Dear All: I have been asked by Cheryl to pass along to you the following message her computer is offline for a few days due to a hard drive failure otherwise she would be sending this to you directly ---- Dear Community: This email is a formal Election Call¹ as required by Rule 10.12 of the Rules of Procedure of the ALAC due to a vacancy amongst the Officers of the ALAC. I now formally announce the beginning of a 14-day nomination period, as provided by Rule 9.2. All nominations must, per that Rule, be received on the ALAC public list at alac@atlarge-lists.icann.org not later than 14 days after the date of this message. Nominations may be made as provided in Rule 9. Note that only Members of the At-Large Advisory Committee may so nominate as provided in 9.2. The Criteria for Officers of the ALAC may be found in Rule 3. Election of Officers is covered by Rules 2, 9, and 10 NOTE: The Election Procedures make clear reference to it being necessary for part of the process to be conducted at an ICANN International Meeting. These provisions are designed to fill regular appointments, and not interim appointments. The Chair intends to present relevant amendments to the Rules of Procedure at the next ALAC Telephonic meeting in April to allow for interim elections to be conducted without the necessity of waiting for the next ICANN International Meeting. The full Rules of Procedure may be found at: https://st.icann.org/data/workspaces/alac/attachments/rules_of_procedure:200 71023183147-0-6223/files/ALAC%20ROP's%20Adopted%20October%202007.doc The Rules above referenced are reproduced below. Rule 2 - Election of Officers 2.1 The ALAC shall elect a Chair, at least two (2) Vice-Chairs and a Rapporteur by the mechanism outlined in Rule 10. 2.2 All officers are normally elected at an Annual General Meeting of ICANN . 2.3 The election can take place by electronic mail, online balloting, written balloting, or any other means deemed convenient and accurate 2.4 All officers serve for a term of one year starting from the closure of an AGM and ending at the closure of the following AGM. 2.5 Officers shall be freely chosen by the ALAC, according to the following criteria: 2.6 They shall accept to serve on behalf of the AT LARGE COMMUNITY by acting for the good of the entire Committee, working to bridge differences and build consensus, but also recognizing difference and enabling different opinions to be shared; 2.7 They shall accept, while acting in their capacity as ALAC officer, to put the collective views of the Committee always in front of their own. Rule 3 - Qualification Criteria for Officers 3.1 All officers must be members of the ALAC. 3.2 A conflict of interest statement must be filed; 3.3 A person shall not serve, at the same time, in two different officer positions; 3.4 The Chair shall be ineligible to serve on ICANN's Nominating Committee in any year in which they serve on the ALAC; 3.5 All officers can be removed before the end of their term by a vote of recall according to rule 11. 3.6 All officers have a duty of performing their roles with diligence and loyalty to the Committee, and are bound to meet the minimum participation requirements set forth in rule 21. In case of failure to do so, the Chair shall call a vote of recall. 3.7 Only standing members of the At-Large Advisory Committee are eligible to serve as Chair. If at any point in time the Chair leaves the membership of the ALAC for any reason, he / she shall immediately cease the function of Chair as well. Rule -9 Procedures for the Presentation of Candidatures 9.1 No earlier than one calendar month and no later than three weeks before the beginning of an ICANN Meeting where an ALAC officer has to be elected, the current Chair of the ALAC will send to the public ALAC list an ³election call² message, listing the officers that are to be elected at that ICANN Meeting, asking for nominations, and stating the deadline according to the following paragraph 9.2. 9.2 The deadline for nominations for all open officer positions shall be 14 (fourteen) days after the date of the ³election call². Only delegates can nominate or self-nominate, by posting a message to the public ALAC list. Anyone who will or has a chance to meet eligibility requirements after the next ICANN Annual General Meeting can be nominated; it is not necessary for nominees to meet eligibility requirements at the moment of the nomination, but, if elected, they will have to meet them before taking their position. Nominations of individuals who certainly will not be able to meet the eligibility requirements after the closure of the next Annual General Meeting are invalid. 9.3 Nominations must be accepted by the nominee by sending a message of acceptance to the public ALAC list (or to the person who nominated them, who will then forward it to the public ALAC list, if they do not have posting privileges to the public ALAC list at the time) by the deadline of 7 (seven) days after the deadline for nominations. Nominations that are not accepted are invalid. 9.4 After the deadline for nomination acceptance and before the beginning of the ICANN Meeting, the Chair will post to the public ALAC list an ³election summary² message. This message will contain a summary of all valid nominations for any open position. In such message, the Chair will also notify the day and time in which the actual vote will happen; such day and time must be comprised between the beginning and the closure of the ICANN Meeting, except when the Meeting is also the Annual General Meeting. In this latter case, the day and time of the vote must be comprised in the first 48 (forty-eight) hours after the closure of the Annual General Meeting; thus, the electorate will include the delegates whose term starts at the closure of that Annual General Meeting, and will not include the former ALAC members whose term ends at the closure of that Annual General Meeting. 9.5 Nominations shall then be discussed on the public ALAC list and at the physical ALAC meetings during the ICANN Meeting. 9.6 At the day and time of the vote, delegates will be provided (by staff or delegated disinterested third party) with a mechanism for voting that meets the following requirements: o It allows for each delegate to cast their vote in a confidential manner, so that no other delegate or officer shall know it; o It allows for delegates who are not physically present to cast their vote remotely (also in advance of the day and time of the vote, if they are unavailable at that moment o Each delegate can cast up to one preference for each open position, picking among the list of validly nominated individuals published at rule 9.4. Votes for other individuals are considered equivalent to abstention. Rule 10. Procedures for the Candidate Elections 10.1 A quorum must exist for the election to be valid. 10.2 All Voting in Elections will be CONFIDENTIAL 10.3 The ALAC can designate an independent third party to conduct the mechanics of an electoral vote. 10.4 Instant-runoff voting <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting> (IRV) will be used as the voting system to determine the winner. (ref - Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting> ) 10.5 Voters rank candidates in order of preference. 10.6 If no candidate receives an overall majority of first preferences the candidates with fewest votes are eliminated one by one, and their votes transferred according to their second and third preferences (and so on), until one candidate achieves a majority. 10.7 After votes have been collected, a disinterested person¹ will examine them and call the result. 10.8 The newly elected officers assume their position at the closure of the Annual General Meeting. 10.9 In case two or more candidates receive the same, highest number of preferences, a tiebreak vote is to be conducted. 10.9.1 The Chair will select a new date and time for a new vote on that position, at least 7 (seven) days later than the current vote; in such vote, only the candidates that received the same, highest number of preferences will be eligible to receive preferences. The Chair will then immediately send a new ³election summary² message according to rule 9.4, and the procedure will then restart from rule 9.5 10.10 In case no candidate could be elected for any other reason (lack of valid nominations, lack of five valid preferences...), the Chair will immediately post a new ³election call², thus reopening nominations. The procedure will then restart from rule 9.6 10.11 Incumbent officers shall continue to serve in their position in full standing until a valid result is obtained for the election and a new officer is elected. 10.12 If for any reason whatsoever (including lack of quorum, lack or loss of eligibility requirements, resignation, or recall) an officer position becomes vacant before the end of the term, the Chair will promptly start an election to fill it, by sending an ³election call² message and starting the procedure from rule 9.1 -- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director for At-Large Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart