[ppml] composition of and representation on the BoT

[william(at)elan.net]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004, Member Services wrote:

> Here are the voter statistics from the last two Board and Advisory Council
> elections:
> 
> 2004 Board/AC Voting:
> Total Confirmed Voters: 134
> 
> 2003 Board/AC Voting:
> Total Confirmed Voters: 97

Those are about 5% highier from my calculations based on BoT votes. Pretty 
much same picture - only 6% of ARIN membership participates in elections.
 
> If anyone has practical suggestions for increasing voter participation, we
> would welcome your input. Please send them to memsvcs at arin.net.

I have couple suggestions, but that will involve spending some money though:

1. Send by postal mail a package about ARIN's activities to members once/year
   about week or two before the elections (possibly before member's meeting
   that preceeds it) which would include report of ARIN's activities for
   past year, list of new policies that were approved by BoT, summary of
   policies under discussion and information about candidates for ARIN's
   elections with reminder about participating in those elections.

2. Provide some kind of incentive for those that do participate - after 
   they confirm their vote, they get some kind of free coupon. Examples
   of what these coupons maybe for:
     1. A 25% discount on fee for one person to participate at NANOG meeting
     2. A discount coupon from one of the equipment vendors
        (might not be good since this would be perceived as advertisment for 
        one specific vendor where as ARIN has always kept neutral position) 
     3. A gift certificate for free coffee at Starbucks
     Or something else that would be of interest to people who run ISPs.
     (And I'm sure people on this list would have more ideas about that)

-- 
William Leibzon
Elan Networks
william at elan.net