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Election process (was re: [rpd] AFRINIC Board Elections - 2014: Call for Nominations)

Mark Elkins mje at posix.co.za
Sat May 10 14:58:24 UTC 2014


On Sat, 2014-05-10 at 15:40 +0100, Seun Ojedeji wrote:
> Hello Mark,
> 

> ...could nomcom (on the capacity of coordinating the process) then
> make sure that the e-voting result is for the first time accessed
> during the counting of the paper ballot.

> Will that be possible without any complication?

I believe that this is possible.

So from this year, the three trustees will "unlock" the e-voting results
at approximately the same time as the paper ballots are counted.
 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> Regards
> 1. www.afrinic.net/en/community/elections/afrinic-nomcom
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, May 10, 2014 at 3:21 PM, Mark Elkins <mje at posix.co.za> wrote:
>         On Sat, 2014-05-10 at 12:42 +0100, Seun Ojedeji wrote:
>         > Hello Mark,
>         >
>         >
>         > First considering that i wrote to chair (you) and nomcom, i
>         assume
>         > this response is on behalf of nomcom (do let me know if its
>         otherwise
>         > in your individual capacity). Kindly find my comments below:
>         >
>         > On Sat, May 10, 2014 at 11:10 AM, Mark Elkins
>         <mje at posix.co.za> wrote:
>         >
>         >
>         >         Firstly, NomCom does not run the elections. The job
>         of NomCom
>         >         (Nominations Committee) is to provide suitable
>         candidates for
>         >         various
>         >         elections or appointments, Board Members, PDP
>         Joint-Chairs,
>         >         and NRO/ASO
>         >         representatives.
>         >         >
>         >
>         > Although nomcom may seem to mean what you indicated above.
>         However
>         > nomcom according to the AFRINIC website means this:
>         > The NomCom (Nominations and Elections Committee)
>         [1]Functions of the
>         > Nomination Committee:
>         
>         >       * The Nom Com shall
>         >               * use its best effort towards ensuring that a
>         >                 satisfactory number of individuals from the
>         African
>         >                 internet community stand as candidate for
>         the election
>         >                 of the directors of AFRINIC.
>         
>         >               * have general responsibility for, and shall
>         supervise
>         >                 the conduct of the polls by the election
>         Committee on
>         >                 election day.
>         > Although the second role seem to imply that there is another
>         team
>         > called "election committee" and at this point, i seem to be
>         lost on
>         > how that committee come to play. Nevertheless its still
>         clear that
>         > your team coordinates the process and your role exceeds what
>         you have
>         > stated above.
>         
>         
>         OK - let me use less of my own words and quote from the
>         Bylaws...
>         
>         9 THE NOMINATION COMMITTEE
>         There shall be a Nomination Committee (NomCom), which shall
>         consist of a
>         chairman and three other members as appointed by the Board and
>         composed of qualified and experienced persons. The Board shall
>         make a
>         public call for voluntary nomination from the African Internet
>         Community.
>         
>         10 ELECTION COMMITTEE
>         There shall be an election committee comprising of such staff
>         members of
>         AFRINIC as may be designated by the Chief Executive Officer.
>         
>         
>         >
>         >         > Thanks for the opportunity to participate in
>         nomcom.
>         >
>         >
>         >         There are some logistics which people may be
>         missing.
>         >         I see that there is a goal to move to 100%
>         electronic voting,
>         >         however
>         >         until then.....
>         >
>         >
>         > Yes thats the final desire,(which will perhaps require the
>         blessings
>         > of BoD) but that is not the request for this upcoming
>         election.
>         >
>         >
>         >         Practically, the e-vote needs to be terminated some
>         time
>         >         before people collect their ballot papers. This is
>         so that the
>         >         ballot papers can be provided only to those entities
>         allowed
>         >         to vote because they have not
>         >         yet exercised that right via the e-vote. In order to
>         do this,
>         >         logically, one needs to see which entities have used
>         the
>         >         e-vote so their representatives are not also given a
>         ballot
>         >         paper to vote with.
>         >
>         >
>         > I still find it not convincing that the termination of
>         e-voting is the
>         > only way to avoid multiple voting. Especially since it is
>         clear that
>         > you go through a process before you can do e-voting, and it
>         is
>         > expected that anyone that opt for e-voting obviously doesn't
>         want to
>         > paper ballot. So its clear those to give paper ballot can be
>         known
>         > easily.
>         >
>         > What needs to be avoided is having privileged prior
>         knowledge of the
>         > e-voting status, your comment above doesn't prevent that.
>         >
>         >
>         >         From a convenience point of view, the e-vote cut-off
>         time is
>         >         the evening before voting day. Names can then be
>         checked. From
>         >         the morning of voting day, paper ballots are issued
>         to all
>         >         still legible voters. This takes time. Paper Ballots
