From: Andreas Jaeger [mailto:aj@novell.com]
thanks for all the feedback, I clarified now the part that confused Rupert (the appointment in case of insufficient nominations is only until next election) and defined "corporate affiliation" better. Here's the revised version. Are we good now?
Andreas
Complete rules
There're too many changes now so that I don't mark additions/removals anymore.
* Size: The board consists of six members: five seats are elected by the community and additionally an appointed chairperson.
* Eligible candidates: Only openSUSE members may run for the Board.
Any previous board member that has previously resigned or has been previously removed from the Board is not eligible for nomination or appointment for or within the next Board election period.
* Eligible voters: Only openSUSE members may vote, each member having one ballot that has one vote per seat to be elected.
* Election Committee: The election is run by an Election Committee that consists of at least three openSUSE members and gets appointed for each election by the board.
None of the Election Committee can run for or be elected as an openSUSE board member while serving on the Election Committee.
* Time length: The openSUSE board term is two years. 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.
To provide continuity to the organization the chairperson shall be appointed and replaced at Novell's discretion. The elected board members can appeal to Novell to have the chairperson replaced.
* Yearly electing half the board: In case of resignations or removals occured since last elections, the term for elected board members for the current elections will be adjusted to make sure that half of the elected board seats - that means two out of five - will have to be filled during the next elections.
To implement this adjustment, the elected seats with the most votes will have a two years term, while the seats with the lowest votes will have a one year term. The number of seats with the lowest votes is calculated so that half of the board seats will have to be filled during the next elections.
* Serving time: openSUSE board members can serve for up to two consecutive election periods. After that they must stand down for at least one year, but may be run again after the one year break.
* Resignation: A member of the board may resign their current position by giving written notice to the chairperson.
* 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 board members. The board should appoint a new board member.
Repeated absence includes missing three consecutive board meetings without sending regrets, not answering at all to emails or sending regrets for more than 10 meetings.
* Appointment: The running board is allowed to appoint new members during their term 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) as part of elections.
Appointed seats are only appointed until the next election.
Instead of opting to appoint more than one board member, the board may opt to call for a new board election for the vacant seats.
* Company affiliation: To help ensure that the board will always represent a wide part of the community, no single organization or company will be allowed to control more than 40% of the elected or appointed board seats, regardless of election results. In the event that individuals affiliated with a company or organization hold more than 40% of the seats, affiliates from that corporation will be required to resign until 40% is no longer held.
"until 40% is no longer held" should be "until no more than 40% is held".
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% of the equity or debt, or derivatives thereof, of a company.
Notwithstanding the above, 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.
* Affiliation during election: If more than 40 % of the elected seats would be affiliated with one company or organization (as defined above), elections results shall be adjusted as follows. Individuals who are affiliated with the company or organizationwhich has an excess of representatives shall be removed based on the number of votes they received until such individuals no longer hold a majority of the seats on the board. Other candidates shall replace them, based on the number of votes they received.
* 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 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 available 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 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. In case that seats do not get elected, the new board will appoint them as board members until the next election.
* Constitution: A new board 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.
* Tie: In the event of a tie for the final slot 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 all seats are to be filled during the run-off elections - will appoint candidates running in the run-off elections to fill the remaining slots.
* Forced reelection: If 20 per cent of the openSUSE members require a new board election, an election will be held for the complete elected Board seats.
* Amendment: Changes by the election rules can be done by vote of the board where 2/3s approve it including the chairperson or by vote of the membership where 2/3 of the openSUSE members approve it.
-- Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE
My apologies, I haven't contributed to this until now, and haven't read the comments to date. There are a number of minor typos and grammatical mistakes which are easiest corrected at the end in a document rather than an email. Only one affects the meaning (marked above). I'm concerned that two sets of rules in here conflict, and there needs to be a statement of priority. There are rules which reduce the number of elected people (no more than 40% to one organisation) and rules to ensure enough people get elected. They could conflict, i.e. by applying the 40% rules there are too few electable candidates and so the election cannot be held. Do we hold the election anyway (because it's better to have a board than no board) or try to get more candidates (because it's most important to ensure no one organisation has control)? David -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org