The white-listing system only works if those in-charge of it are active and can verify those applying to positions.
Putting a democratic vote on this system or a "council" generally leads to a strong majority of the council being inactive, unqualified or simply holding up the process creating delays.
However, if you're going to have a council you need to have a monthly vote to replace council members or it'll become stagnant with council members becoming complacent.
Speaking from experience it was extremely tedious to maintain the white-list let alone approve new people onto them. I constantly remember people voting people in just because they had a good RP story or were well-known in the community.
Take XUR for example, he was a super well-known player at the time and his white-listing applications were so awful yet every player and staff member would +1 him in. It took just myself to look over his effort, roleplay in-game and behavior to deny the application. However this was only possible due to my position and ability to over-watch as a staff member, something most players/council members wouldn't have access to.
I'd simply make a Whitelist Master position, make it a monthly position that is voting in and ensure the person monitoring white-listing is active.
Having multiple people approve anything creates a slow, democratic drag of bullshit.