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Revising eligible voters of Chair election and Chair's term

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Proposer:       Masato Yamanishi
                myamanis@gmail.com




1. Problem statement
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1. Eligible voters in SIG Chair election
In current SIG guidelines, we have no rule or guideline about eligible 
voters in SIG Chair election and we have two issues by the lack of such 
rule.

Firstly, we need to have clear guideline whether remote participants 
have voting rights for SIG Chair election since current practice is 
different in each election.

Secondary, it can be used by fraud, like hijacking the position of Chair 
agaist the Community by inviting many persons who never attend the 
community discussion.

2. SIG Chair's term of service
While SIG guidelines says "Elections occur yearly. Chair elections and 
Co-Chair elections occur in alternate years.", both elections were held 
at same meeting in many cases, in particular when a current Co-Chair 
stand for the position of Chair. With this current practice having both 
elections at same meeting, we are not seeing any significant issues for 
long time. 

In addition, there is no alternative condition for the successor's term 
if current Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed though such 
alternative condition is necessary to maintain staggered term as 
requested by SIG guideline. (a.k.a. the successor's term of service is 
same as remaining term of resigned or removed Chair)


2. Objective of policy change
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The objective is preventing confusions related to remote participant as 
well as mitigating possible frauds in SIG Chair election by setting 
clear rule for eligible voters.

In addition, we can also expect aligning SIG guideline with current 
practice as well as resolving unclearness of the successor's term when 
current Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed by revising SIG Chair's 
term of service.


3. Situation in other regions
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Please refer following page made by Adam Gosling

Comparison of RIR SIG/WG Chair Election Processes
https://www.apnic.net/sig-guidelines/chair-elections/other-rirs


4. Proposed policy solution
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1. Eligible voters in SIG Chair election
I would like to propose limiting eligible voters of SIG Chair election 
to registered participants of APNIC Conference where the election is 
held.

In this context, registered participants include remote participants who 
register to Confer, or its successor in future.

2. SIG Chair's term of service
I would like to propose aligning Chair' term with Co-Chair's term, which 
means that Chair and all Co-Chair will serve for same two years.
To keep this alighment, I would like to propose limiting the successor's 
term to remaining term of current Chair/Co-Chair if current 
Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed.



5. Advantages / Disadvantages
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Advantages:
By setting clear rule for eligible voters,

  - we can avoid confusion whether remote participant cast vote for SIG 
    Chair election or not
  - we can mitigate frauds in SIG Chair election

By revising SIG Chair's term of service
  - we can resolve a conflict between SIG guideline and current practice
  - we can resolve unclearness of the successor's term when current 
    Chair/Co-Chair resigned or was removed



Disadvantages:
APNIC staff may need to spend some additional time to confirm whether 
each voter is registered participants.

There is no disadvantage by revising SIG Chair's term of service.


6. Impact on resource holders
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No direct impact


7. References
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Chair Election Procedure Review by Adam Gosling
https://www.apnic.net/community/participate/sigs/chair-elections

Comparison of RIR SIG/WG Chair Election Processes
https://www.apnic.net/sig-guidelines/chair-elections/other-rirs

APNIC SIG Guidelines
https://www.apnic.net/community/participate/sigs/sig-guidelines