<html><head></head><body><div style="font-family: Verdana;font-size: 12.0px;"><div><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">Thank you Jim & Mo.</span></span><br style="font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; orphans:2; text-align:start; widows:2; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; text-decoration-thickness:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-decoration-color:initial; word-spacing:0px"/>
<br style="font-variant-ligatures:normal; font-variant-caps:normal; orphans:2; text-align:start; widows:2; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px; text-decoration-thickness:initial; text-decoration-style:initial; text-decoration-color:initial; word-spacing:0px"/>
<span style="font-variant-ligatures:normal; text-align:start; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="orphans:2"><span style="widows:2"><span style="text-decoration-style:initial"><span style="text-decoration-color:initial"><span style="float:none"><span style="word-spacing:0px">I support</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> few suggestions Jim made ,</span></span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 11px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">The process must state that how many Chairs and how many Vice-Chairs are to be elected</span></span>.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 11px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">Same old methods to cast vote as last time</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 11px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">If there are more than 3 candidates for Vice-Chair, they shall be voted on, and an option "Only 2-3 Vice-Chairs" what every number is final, shall be added to the ballot. </span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 11px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">I do have no problem with the diversity intent of rule # 4, but I do think it is a mistake to enforce this at the nomination stage. There is no need for this diversity rule in the Chair election, because only one Chair is elected. I also suggest this rule only for Vice-Chair candidates, Two people from same organization should not nominate for Vice-Chair position.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 11px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="background:white"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">I support that a summary report of the vote counting steps, along with ballot data, shall be published, for transparency and for community awareness.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 11px;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">UTC times to each date</span></span> must be added. The voting period in days should match the duration between start and end times.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif;"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="background:white"><span style="color:#222222">Cheers</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<div>Salim Alfarsi
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<div style="margin:0 0 10px 0;"><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, February 07, 2021 at 2:11 PM<br/>
<b>From:</b> "Jim DeLaHunt" <list+uasg@jdlh.com><br/>
<b>To:</b> ua-discuss@icann.org<br/>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [UA-discuss] UASG 2021 Elections - Process and Timeline</div>
<div name="quoted-content">
<p>Mo:</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>I have some suggestions about the elections process as stated in the document you sent, <i>2021 UASG Election Process and Timeline 2021-02-04.pdf</i> , section "2021 UASG Election Process".</p>
<ol>
<li>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]".</li>
<li>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 <<a href="https://uasg.tech/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Call-for-Nominations.pdf" target="_blank">https://uasg.tech/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Call-for-Nominations.pdf</a>>, 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 <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://www.opavote.com/methods/instant-runoff-voting" target="_blank"><https://www.opavote.com/methods/instant-runoff-voting></a>", 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 <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://www.opavote.com/methods/single-transferable-vote#scottish-stv" target="_blank"><https://www.opavote.com/methods/single-transferable-vote#scottish-stv></a>."</li>
<li>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:
<ol>
<li>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.</li>
<li>If there are more than 3 candidates for Vice-Chair, they shall be voted on and 3 shall be elected.</li>
<li>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.]</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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."</li>
<li>Rule #8 addresses sock puppets as well. Move it to right after rule #1.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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?</li>
<li>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.</li>
</ol>
<p>Also, a few comments about the Election Timeline:</p>
<ol>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
</ol>
<p>I hope this is helpful. Can you tell I am interested in electoral process?</p>
Best regards,
<p> —Jim DeLaHunt, Vancouver, Canada</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2021-02-04 12:37, Mohamed Elbashir wrote:</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Dear UA Community, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Find attached the UASG 2021 elections process and timeline, it will be published on the UASG.tech website.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Thank you!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Best Regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Mohamed (Mo) Elbashir</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color: rgb(89,89,89);">Universal Acceptance (UA) Program Manager</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color: rgb(89,89,89);background: white;">The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color: rgb(89,89,89);"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color: rgb(89,89,89);">One World, One Internet</span></i></p>
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