Andrew McLaughlin wrote:----------------------------------
>>>Given
that the process will rely on web-based campaigning through the ICANN website, all
candidates will begin to campaign on the same day.<<<
I think you are wrong
to make this assumption. I would also consider it a highly questionable move to limit,
by the rules, any and all discussion of the issues involved in this election to the
ICANN website alone.
As a practical matter, I do not believe such a prohibition
will work. For instance, I expect to read about this election, candidates and the
process in the general press.
Elections in general provide a means of clarifying
issues. A vote gains meaning because it is an endorsement of a particular view
and is a way of establishing, or at least influencing, the direction of the body.
As we move closer to the nomination and election process many millions of Internet
users will be informed about this election. After all, it is the first International
Internet Election ever.
These Internet users will be sorely disappointed to learn
that the time it takes from initial registration until the receipt of one's ICANN
PIN number and voting ability is an inordinately long 75 days. In one sense, this
"business as usual" response will be taken as a snub of these users' interest in
this body.
Practically speaking, if this turn-around time is representative, it
will suggest that anyone registering for membership after about June 1 is precluded
from participation in the self-nomination process that ends August 20. Those registering
after July 1 may also be prevented from participation in the general election on
September 20.
This tells me that the voting membership, as a practical matter,
was set as of the announcement of the rules.
Indeed, one of the elements missing
from this entire election process is the concept of a membership/voter registration
deadline for participation in the elections slated for September 20. These dates
are typically an element of most elections. Voter registration within the rules as
set forth is almost always an element of any election process. To not address that
issue is a serious flaw in this process.
I would ask that ICANN address
this issue definitively.
My recommendation is that provisional membership regarding
nominations be immediate and to those who register during the self-nomination phase
and that registrations and that registrations made before the campaign cycle begins
on August 21 be provided their final PIN number via regular post by election day.
I think that it would also be fair for all concerned that the membership enrollment
be suspended beginning August 21 until the election is over.
G. Patton Hughes
Marietta,
GA USA