[gnso-osc-ops] Draft Procedures for Abstentions
GCOT Members: As indicated in my summary of the team's 6 Jan teleconference (forwarded on 8 Jan by Julie), I have drafted a new set of procedures for handling abstentions in the GNSO Operating Procedures (attached). I made it a point to ensure that all of the items discussed in our last meeting are addressed in this new version including removal of the default provision that would permit altering the voting denominator. Given its overall complexity, I am recommending that a new Section 5-Abstentions be created in the GNSO Operating Procedures. If that is acceptable to the team, one task that needs to be undertaken is to make sure that Section 4 (Voting) and this new Section 5 do not contradict each other. In my cursory review, I do not see any obvious problems other than removing the original Section 4.5 which was a placeholder for Proxy Voting. In addition, perhaps Section 4 should cross-reference Section 5 in one or more places since it deals with the subject of Voting. I started out with the idea of creating a redlined version; however, since this draft is a substantial reformulation of existing materials along with new text, it became unmanageable in that form. As a result, the document is clean -- submitted for review and additional editing as determined by the team. I want to point out that, as I began working through its logical reconstruction, I found that including incidental absence (among the causes) did not fit and made the entire section awkward to write. After some fits and starts, I decided that it probably did not belong in this section and excluded it. I note that "absentee voting" is already handled in Section 4.4 of the procedures; thus, I thought it would be better to focus this section solely on the matter of abstentions. Hopefully, as you read it, it will be clearer to you what I am trying to communicate awkwardly in this paragraph. If anyone thinks we should reinsert incidental absence and absentee voting into this section (or, for that matter, combine Sections 4 and 5), that topic can be revisited once we have these procedures ironed out. I want to acknowledge and thank Rob Hoggarth for his review and suggestions. He and I will be sending a copy of this new version to Dan Halloran along with some ideas as to how the Bylaws might be amended to support these procedures. I look forward to your feedback and tomorrow's discussion. Regards, Ken Bour Attachment:
GNSO Ops Procs-New Section on Abstentions (KBv3-RHv1).doc |