This is to inform you about the forthcoming ICANN Board seat 12 election. The election will start on Tuesday, 7 November 2023 (00:01 UTC) – and will close on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 (23:59 UTC), according to the timeline previously adopted by the ccNSO Council.
Following the call for nominations, one candidate was nominated: Katrina Sataki. The nomination was seconded, and Katrina accepted the nomination. Katrina submitted her candidate statement to the ccNSO. The due diligence or background check was concluded without identifying any issues or concerns. Katrina was interviewed and answered questions from the ccNSO members and broader ccTLD community at a ICANN78 Question-and-Answer session, held on 26 October 2023. The recording of the session is published here.
Even though there is only one candidate, an election will still be held, as per the relevant guideline. The election is for one (1) seat. The ccNSO Council and ccNSO members have agreed that the ccNSO members shall propose and elect candidates for the two ICANN Board seats allocated to the ccNSO, and that the winner(s) of said election(s) shall in turn be nominated by a majority vote of the ccNSO Council to the ICANN Board seat(s).
Election opening and closing
Voting starts Tuesday, 7 November 2023 (00:01 UTC) and closes on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 (23:59 UTC), according to the timeline previously agreed by the ccNSO Council.
Ballots
Voting ballots will be sent latest on Monday, 6 November by 23:00 UTC, from tally@icann.org to the e-mail address of the Emissary of each ccNSO Member, as listed in the ccNSO Members database. As per the October 2022 Rules of the ccNSO, the Emissary is the Representative selected by the ccTLD Manager in accordance with Section 10.4(e) of the ICANN Bylaws for the purpose of voting in the specific cases enumerated in Article 10 & Annex B of the ICANN Bylaws and the Internal Rules and Internal Procedures of the ccNSO. Each eligible Emissary will receive one (1) unique ballot, as per the principle "one vote per Territory". The ccNSO currently counts 177 members, corresponding to 175 Territories, and therefor 175 Emissaries.
Do you have questions or concerns regarding the email address of the Emissary for your Territory? Contact the Nomination Process Manager, Joke Braeken (joke.braeken@icann.org). If you are unable to locate the ballot, please consider checking your spam folder.
The ballot will include two options: the name of the candidate and "None of the Above". The latter option was added after ccNSO members expressed the need for such an option. When selecting "None of the above", a ccTLD Manager believes that the candidate listed is not qualified to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors
Election Procedure
Each Emissary can vote an unlimited number of times, but only the last vote submitted will be counted. When the results are displayed, the votes are only identified by the ballot ID, and not by the voter's email address.
There is no quorum requirement for this voting. As per section 3.7 of the applicable guideline: "The Candidate(s) that receive(s the plurality of the votes cast by the ccNSO members, shall be the Candidate(s) who is(are) elected to be nominated by the ccNSO Council. If the plurality of the votes cast is "None of the Above" the Nomination Process shall be terminated and section 3.9 applies". In the event of a tied vote, a run-off election vote or votes will be held as per the timeline adopted by the ccNSO Council.
Next steps
The election closes on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 (23:59 UTC). The Nomination Process Manager will announce the voting result on Wednesday, 29 November 2023 (latest by 23:59 UTC).
The Nomination Process Manager will include the voting result as well as potential issues and events related to this specific Nomination Process in a Nomination Report. This report will be submitted to the ccNSO Council for adoption before or by the January 2024 Council meeting. With adoption of the Nomination report, the Nomination Process will close and the Empowered Community Administration (ECA) and ICANN's Secretary will be notified of the results of the Nomination Process accordingly.