GA existing outside of IOI

[eduardische]

Currently GA does not exist outside of IOI and there is a desire to change that so that GA can be consulted for crucial decisions even outside IOIs.

There is no consensus yet on who should have a vote outside of IOI: members of the GA at the previous IOI, whoever has access to IOI Registration System, or perhaps some other option.

[baburton]

I support a higher quota for the online votes.

My understanding is that an online GA vote is rare, and would typically be on an issue where we need endorsement from the GA as a whole rather than a small representative body (the IC). In this sense, having only 1/3 of members voting would not achieve what we need in such an extraordinary situation (i.e., widespread GA endorsement of the decision at hand).

I am happy to keep the 1/3 quota for on-site votes during the IOI, since (as was pointed out tonight at the meeting) members are typically present.

[baburton]

Another note: regarding face-to-face meetings, there has been at least one situation at IOI 2019 where it was not clear whether we would reach 1/3 quorum. This was when the GA was recalled late in one of the translation nights regarding an unexpected issue, and many leaders had already gone to sleep. At the time I was glad the quorum was only 1/3, because a decision needed to be made and we had all the GA members we could find.

The main difference to me between online vs on-site votes is that online votes should be for serious emergencies only, whereas on-site votes could be on anything unexpected that happens during IOI. To me this justifies a lower quota for on-site and a higher quota for online.

[Harniver]

Regarding the situation that Ben mentioned: it may be true that having a low quorum was helpful at that time and used for the common good. However, I can imagine as many situations in which having a low quorum can also be used for evil: for instance, the GA chair from the host country waiting for many unfriendly countries to leave early during translation nights to make a vote without them.

So I believe it is better to have the same quorum rule for any vote (every vote should be representative of the GA). However, I also believe that adding the online voting procedure makes it more urgent to also revise the quorum rules at A3.2 at the same time. Not sure whether the right quorum would be 1/2 or even maybe 2/3, but definitely more than 1/3. Personally, I'd like even more a quorum on "yes" votes for a motion to pass (that is, something like "yes votes should be at least 1/4 of all eligible voters"), to avoid the risk of people strategizing on absence, although I guess that such a kind of quorum rule would require a more complex change to the regulations.