A much higher-than-expected number of Internet enthusiasts have put their names in the running for five at-large positions on the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers board of directors.
The group said late Monday that 158,000 have signed up to vote for the five at-large membership slots on the board, which is in charge of administering and implementing changes to the domain name system. That number was much higher than the 10,000 registrations ICANN was expecting.
The organization said while it was “delighted” at the turnaround, the high number of applications stands to cause “significant logistical and financial problems” for the process since ICANN was expecting only about 10,000 registrations.
ICANN said the higher turnaround swamped its registration systems, leaving many unable to register as the July 31 deadline drew near. However, the group felt postponing the deadline would have pushed elections beyond year’s end and made it impossible for ICANN to complete its organization process, which includes adding at-large members to the board of directors.
ICANN Chairman Esther Dyson said the next stage will be nominating potential candidates for this year’s board of directors and at-large elections. The nominations will come by the end of Tuesday from both ICANN’s nominating committee and the at-large membership. Current at-large members will also be elgible to vote for five at-large members who will sit on the board of directors, representing the Internet community worldwide.
After elections in October, ICANN will evaluated the at-large program and decide by the middle of 2001 whether changes will be made.
