Voting
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The Decision Support Application is designed to help the Technical Bodies with their decision making processes.
It has predefined types of decisions for
- measuring consensus
- approving a draft
- selecting a technology
- electing officials
Each has been defined in accordance with the ETSI Rules of Procedure in terms of who can vote, calculation of results etc.).
Each decision will normally have 3 phases
Phase 1 - Creating (also modifying, deleting or closing a vote
Phase 2 - Voting
Phase 3 - Results
In addition, people will be interested in verifying their voting rights.
Voting
How to Vote
a) Select IN PROGRESS from the menu.
b) Select the particular vote from the list. (Green indicates consensus gathering and Blue indicates votes.)
If you find you can't vote it may be because:.
1) There are currently no open votes in which you are allowed to participate.
2) The organization you represent does not have voting rights.
3) You are not correctly registered in the Membership List of the appropriate Technical Body
c) If you represent more than one organization, you will be able to select the appropriate organization from the list at the top of the screen. You will only be able to vote on behalf of ONE of these Organizations. If you represent more than one organization, but do not have the option to select the organization, or if the list is not complete, please contact the Technical Body Support Team.
d) Make your selection and click on the "Submit" button
You may change your vote until the close of the voting period.
If someone else from your organization has already voted, you will see who has voted and if the vote is not secret, you can also see how they voted.
You may, in exceptional circumstances, change the vote of another representative of your organization. However, it is strongly recomended that you contact the person first. If you change the vote of another person that person will be informed by email of your action.
Voting rights
Validating your voting rights.
CONTENTS:
- Who may vote
- How to check your rights
- How to register to a Technical Body Membership List
Who may vote
You must represent an organization which has voting rights.
"Full members of ETSI have the right to participate in the work ... with the right to vote."
"Associate members ...with the right to vote on all matters except those related to the elaboration and approval of ENs or on matters concerning documents exclusively intended for regulatory use by the European Union."
"Counsellors of ETSI may attend meetings of a Technical body and participate in the work without the right to vote."[TWP 1.4]
"... the opinions of Counsellors (and in the case of ENs or regulatory documents, associate members) should be noted [TWP 1.7.1.1]
Therefore
- Full Members may participate in all votes.
- Associate Member may participate in all votes but have a voting weight of zero for decisions relating to Draft ENs.)
- Counsellors may express their opinion with a voting weight of zero on concensus gathering and selection of a technology, but may not participate in a vote or the election of a TB official.
You must also be correctly registered on the relevant Technical Body membership list.
"Each Technical body shall maintain a membership list within an email exploder list...... The Technical body membership list shall be used for the dissemination of information and for the decision making within the Technical Body" [ETSI TWP 1.5.5]
How to check your rights
You first need a username and password.
Go open the TB Membership/Exploder Lists application.
Step 1 check that you have (been) registered to the list.
The right side of the screen shows the email exploders lists to which you are registered. Technical Body Membership lists are highlighted. (You may also subscribe to a list for email only. In this case the exploder list will not be shown on the screen and you will not have voting rights.) If you don't see the list, follow the instructions for Registering to a Technical Body List below.
Step 2 Check that your voting rights are correct.
Click on the name of the membership list. Search for your name or email address (Use the Browser "search" or "find" functions). The last column shows your voting rights. If you have "No Voting Rights" check that your Organization and the Organization status is correct. If the organization is not correct or if you think the status is not correct, then email the membership cell at membership@etsi.org .
Registering to a Technical Body Membership List
Open the TB Membership/Exploder Lists application.
Select the Technical Body from the list on the left side of the page and click to view its email exploder lists.
Tick the list indicated as the Membership list and specify the email address(es) you would like this list to use.
Click the "Add me" button. The list owner will receive a message indicating that you wish to join the list..
Creating/Modifying
Creation/Modification of a Decision.
CONTENTS:
- Technical Body
- Category
- Secret Vote Flag
- Subject
- Details/description
- Voting Period
- Document Location
- Candidates
- Email notification
Certain people in each Technical body (normally the Technical Officer, Support Assistant, Chair and Vice Chair, ) are allowed to create and modify a vote/consensus/selection/election for that Technical Body. Those people will find "Create" and "Modify" among the items in the menu.
A vote/ consensus/selection/election process may not be modified after the first vote has been cast. In this case, the process could be deleted and a new one created if necessary.
The Technical Body must be selected from the list proposed. The people who are correctly registered to the membership list of that Technical body will be allowed to vote. Once the process has been created, the Technical Body may not be modified, however the vote may be deleted and a new one created if necessary.
The following predefined Categories of decision are supported by the application (Details of Categories).
- Election 1st Ballot
- Election 2nd Ballot with 2 Candidates
- Election 2nd Ballot with more than 2 Candidates
- Election 3rd Ballot
- Vote on Draft EN
- Vote on Draft TS, TR, ES or EG
- Consensus measuring for Draft EN
- Consensus measuring for Draft TS, TR, ES or EG
- Selection of a technology
Once the vote has been created, the Category may not be modified, however the vote may be deleted and a new one created if necessary.
The voting rules will be applied according to the ETSI rules of Procedure.
What is the difference between a Vote and Consensus?
"A Technical Body shall endevour to reach consensus on all issues.....". "If consensus cannot be achieved, the chair may decide to take a vote..." [ETWP 1.7.1]. Consensus is defined as "the lack of sustained opposition".
