Elections

Regional Vote explanation
note from Kent Crispin, the Independent Teller

    [Please accept my apology in advance for receiving multiple copies
    of this notice.  It is being sent to cctld-discuss@wwtld.org and
    cctld-contacts@wwtld.org.  --Kent Crispin]
    
             ccTLD REGIONAL Election Information
    
    As of this writing each region has no more than one nominee; hence
    to some extent this election is a formality.  However, it will serve
    as a useful exercise for the following global election.
    
    There have been some small last minute changes to the election
    procedures described at
    
             http://www.wwtld.org/elections/
    
    This message contains the latest information.  As time permits, the
    web page will be updated. In addition, the web site
    
             https://vote.songbird.com/cctld
    
    will contain the latest information, and will also show a list of
    votes that have been received.  Please note that this is an https
    URL, and that an SSL-enabled browser will be necessary to view it.
    Also, if you get a warning about the certificate being for the domain
    "songbird.com" instead of "vote.songbird.com", you may safely ignore
    it.
    
    I. Voting Period
    
    The Nomination Period ends on Oct 4, at 12:00 UTC.  The ballots will
    be mailed as soon after that as possible, but in no case later
    than Oct 5, 00:00 UTC.  The votebot will be turned off on Oct 11,
    23:59 UTC.
    
    II. Procedures and Instructions
    
    All voters will be sent an email ballot.  That ballot will be sent
    FROM the email address
    
          From:  
    
    You should REPLY to that same address with the completed ballot.
    When the ballot is received, the following things will happen
    (presuming the ballot can be read):
    
       1. It will be parsed by the votebot software, and the votes
          extracted.
    
       2. A confirming reply will be sent back to you, so that you will
          know your ballot has been received.
    
       3. A receipt notice with your unique identifier (but not your name
          or email address) will be immediately posted to the above named
          web site, so you can verify your vote.
     
    III. The ballot
    
    The ballot this election will be in a slightly different format than
    noted on the www.wwtld.org web page.  This is the current format:
    
    BEGIN:b01:KuniquecodeZ:ccode:region:email@address.somewhere
    Name:
    I am authorised to vote on behalf of 
    in the Regional Election, for the  region.
    [ ] I vote for NAME OF CANDIDATE FROM YOUR REGION
    as a GLOBAL candidate for the  region.
    [ ] I do not want to vote for any candidate
    END__:b01:KuniquecodeZ:ccode:region:email@address.somewhere
    
    The ballot begins with a "BEGIN" line, and ends with an "END__"
    line.
    
    Each of those lines has identifying information, separated by ":"
    characters:
        * The first field ("b01") is a ballot version number.
        * The second field (the string that reads "KuniquecodeZ") is a
          unique code that is different for every voter, and will be
          known to only that voter, the auditors, and the vote taker.
          It will be used to identify the particular voter. Note that
          the characters between the "K" and the "Z" will be a random
          string that may include some special characters.
        * The third field identifies the TLD name represented the voter.
        * The fourth field identifies the ICANN region within which the
          vote will be counted.
        * The fifth field is the email address to which the ballot will be
          sent.
     
    One fills out a ballot by typing a character between the "[ ]" marks,
    so it looks like this: "[X]".  In addition, it would be helpful if
    you filled in your name where it says "Name:".
    
    You should not otherwise edit the ballot; you should NOT send it as
    an attachment or in other format -- in particular, do NOT send it as
    an HTML email.
    
    The software will be smart enough to deal with the standard "reply"
    prefix -- that is, it is OK if your software sends back a reply that
    looks something like this:
    
> BEGIN:b01:KuniquecodeZ:ccode:region:email@address.somewhere
> Name:
> I am authorised to vote on behalf of 
> in the Regional Election, for the  region.
> [X] I vote for NAME OF CANDIDATE FROM YOUR REGION
> as a GLOBAL candidate for the  region.
> [ ] I do not want to vote for any candidate
> END__:b01:KuniquecodeZ:ccode:region:email@address.somewhere
    
    But if your software does more damage to the format, then the
    appropriate technique is to save the ballot to a file, edit that
    file, then send that file back to ncc-ballot@songbird.com. Ideally,
    the file should be directly included in the email message, and not
    sent as an attachment.
    
    And please remember:  Send your ballot as PLAIN TEXT.  Do NOT send
    it as HTML, or as an attachement.
    
    If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

--
Kent Crispin                               "Do good, and you'll be
kent@songbird.com                           lonesome." -- Mark Twain
--
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