>         are
>         >         carried by their owners until they are "exercised"
>         later on in
>         >         the afternoon.
>         >
>         >
>         > Please see my comment above about why i think we don't have
>         to count
>         > the e-votes just to get the numbers of those who used the
>         e-voting
>         > platform. Even if you don't think that option is totally
>         perfect
>         > (because some would already gotten their BPKI) then the
>         voting
>         > platform should be able clearly separate actual voting
>         result from
>         > from users(members) who has actually voted. Considering the
>         level of
>         > technicality already exhibited on the e-voting platform, i
>         believe a
>         > feature like that is the least challenge of the technical
>         team (if it
>         > doesn't already exist).
>         >
>         >
>         >         I guess that in the process of checking the names of
>         entities
>         >         who have e-voted, one may also know how they have
>         voted
>         >         (though I might be wrong). I personally have no
>         issues with
>         >         this as long as the e-vote
>         >         results are kept strictly confidential (as has been
>         done).Once
>         >         all the paper ballots have been submitted and
>         counted, the
>         >         results of the two systems can be safely merged into
>         one
>         >         election result and announced.
>         >
>         > Kindly refer to my comment above; keeping the e-vote
>         confidential is
>         > the main goal.
>         >
>         >
>         >         Due to the fact that I represent more than one
>         entity, I have
>         >         more than one vote to cast. Last year, I cast some
>         by e-vote
>         >         and some by ballot paper. I was happy to see that
>         the system
>         >         worked.
>         >
>         > I did mine via e-voting and i believe no body who has used
>         the
>         > e-voting platform would deny that it was quite functional. I
>         was
>         > however surprised at the AGM when it was said that the
>         voting system
>         > closed and the result counted. The way i know that election
>         is done is
>         > that you count votes in the presence of the voters (or at
>         least before
>         > the candidates party representatives). On that basis as an
>         individual
>         > and member i wouldn't know whether something has happened to
>         my votes
>         > (although the platform worked).
>         >
>         >
>         >         Before asking for change, please carefully consider
>         how one
>         >         might do this better whilst we have both e-votes and
>         paper
>         >         ballot votes.
>         >
>         > Nobody, and certainly not me is asking us to move to 100%
>         e-votes for
>         > now (but we agree its something to consider for future).
>         What we are
>         > saying is that you while may stop e-voting at a point (which
>         i find
>         > un-necessary though) the opening of the e-voting voting
>         status by the
>         > 3-trustees should be done the same time the paper ballot is
>         counted.
>         
>         >         ... and I believe I have the general details and
>         reasoning
>         >         correct... :-)
>         
>         > Not quite Mark as i think you perceive we are calling for
>         100%
>         > electronic voting which is not the case.
>         
>         
>         My own personal thoughts..... (Lots of 'I')
>         
>         I believe Owen makes a good case for running e-voting to the
>         end of the
>         election time.
>         
>         However, it does appear to me to make things more complicated.
>         I can not quantify to myself though how useful it would
>         practically be.
>         I have no idea what technical changes would be necessary and
>         if AFRINIC
>         is going to change something - I'd rather see it spend the
>         energy going
>         to a full e-voting solution.
>         
>         E-vote starts 10 days before the elections. I see it as a very
>         suitable
>         replacement for Proxies or for those that can not attend.
>         Extending it to the last second will possibly encourage people
>         to wait
>         for the last second. I personally prefer the way it currently
>         is which
>         gives a few hours in case of technical difficulties.
>         I like the KISS principal.
>         
>         The AFRINIC website does state that e-votes and the people who
>         have cast
>         them are not conjoined. As I don't know how the software
>         actually
>         functions, I can not comment further.
>         http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/elections/voting/online-voting
>         (last line)
>         
>         > Thanks
>         >
>         >
>         > Kind Regards
>         
>         >
>         
>         --
>         Mark J Elkins - AFRINIC 2014 Nominations Committee Chair
>         mje at posix.co.za - nomcom2014 (at) afrinic.net
>         Tel: +27.128070590  Cell: +27.826010496
>         
>         
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>         Seun Ojedeji,
>         Federal University Oye-Ekiti
>         web:      http://www.fuoye.edu.ng
>         Mobile: +2348035233535
>         alt email: seun.ojedeji at fuoye.edu.ng
>         
>                 The key to understanding is humility - my view !
> 
> 

-- 
Mark James ELKINS  -  Posix Systems - (South) Africa
mje at posix.co.za       Tel: +27.128070590  Cell: +27.826010496
For fast, reliable, low cost Internet in ZA: https://ftth.posix.co.za
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