Consensus gathering is a method for a Chair to measure if there is opposition to the approval of a draft. The purpose is to identify the issues, if any, in order that they may be resolved. At the end of a consensus gathering process, the chair can decide if the document can be approved as it is or to produce a new version addressing the issues raised or to have a formal vote for approval of the document.
The object of a vote is to accept or reject the approval of a draft. Approval of a draft requires at least 71% of weighted votes to be in favor.
The Secret flag determines whether or not the individual votes and comments will be visible. For some decisions, (i.e. election of an official) the individual votes are not available (the secret flag is automatically set to "yes"), for others (i.e. consensus measuring) the individual opinions and comments will always be made available (the secret flag is automatically set to "no"), . In the case of a vote on a draft or selection of a technology, the chair can decide whether the individual votes and results will be available (the person creating the vote manually sets the flag).
The outcome (e.g.draft approved/not approved,) and the percentage of votes will always be available on closure of a decision process.
The Subject or Title must clearly identify the decision to be taken (e.g.
- DEN/JTC-DAB-5 - Vote for approval
- DEN/JTC-DAB-5 - Consensus measurement
- Election of a vice chair
The Description or details can add additional information if required. "Before voting, a clear definition of the issues shall be provided by the chair" [ETSI TWP]
The Voting period must be defined.
The vote will be opened from 00:00:01 UTC on the date specified as the start date. It will close at midnight UTC after running for the number of days specified.
- the officials and others who may create a vote, may also manually close it at any time.
- If the start date is today's date, the vote will be open as soon as it has been created. It will be open for the number of days specified.
- If a vote is opened today, then today will not count as one of the days. For example if a vote is opened today for 1 day, it will run until midnight tomorrow)
- The application may be used to manage a vote during a meeting. A vote may be created in the morning and manually closed in the afternoon in order to have the results available before the end of the meeting.
THEN
When satisfied with the details entered, click on the "Create" Button
On the next screen you will find:
The Document Location can be used to provide a hyperlink to a copy of the draft for approval, the CVs of the candidates etc. It may be a word document, zipped file, HTML page other file type, or a folder. If there are no relevant documents, this should be blank.
In the case of an election or selection of a technology , the Candidates or options must be specified. Enter each one, then use the "Add" button to create another. The option to "abstain" will be added automatically.
In the case of an approval of a draft, the options "yes", "no" and "abstain" will be automatically created.
Near the bottom of this screen is a link to the Membership list of the Technical Body concerned. This is the list of people who have voting rights for this Technical Body. If a person is not in the list, or if the last column says "No voting rights" they will not be able to vote. People representing Full and Associate Member Organizations may get voting rights via the TB Membership Lists application.
Click on the Accept button when ready.
A summary of the details you have entered will be displayed. Click on the confirm button to create the vote.
A template for an The email notification to inform the exploder list of the vote details will be created. You may
- Delete it
- Modify it
- Save it
- Send it
The "Notifications" menu option provides links to all notifications which have not been deleted or sent.
Notification
Notification
When a vote is created or closed, an email template is created. It is addressed to the exploder list for the Technical Body concerned and provides the details including a link to the voting form or results page as appropriate.
You may modify the message providing any additional information required.
You may send it immediately or save it and send it later.
The "Notifications" menu item provides access to all notifications which have not been sent or deleted.
Closing
Closing a vote
A vote may be manually closed before the end of the voting period.
This may be useful if a vote is to take place during a meeting. Delegates can be asked to vote before a certain time, say 12:00. The chairman can close the vote manually at that time and the results are immediately available. This would allow a second ballot in the afternoon if required.
The people with the rights to create and modify a vote also have the rights to close it. Choose "Close" from the menu bar and select the vote you wish to close.
Once closed, a vote cannot be opened again.
Results
Viewing the Results
CONTENTS
- The outcome
- The percentage
- Individual votes
- Comments
All account holders have access to the results of all decisions. The results can be displayed in three levels of detail.
The outcome (i.e. if a draft was accepted or rejected, if a person was elected) is available to all EOL account holders. A consensus does not have an outcome.
The percentage of votes cast for each option is also available to all EOL account holders. The percentages may also be shown for Full Members and Associate Members. This is available for all decisions.
The third level of detail is the individual votes cast and the comments made. This is only available for consensus gathering and voting on drafts. This is not available for ballots for election. nor for votes where the secret flag has been set (see Vote Creation)
Delete
Deleting a vote/ consensus/selection/election process
This is intended for use, only when the vote/ consensus/ selection has been created in error.
The people who may create a vote/consensus/selection process for a Technical Body may also delete them.
Once deleted, a vote cannot be restored. No results are available for a deleted vote.
Choose "Delete" from the menu. Select the vote to be deleted. Click on the "Delete" button.
Categories
Vote/consensus/selection/election categories
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* "... If a proposal fails to achieve 71 %, the result shall be re-calculated using the votes of ETSI full members only. If the re-calculated result achieves 71 %, the proposal shall be deemed to be approved....." TWP 1.7.1
** "... the opinions of Counsellors (and in the case of ENs or regulatory documents, associate members) should be noted..."TWP 1.7.1 In these cases Counsellors and Associate members may participate and may provide comments with a voting weight of zero.