[UA-discuss] UASG 2021 Elections - Process and Timeline
Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile
chaals at yandex.ru
Sun Feb 21 13:48:22 UTC 2021
Agreed.
Cheers
On Sun, 21 Feb 2021 20:16:18 +1100, Jim DeLaHunt via UA-discuss
<ua-discuss at icann.org> wrote:
> Chaals:
>
>> …I support all the suggestions Jim made…
>
> Thank you!
>
>> …I have a preference for Meek STV rather than Scottish STV…
>
> Yes, so do I. But the published Election Process did not mention any
> counting method at all, so my first priority is to get the Election
> Process to be clear that we will use some form of Single Transferable
> Vote (STV) over other, less satisfactory, methods of counting. The
> published method last time was Scottish STV, so the baseline is that we
> use the same method as last election.
>
> But yes, there are many varieties of Single Transferable Vote, each with
> their details. Some are slightly better than others for our purposes. If
> we can choose among varieties of STV, I'm happy to have that discussion.
> But first, let's be clear that we are using STV rather than not-STV.
>
> Best regards,
> —Jim DeLaHunt, Vancouver, Canada
>
>
> On 2021-02-07 22:17, Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile wrote:
>> Thank you Mo, Jim.
>>
>> I have a preference for Meek STV rather than Scottish STV, but I support
>> all the suggestions Jim made - in particular his "curious option" to
>> include allowing a vote for "only 2 vice-chairs".
>>
>> cheers
>>
>> Chaals
>>
>> On Sun, 07 Feb 2021 19:41:19 +1100, Jim DeLaHunt <list+uasg at jdlh.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Mo:
>>> Thank you for sending this out. It's good that we have a clearly
>>> stated election process, and that the process be clear before we
>>> add the specific candidates and opinions about which candidates to
>>> choose.
>>>
>>>
>>> I have some suggestions about the elections process as stated in
>>> the document you sent, 2021 UASG Election Process and Timeline
>>> 2021-02-04.pdf , section "2021 UASG Election Process".
>>> 1. The process does not state that how many Chairs and how many
>>> Vice-Chairs are to be elected. Yes, the "UASG Structure" above
>>> says that these numbers are "1" and "2-3" respectively. Still,
>>> for clarity it seems good to state what the purpose of the
>>> process is. I suggest adding an item before old #1, reading
>>> something like, "The election will elect one Chair and [2-3
>>> Vice-Chairs]".
>>>
>>> 2. The process does not state what kind of votes are cast and
>>> what method is used to count votes. I support using the same
>>> methods as last year, as described in
>>> <https://uasg.tech/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Call-for-Nominations.pdf>,
>>> namely preferential ballots, counted with Instant Runoff Voting
>>> for the single Chair, and Scottish STV for the 2-3 Vice-Chairs.
>>> These methods are among the best ways to elect single and
>>> multiple winners for a group like UASG. I suggest adding between
>>> old #5 and #6, something like: "For the single Chair position,
>>> voters will cast preferential ballots ranking their choices, and
>>> the counting method will be Instant Runoff Voting
>>> <https://www.opavote.com/methods/instant-runoff-voting>",
>>> and "For the 2-3 Vice-Chair positions, voters will cast
>>> preferential ballots ranking their choices among all candidates,
>>> and the counting method used will be Scottish STV
>>> <https://www.opavote.com/methods/single-transferable-vote#scottish-stv>."
>>> 3. The process does not define how we will decide whether to
>>> elect 2 or 3 Vice-Chairs. There are several rules which we could
>>> use. We should state what rule we will follow. I suggest adding
>>> it as part of the entry for the Vice-Chair method above. Some
>>> rules we could use:
>>>
>>> 1. If there are 1, 2, or 3 candidates for Vice-Chair, they
>>> will
>>> all be elected by acclamation and they will not be voted on.
>>> 2. If there are more than 3 candidates for Vice-Chair, they
>>> shall be voted on and 3 shall be elected.
>>>
>>> 3. If there are more than 3 candidates for Vice-Chair, they
>>> shall be voted on, and an option "Only 2 Vice-Chairs" shall be
>>> added to the ballot. Voters may rank "Only 2 Vice-Chairs" the
>>> same way as any other candidate. The top two candidates shall
>>> be elected. If the option "Only 2 Vice-Chairs" is among the
>>> top three finishers, there shall only be two Vice-Chairs,
>>> otherwise, there shall be three Vice-Chairs, and the
>>> third-place candidate shall also be elected. [Note: this
>>> curious option means that voters who think some candidates are
>>> unsatisfactory, and a Vice-Chair seat should be left empty
>>> rather than be filled by those candidates, may rank "Only 2
>>> Vice-Chairs" above the unsatisfactory candidates, and the
>>> counting will respect their wish to the extent possible.]
