Says the election period is for one year? This is a typo, right?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Andreas Jaeger
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 16:39:07
To:
Subject: [opensuse-project] Revising the Board Election Rules, 3rd iteration
After the second iteration on the rules, a number of clarifications have
been made and also the complete rule set got reordered and edited.
I'd like to thank David that did the major editing on this one.
What do you think? Are we good now to run the next elections with these
rules?
Andreas
openSUSE Board Election Rules
Policy
=====
Size:
The board consists of six members: five seats are elected by the community
and a chairperson is appointed.
Term:
The openSUSE board term is two years.
Chairperson:
To provide continuity to the organization, the chairperson shall be
appointed and replaced at Novell's discretion.
Election period:
The election period is normally from 1st January to the following 31st
December.
Company affiliation:
To help ensure that the board will always represent a wide part of the
community, no single organization or company can control more than 40 per
cent of the elected or appointed board seats.
Good faith:
Members of the openSUSE board shall act on behalf of all openSUSE
contributors in the best interest of the openSUSE project. Although board
members may be affiliated with companies or organizations that have an
interest in the success of openSUSE, they will not be considered
representatives of the companies or organizations with which they are
affiliated.
Procedure
========
Voting:
Only openSUSE members may vote, each member having one ballot that has one
vote per seat to be elected.
The eligible candidates who receive the most votes fill the vacant seats.
Election Committee:
The election is run by an Election Committee that consists of at least
three openSUSE members. The Election Committee is appointed for each
election by the board.
Constitution:
A new board's term should start on the first of January, the elections
should be finished 14 days before. In the case of delays, the new board
will start 7 days after the election results are published.
Appointed board members or members elected during ad-hoc election will
start 7 days after appointment or election results are published.
Nominations:
The election committee will take self-nominations, nominations by others
and can nominate people for election. The election committee will contact
the nominated people and ask them whether they are willing to stand for
election. These nominations are private until accepted by the nominated
people.
Insufficient Nominations:
In the event that the number of eligible candidates is less than or equal
to the number of vacant seats, the voting period will be delayed by two
weeks. A public message will be sent out to ask again for candidates.
In the event that the number of eligible candidates is still less than or
equal to the number of available seats, voting occurs as normal but each
candidate needs to have more than 50 per cent yes votes to be elected.
Tie:
In the event of a tie for the final seat(s) on the board, the election
committee will schedule run-off elections between the tied candidates
within one week, with a voting period of one week to resolve the tie.
In the event of a tie during the run-off elections, the newly elected board
- or the previous board, if fewer than 50 per cent of the seats have been
filled - will appoint candidates running in the run-off elections to fill
the vacant seats.
Renewal:
Approximately half of the board is elected every year. This means that
every year, the term of approximately half of the board ends, and the term
of the other half ends the year after.
If there have been resignations or removals since the last elections, the
term for the new board members will be adjusted if necessary to ensure that
half of the elected board seats - that means at least two and no more than
three out of five - will have to be filled during the next elections.
To implement this adjustment, the elected board members with the most votes
will have a two years term, while the elected board members with the lowest
votes will have a one year term. The number of seats with the lowest votes
is calculated so that two of the board seats will have to be filled during
the next election
Appointment:
The sitting board is allowed to appoint new members to fill a board vacancy
caused by one of the following conditions: 1) resignation of a Board member
or 2) the removal of a Board member, or 3) death of a Board member, or 4)
as part of elections if not enough people are elected.
In the case that some seats do not get filled at an election, the new board
will appoint board members as necessary until the next election.
Ad-hoc elections:
Instead of opting to appoint more than one board member, the board may opt
to call for new board elections for the vacant seats. These board members
will then be elected for the current election period and the next period –
thus until 31st of December of the next year.
Eligibility and Validity
================
Eligible candidates:
Only openSUSE members may stand for election and be elected to the Board.
Election committee:
None of the Election Committee can run for or be elected as an openSUSE
board member while serving on the Election Committee.
Eligible voters:
Only openSUSE members may vote.
Resignation:
Any person who has resigned from the Board or has been removed from the
Board is not eligible for nomination or appointment for or during the next
Board election period.
Restanding:
openSUSE board members can serve for up to two consecutive election
periods. After that they must stand down for at least one election period,
but may run again after the one election period break.
Appointed members:
Appointed board members are required to stand down and might seek election
at the next election.
Company affiliation:
In the event that individuals affiliated with a company or organization
hold more than 40 per cent of the elected or appointed seats, affiliates
from that corporation will be required to resign until fewer than 40 per
cent of elected or appointed seats are controlled by that company or
organisation.
Individuals affiliated with a company or organization are people who are
employees, officers, or members of the board of directors of an
organization; or have a significant consulting relationship; or own at
least 1 per cent of the equity or debt, or derivatives thereof, of a
company.
Affiliation during election:
A candidate is not eligible to be voted onto the board if their election
would mean that a company or organization hold more than 40 per cent of the
elected or appointed seats. In this case their election and these votes are
void.
Other Rules
==========
Removal of Chairperson:
The elected board members can appeal to Novell to have the chairperson
replaced.
Resignation:
A member of the board may resign their current position by giving written
notice to the chairperson. The board should appoint a new board member or
call elections to fill the vacancy.
Removal:
In the event of repeated absence without contact, or other serious
misconduct or negligence, a Board member may be subject to removal. Before
any other process occurs, the Board member in question will be personally
contacted by the chairperson to try to resolve the situation. If this
contact does not successfully resolve the situation, the Board member in
question may be removed by a vote of 2/3s of the other board members. The
board should appoint a new board member or call elections to fill the
vacancy.
Repeated absence includes missing three consecutive board meetings without
sending regrets, not answering emails on the board mailing list for more
than a month, or missing more than 10 meetings.
Forced re-election:
If 20 per cent or more of the openSUSE members require a new board, an
election will be held for the complete elected Board seats.
Amendment:
Changes by the election rules can be made by vote of the board where 2/3s
or more approve it including the chairperson or by vote of the membership
where 2/3 or more of the openSUSE members participating in the vote approve
it.
--
Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE, aj@{novell.com,opensuse.org}
Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi
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