[arin-discuss] [ARIN-Suggestions] New ACSP Suggestion 2014.10: CHANGES TO CANDIDATE SPEECHES

[Michael Sinatra]

On 06/06/14 11:17, John Curran wrote:

>   It's also a matter worthy of consideration as a concern about the integrity 
>   of ARIN election processes.

John:

Let me just say that if this suggestion were implemented, or similar
restrictions enacted, it would raise for me grave concerns about the
ARIN election process.  Far from shoring up the integrity of the
process, this suggestion actually undermines it.

There's a practical issue: We need to have extemporaneous candidate
speeches for the same reason it's a good idea to have a face-to-face
interview of a job candidate.  It gives an additional dimension, and a
new angle on the candidate that's important to have beyond just what's
on paper.  How a candidate uses that time tells voters a lot about that
candidate.

If we implement this suggestion, we restrict information about the
candidates from getting to the electorate.  Obviously, the electorate
can't have perfect information, but any democratic process relies on the
electorate having good information about candidates.  Restricting such
information undermines the entire democratic process.

In the past 5 out of 6 election cycles where I have attended the
relevant meeting, I have only seen this issue happen twice.  First,
there is the incident that is currently under attack, and the second
time was when a candidate needed to withdraw his candidacy and wasn't
able to do so prior to the time of the candidate speeches.  Again, I was
happy that the candidate explained that so that we didn't have to waste
votes on him.

In other words, this suggestion doesn't solve a problem, but it creates
plenty of new ones.

michael