[NCSG-EC] Urgent!! Ballot issues for the Election

[Stephanie Perrin]

Hi folks sorry, but we have an urgent situation to resolve.  As some may be aware, these are the rules from the Charter for the ballot for COuncil reps;

4.2!Voting!mechanism
All!NCSG!votes!will!be!held!using an!online!voting!system!to!be!determined,!
approved!and!supervised!by!the!NCSG%EC.!Membership!classification!for!voting!will!
be!based!on!the!official!membership!list,!which!must!include!the!category!of!
membership!and!must!be!verified!before!any!vote.
4.3!Election!for!NCSG!GNSO!Council!Representatives!(size,!number,!and!
distribution!of!votes):
In!the!discussion!below,!N!refers!to!the!number!of!seats!that!need!to!be!elected.!
Optimally!N!will!equal!3!seats!in!years!with!normal!rotation.!Any!number!of!reasons!
can!cause!this!number!to!vary.
• NCSG!members!classified!as!“individuals”!will!be!given!N!votes!and!must!assign!
1!vote!to!each!of!N!candidates.
• NCSG!members!classified!as!“small!organizations”!will!be!given!2N!votes!and!
must!assign!exactly!2!votes!to!each!of!N!candidates.
• NCSG!members!classified!as!“large!organizations”!will!be!given!4N!votes!and!
must!assign!exactly!4!votes!to!each!of!N!candidates.
4.4!Election!of!NCSG!Chair!(size!and!number!of!votes):
• NCSG!members!classified!as!“individuals”!will!be!given!1!vote.
• NCSG!members!classified!as!“small!organizations”!will!be!given!2!votes.
• NCSG!members!classified!as!“large!organizations”!will!be!given!4!votes.
• Members!must!cast!all!their!votes!for!a!single!candidate.
4.5!Member!Voting!Eligibility:
Any!NCSG!active!Member!who!has!been!an!active!member!for!at!least!thirty!(30)!
days!before!the!date!of!the!election!is!eligible!to!nominate!candidates,!vote!in!NCSG!
elections,!and!propose!amendments!to!the!NCSG!Charter.


Apologies for the formatting problems.  Maryam is struggling with the ballot, and says it looks confusing.  I am going to propose that for each candidate, we offer yes/no/abstain.  Members should not be forced to vote for someone they don't like, by the language in 4.3 which says that they have to assign exactly one two or four votes to EACH of three candidates.  In other workds, we have to offer abstain as an option.  Formerly we used "none of the above" but that does not make sense where we have choices ,it only makes sense where there is only one candidate running.

So the ballot would look like this:

*NCSG Chair (1-year term)*

Please select 1 choice:
[chair] Stephanie Perrin
[chair] Abstain

*GNSO Council*

There are three vacant council positions.  Please select no more than three candidates; you may abstain from selecting a candidate if you wish, but you may only vote for three individuals.

[council1] Ayden Férdeline
[council1] Abstain

[council2] Farell Folly
[council2] Abstain

[council3] Farzaneh Badii
[council3] Abstain

[council4] Tatiana Tropina
[council4] Abstain


Important Remarks:
1. For all positions, please select 1 candidate only; if you select more than 1 your vote won’t be counted.
2. You can change your vote until the deadline on 23 June 2019, 23:59 UTC. Only the last selection will be counted.
3. If you don't select any choice for a seat, the vote for that seat will be counted as zero.
4. You will receive several reminders during the election with the same link to your ballot.


Please let me know if you find this clear, and if you agree with this proposed formulation.  We had quite a battle over ballots a couple of years ago, the resolution of which was that members must not be forced by the language of the Charter to vote for someone they do not wish to vote for.  This means that there has to be options for abstention.  "none of the above" only works when a seat is uncontested, and is generally confusing, so I am suggesting abstain.
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