>>>
>>> 4. I have no problem with the diversity intent of rule # 4,
>>> but I
>>> think it is a mistake to enforce this at the nomination stage.
>>> Suppose there are two candidates in one organization, "M. Good"
>>> and "M. Bad". Rule #4 says that M. Bad can prevent voters from
>>> supporting M. Good by submitting their own self-nomination
>>> first! Instead I suggest that we implement the rule at the
>>> vote-counting stage of the Vice-Chair election. As soon as a
>>> candidate is elected during the counting process, we disqualify
>>> all other candidates from the same organization or company, and
>>> continue (or restart) the counting process. This lets voters,
>>> not nominators, choose whether to support "M. Good" or "M. Bad".
>>> There is no need for this diversity rule in the Chair election,
>>> because only one Chair is elected. I suggest a rule about
>>> eliminating Vice-Chair candidates during vote-counting be added,
>>> and old rule #4 be deleted.
>>>
>>> 5. Rule #1 does not clearly say that sock-puppets are forbidden.
>>> It should. By saying "the subscribers… are… the electorate", it
>>> implies that email addresses, not natural people, are the
>>> electorate. I suggest rewording it to say, "The electorate
>>> consists of the natural persons subscribed to the UA-Discuss
>>> mailing list on [the date of record for the electorate]. Each
>>> person may cast at most one ballot. Sock puppets are forbidden."
>>> 6. Rule #8 addresses sock puppets as well. Move it to
>>> right after
>>> rule #1.
>>>
>>> 7. Rule #1 (and the Election Timeline below) are not clear about
>>> the time at which the UASG-Discuss subscriber list creates the
>>> electorate. Rule #1 says "the date of announcing the election".
>>> But the Election Timeline puts the label "Announcing the
>>> starting of the elections" onto a 10-day period. I suggest
>>> adding a separate entry to the timeline, labelled something like
>>> "Date and time of record for the electorate". Make it a specific
>>> UTC time; dates (interpreted with time zones) can span 48 hours.
>>> 8. Rule #6 says the election process will be managed by a
>>> specialised elections service provider. Who? Why not just say
>>> Opavote? And it says, "the final results will be audited and
>>> confirmed." How? By whom?
>>>
>>> 9. I suggest adding a sentence to Rule #6. "A detailed report of
>>> the vote counting steps, along with anonymised raw ballot data,
>>> shall be published, for transparency and for community
>>> auditing." Opavote provides reports and ballot data as a normal
>>> part of its service.
>>>
>>> Also, a few comments about the Election Timeline:
>>>
>>>
>>> 1. Dates without times or time zones are ambiguous in a global
>>> community. I suggest saying "all dates are UTC", or adding UTC
>>> times to each date.
>>>
>>> 2. The voting period should have times and time zones added;
>>> dates alone are too ambiguous. If the election starts at 00:00 5
>>> March UTC and ends at 23:59 15 March UTC, that is 11 days, not
>>> 10. If it starts on 5 March anywhere in the world, and ends on
>>> 15 March anywhere in the world, that is 12 days (00:00 5 March
>>> UTC-13:00 to 23:59 15 March UTC+12:00). Only if the election
>>> period is defined as a specific time and time zone can it be
>>> unambiguously 10 days. The voting period in days should match
>>> the duration between start and end times.
>>>
>>> 3. Suggest adding a timeline entry, "Date and time of record
>>> for
>>> the electorate". I would recommend it being the same time as the
>>> self-nomination period begins, or when the list of candidates is
>>> announced. There's a risk of a candidate packing the UA-Discuss
>>> with their supporters. The choice of date and time of record can
>>> encourage or discourage this.
>>>
>>> I hope this is helpful. Can you tell I am interested in electoral
>>> process?
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> —Jim DeLaHunt, Vancouver, Canada
>>>
>>> On 2021-02-04 12:37, Mohamed Elbashir
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dear UA
>>>> Community,
>>>>
>>>> Find
>>>> attached the UASG 2021 elections process and timeline,
>>>> it will be published on the UASG.tech website.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thank
>>>> you!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Mohamed
>>>> (Mo) Elbashir
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Universal
>>>> Acceptance (UA) Program Manager
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The
>>>> Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
>>>> (ICANN)
>>>> One World, One
>>>> Internet
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [id:image001.png at 01D356F4.3F3911B0]
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>> --. --Jim DeLaHunt, jdlh at jdlh.com http://blog.jdlh.com/
>>> (http://jdlh.com/)
>>> multilingual websites consultant
>>>
>>> 2201-1000 Beach Ave, Vancouver BC V6E 4M2, Canada
>>> Canada mobile +1-604-376-8953
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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