class="">NCSG-DISCUSS@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU</a>><br
class="">
<span style="font-weight:bold" class="">Subject:
</span>Re: By Laws Section 2.4.2.1 Appeal on
the election process<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<span style="font-family: -webkit-standard;
font-size: 12px; font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent:
0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float:
none; display: inline !important;" class="">The
Group of 21</span></span>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
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</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
</blockquote>
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