Procedures for the election of AC Chair and Co-Chairs (draft)

Draft v 0.1
10 May 2003

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1. Introduction

The ASO Address Council (AC) structure currently calls for there to be a Chair. This person is selected by the AC using the procedure given below. While the MoU did not foresee or define an internal structure for the AC, the Address Council also selects two Co-chairs from the set of AC members. The election of Co-chairs is done to assist the AC in performing its required tasks.

2. Terms of the AC Chair and Co-chairs

The term of the Chair and the AC Co-chairs is 1 year. The term begins with the first regularly scheduled AC meeting of a calendar year and ends at the election of subsequent Chair and Co-chairs in the next year.

3. Eligibility

The Chair and the Co-chairs must be selected from AC members.

4. Role of the AC Chair

The AC Chair fulfils a dual role:

1. The AC Chair acts as a point of contact for interested, external organizations. Examples of such organizations are Regional Internet Registries, the IETF, ICANN, and any other organization interested in global IP addressing policy;
2. The AC Chair acts as a facilitator and coordinator for internal AC activities.

The AC Chair is not permitted to act or speak on behalf of the entire AC without prior review and consultation with the Address Council. The AC Chair role is not intended to circumvent the already established process for submission of items to the AC or the resolution of those work items.

5. Role of the AC Co-chairs

The Chair will ask two members of the council to act as Co-chairs. These Co-chairs act in two key roles:

1. Co-chairs act as support and backup for the Chair. In the event that a Chair is unable to act as an AC representative in presentations, meetings or other forums, the Co-chairs may be asked to fulfill that role;
2. As specified below, one of the Co-chairs will act as interim Chair in the event that the current Chair resigns.

6. Roles in the AC Beyond the Chair and Co-chairs

The AC may define other roles to reach certain goals as the need arises. Defining certain roles does not attach any formal privileges to those roles, or to the individual serving in that role. These positions are also not intended to circumvent the already established process for submission of items to the AC or the resolution of those work items.

Definition of roles, as well as these guidelines for the selection of a Chair and/or Co-chairs, are understood to not have an impact on IP address policy, but only to serve as internal organization for the AC.

7. AC Chair Election Process

1. Nominations

At the last regularly scheduled meeting of the AC in a calendar year, the current Chair will open a nomination period for the AC Chair for the following year. Any current AC member who will also serve on the Council the following year can be nominated to be Chair. Self-nominations are permitted. Nominations may be made only by AC members.

2. Statement of Interest

Once nominated, the current AC Chair will request that the nominee indicate that they are interested in serving as the AC Chair during the next calendar year. If yes, the current AC Chair will ask the nominee to send a Statement of Interest to the AC mailing list.

3. Elections

The call for the election for the next AC Chair will be the first non-administrative agenda item of the first, regularly scheduled Address Council meeting of the calendar year. This call will be announced by the current AC Chair. The Chair will provide each nominee with an opportunity to make a short statement. Following that statement, the Chair will call for the election and ask the Secretariat to call a roll call vote. Only members present at the meeting will be eligible to vote in the election. The nominee who receives the majority of votes (greater than 50% of the cast votes) becomes the Chair for the calendar year. If no nominee gets a majority of votes, the Chair will call for another vote in which the nominee from the previous vote with the least votes will be struck from the list of nominees.

4. Notification

The election of the AC Chair is done in an open and transparent process. The vote totals and election statistics are documented as part of the minutes of the first regularly scheduled ASO AC meeting of the calendar year.

8. AC Co-chair Election Process

1. Nominations

Immediately after the election of the AC Chair, the incoming Chair will nominate two members of the AC to act as Co-chairs. The Chair should ensure that the nominated Co-chairs are willing to serve.

2. Eligibility

Co-chairs must be current AC members. The Chair and the Co-chairs should not all be from the same geographical region.

3. Elections

If there are willing nominees for Co-chairs, they will be confirmed by a vote of the AC. They will be accepted if they receive a majority.

4. Designated Co-chair

Once the Co-chairs have been elected, they will decide between themselves which will be the "designated Co-chair." The "designated Co-chair" is the Co-chair who will act as interim Chair in the event that the current Chair needs, for any reason, to resign their position during the year.

9. Resignation of AC Chair

If, for any reason, the AC Chair must resign their position during the calendar year, the designated Co-chair immediately becomes interim AC Chair. If the AC Chair is medically unable to continue their duties for more than thirty days consecutively, the designated Co-chair immediately becomes interim AC Chair. Within three business days of the resignation of the AC Chair, the Interim Chair must call for nominations of a new AC Chair. A minimum period of ten days must be allowed for nominations of a replacement AC Chair. At the next regularly scheduled Address Council meeting, after the closing of nominations, the Interim Chair will call for an election following same rules used for normal election.

The Interim Chair will provide each candidate an opportunity to make a short statement. Following that statement, the Interim Chair will call for the election and ask the Secretariat to call a roll call vote.

Only members present at the meeting will be eligible to vote in the election. The nominee who receives the majority of votes (greater than 50% of the cast votes) becomes the Chair for the remainder calendar year. If no nominee gets a majority of votes, the Chair will call for another vote in which the nominee from the previous vote with the least votes will be struck from the list of nominees.

If the new Chair was previously one of the two AC Co-chairs, the new AC Chair will fill the vacated Co-chair position using the AC Co-chair Election Process outlined above.

The election of a replacement AC Chair will be done in an open and transparent process. The vote totals and election statistics must documented as part of the minutes of the regularly scheduled ASO AC meeting in which the election was held.