[gnso-improvem-impl-sc] Background on New Issues: Email Voting and Procedural Waivers

[Julie Hedlund]

Dear SCI members,

In our last meeting on 08 October Ron Andruff suggested it would be helpful
to frame the two new issues the GNSO Council has asked the SCI to study  ‹
email voting and procedural waivers --  in the format of the questions
listed in the charter.  In addition, for future requests as Mikey O'Conner
suggested staff will create an online form that requesters can complete when
they have issues to bring to the SCI.  The format in the charter is:
1. Which group do you represent? (E.g. Council, WG.)
2. To which rules or processes do you refer?
3. Please outline the problems
4. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?
5. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes
easier to administer?

In particular, the GNSO Council requested that the SCI should take up these
two new issues in its Wrap Up meeting in Durban on 17 July.   Accordingly,
I've reviewed the transcript from that meeting and pulled out the relevant
information from the brief discussion of these topics.  I've put that
information into the form of the questions from the charter.  Please see the
information below and also on the wiki at:
https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosci/16+November+2013.  These issues
are on the agenda for the SCI's next meeting, which will be held
face-to-face in Buenos Aires on Saturday, 16 November from 0700-0845 local
time.  The GNSO Secretariat will send out a notice and reminders for the
meeting.

Best Regards,

Julie 

Julie Hedlund, Policy Director

Email voting:
1. Which group do you represent? GNSO Council
2. To which rules or processes do you refer? Voting
3. Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to
conduct votes outside of a meeting.
4. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?
The SCI should consider whether and how the Council could vote outside of a
meeting and under what circumstances.  Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the
Council transcript at the Wrap Up Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "So I
wanted - an issue I wanted us to consider maybe giving to the SCI and then
to the group or to a committee to look at is I¹d like to rethink about
whether potentially voting by email or something like that is a possibility?
I know we¹ve looked at it on and off over the years.ŠAnd if that would help
speed things along it would be great to just look at that issue in just
maybe we can¹t do it first time around obviously but for future..."  He
raised this issue because the Council was in the process of scheduling a
special meeting in August to conduct a vote.
5. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes
easier to administer? Voting by email could in some circumstances enable the
Council to avoid having to schedule a special meeting for a vote that has to
occur quickly.

Waivers and/or Exceptions to the GNSO Council Operating Procedures
1. Which group do you represent? GNSO Council
2. To which rules or processes do you refer? Submitting a motion and
possibly other procedures
3. Please outline the problems: The Council does not have a mechanism to
waive or invoke an exception to and of its operating procedures.  An example
is whether the deadline for submitting motions could be waived in certain
circumstances.  Quote from Jonathan Robinson in the transcript at the Wrap
Up Meeting in Durban on 18 July 2013: "And essentially I wasn¹t empowered as
chair by our rulebook to allow that motion to be put on the table even if
technically although we have done it by precedent and prior practice, even
if no one objected from the council I didn¹t really - there isn¹t really
device in the rulebook to allow that to take place. So I personally I think
that¹s an area we should look at is the - when and under what circumstances
- formal council procedure can be bypassed in the event that there is no
objection from the council?"
4. What specific changes do you propose to address the identified problems?
The SCI should consider whether and how the Council could vote outside of a
meeting and under what circumstances.
5. Do you have any additional suggestion for making the rules/processes
easier to administer? A waiver mechanism could allow the Council to consider
a motion or document after the deadline of notice/submission to the Council
has passed.



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