ARIN Kept the Customers. It Moved 369 Voters Out.

Summary

• ARIN says it reclassified 369 General Member organizations on 9 November because none had cast a ballot since 2024. Its new counts are 2,076 General Members and 24,957 Service Members.
• The organizations retain registry services, including RPKI and IRR, but cannot vote as Service Members. They can request General Membership again under ARIN's membership procedure.

The ballot box closed on 30 October. Ten days later ARIN closed a different ledger. Its 9 November announcement moved 369 organizations from General to Service membership for missing the rolling three-election participation test. An address holder did not lose its registry account, routing-security tools or service relationship because of that change. It lost its place in the class that votes for ARIN's leadership. A neat administrative distinction can still make a sharp political cut.

Before the election, ARIN had identified 675 General Members that had missed the previous two elections and faced reclassification if they skipped 2026. The November action counted 369 actual conversions. Those figures describe different moments and groups. The public notices do not provide a member-by-member bridge between them, so 306 cannot be presented as the number rescued by voting. That would turn a subtraction into a membership history ARIN has not published.

The 2 November election result puts another set of numbers on the table: 1,073 participating General Member organizations, represented by 898 Voting Contacts, and 45.7% participation among eligible General Members. ARIN reported 2,407 General Members and 2,356 eligible voters at its pre-election snapshot. The 2,076 General Members in the later reclassification notice are a post-action count. They are not the denominator for October turnout. A registry that reports both sets should keep the dates visible every time it uses the word member.

ARIN's published rule requires a General Member to participate in at least one of the last three elections. Even a blank ballot records participation. Only a General Member in good standing with a properly designated Voting Contact can vote. A Service Member can apply for General status again; after approval it must designate a Voting Contact. The rule sets a low threshold for retaining a vote and an explicit route back for those who lose it.

The consequence on 9 November was precise: a smaller voting class alongside an unchanged entitlement to registry services for the 369 moved organizations. ARIN's post-action totals put almost twelve Service Members beside each General Member. That ratio is a snapshot of membership classes, not a measure of separate network operators, ballots or customers paying the same fee. It does show how far the operating constituency extends beyond the electorate that can choose trustees and the Advisory Council.