How was the Election Process Developed?
When the technical management of the Internet transferred from the public to private sector, it was generally acknowledged that the new non-profit management corporation would establish policies that would impact many interest groups, as well as individuals around the world. Therefore, the Board of Directors for the nonprofit corporation would need to represent both the "geographical and the functional" diversity of the Internet.

When drafting the White Paper, the U.S. government established principles and general structure for a Board of Directors that would fulfill these requirements:

• Represent a broad diversity of interest groups and stakeholders. The White Paper stated that the Board should be "balanced to equitably the interests of IP number registries, domain name registries, domain name registrars, the technical community, Internet service providers (ISPs), and Internet users (commercial, not-for-profit, and individuals".
• Reflect the geographic diversity of the Internet community. The White Paper stated Board of Directors was meant to be "broadly representative of the global Internet community".

These two requirements became the main influences on the election structure for the ICANN Board of Directors that was eventually created. The original bylaws, released in November 1998, provided only a skeleton structure for the Board of Directors elections process. This structure was expected to slowly solidify through a process of bottom-up consensus, directed by the Initial Board.

What are the Current Election Rules? (as of March 2000)
Due to the consensus-based process of ICANN's governance structure, there are periodic opportunities written into the bylaws for the Board to consider amendments to ICANN's elections process. As a result, ICANN's election rules are subject to review and change.

Currently, the bylaws state that the Board will consist of nineteen Directors: nine "At Large" Directors elected by 5000+ at-large members, nine Directors appointed by the Supporting Organizations, and one President. The Initial Board members will serve as the nine "At Large" Directors until their successors have been selected through At Large elections.

The ICANN bylaws do not specify how the Supporting Organizations should conduct their elections processes. Each Supporting Organization has formed a council.

An initial structure for At Large elections was adopted into the bylaws on October 27, 1999. This process was solidified at the Board meeting in March 2000 after input and debate.

9 At Large Directors elected by the At Large membership of at least 5,000 people

(5) To be elected by November 2000
(4) To be elected by November 2001 after studying the process and results of the first At Large election

9 Directors chosen by the Supporting Organizations (3 Directors each):

(3) Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO)
(3) Address Supporting Organization (ASO)
(3) Protocol Supporting Organization (PSO)

19 Directors