[EURO-Discuss] URGENT: Draft statement to ALAC on At Large Board Director Election Process

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

Dear all,

at the EURALO Conference call today, the issue of timings for the At Large Board Director Election Process took most of the debate time.
In fact, it became the most important issue, prompting the other issues to be re-scheduled for our next EURALO Conference call.

One immediate and urgent action item was to write a letter to the ALAC Chair and to the ALAC, asking for more time to be given to the election process. Wolf Ludwig and I wrote this together after the conference call.
The draft letter's contents explain the matter in further detail. 

Please be so kind to take the time to read the proposed statement/letter.
What the EURALO Board needs today is your feedback by tonight, ie. Wednesday 20 October 2010, 20:00 CEST, in order to be able to send this by Thursday.
We realise that the time for comments is really short, but this is required as the clock is ticking and we have to ask for more time as soon as possible.

Many thanks for your understanding in this crucial but exciting time for At Large.

Kindest regards,

Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond
EURALO Secretariat

--- start of draft statement ---

EURALO request to ALAC on At Large Board Director Election Process
20/10/2010

We are writing to you with regards to the proposed schedule for the
election of the At Large Selected Board Position.

The schedule which appears to have been proposed is:
- 28 October 2010: Board Meeting, where the Board is expected to approve
the Bylaw changes, and if so:
- 3 November 2010: BCEC is scheduled to announce the slate of 3-7
candidates retained for election
- 3-12 November 2010 (10 days): candidates able to reach out to the At
Large community (campaigning)
- 15-19 November 2010 (5 days): Election takes place

It is understood that the period 12-15 November (4 days) might be used
for any RALO election process. If added to the 5 days scheduled for the
election, this provides a total of 10 days for voting - assuming voting
can be considered legitimate when candidates have barely had a chance to
present themselves.

We refer you to the At Large January 2010 White Paper Recommendation 4:

"The Board seat should be selected by the ALAC plus the RALO Chairs. The
RALO-appointed ALAC members and the RALO Chairs may be directed by 
their ALSes if the RALO desires (and in accordance with their RoP). 
This methodology gives ALSes large control over who is selected,
without the complexity of two-level vote weighting and centralized ALS
elector verification. The vote should be by secret ballot."

In the interest of empowerment of our ALSes, it is the desire of the
EURALO Board to conduct a vote of our ALSes directing the EURALO Chair 
on his vote.

Whilst no mimimum vote timing is defined in the EURALO Rules of
Procedures, clause 11.18.1 of the EURALO by-laws states that a
sufficient amount of time is required for all members to record a vote
on any matter. It is therefore good practice to provide at least 10 days
of voting time for our ALSes. This appears to be clearly incompatible
with the currently proposed ALAC schedule of only 4 days' voting time.

Whilst we understand that the proposed schedule takes into account a
number of constraints in order to allow the At Large elected Director to
take their seat on the last day of the Cartagena Meeting on Friday, 10
December 2010, we consider it unwise to hurry the process at the
possible expense of a legitimate vote. ALSes need to be informed in
time. Campaigning needs to be given enough time for Question/Answer
sessions. Volunteers in ALSes need to find the time to make a sound
decision for what is arguably one of At Large's most important decisions
of recent years.

We therefore suggest the following course of action:

* the voting process be given more time, beyond the 15-19 November period.
An extension of the Election until 30th November 2010 would provide more 
time for ALSes to cast their vote. Indeed, we believe that it would 
provide greater legitimacy to the process, thanks to a truly bottom-up
empowerment. It will allow for voting time to fall closer in line with
other ICANN processes requiring public input. We emphasize this further
than standard procedure: it is a matter of credibility to our members
and to the At Large community.

* ICANN should be informed that an At Large Elected Director taking its
seat on the Board after the end of the Cartagena meeting might not be
able to make it to the meeting in person due to VISA issues, and
provisions should therefore be made for that person to participate 
remotely, by Webcam or other appropriate means.

* A clear and concise explanation of the voting process and schedule
should be published as soon as possible, with an explanation of the
procedure for a RALO petition (if required) including a flow chart to
help ALSes understand how the process will take place. A further
explanation of the multiple round voting should be detailed, bearing in
mind the possibility of RALOs needing to call upon their membership
between each election round. Should ALS balloting by RALOs not be
possible for each voting round, this should be explained as soon as
possible in order for RALOs to devise alternative voting strategies at
short notice (weighted voting being one possible solution)

Thank you for your consideration on this very important subject. Getting
this process right is of particular importance since it has a direct
impact on the legitimacy of At Large and the At Large elected Board
Director. Whilst we do not dispute the fact that it is important that an
At Large elected Board Director takes their seat in Cartagena, we would 
like the process itself to be as equitable, transparent and credible to 
our stakeholders.

--- end of draft statement ---