New subject: Enc.: [opensuse-project] Revising the Board election rules

25 Aug 2010

      AJ
Talking with Izabel about openSUSE next Board elections and she told me
and shared a link about gnome elections rules used [1]. I got a quick
look up there and what I saw makes me believe the last link [2] could
help us with a different view and strategy used by gnome-foundation to
the similar task. I know we are different communities with different
goals but I really believe we always have some to exchange with others
communities.
GNOME Foundation 2010 Elections
[1] http://foundation.gnome.org/elections/2010/
Elections 2010: Overview of the Board of Directors
[2] http://foundation.gnome.org/elections/overview.html
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Em 25/08/2010 às 04:27 PM, na mensagem
AANLkTi=Wwhqedt_Yc5yjG=8qenB0HgW8dWARpyK-00y4@mail.gmail.com, Izabel
Valverde
valverde.izabel@gmail.com gravou:
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Oi meu amor,
Vê se agrega alguma coisa o exemplo da Gnome: 
http://foundation.gnome.org/elections/
Um grande beijo!
2010/8/25 Carlos Ribeiro CRibeiro@komputer.com.br:
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FYI
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Em 25/08/2010 às 10:54 AM, na mensagem
201008251554.38854.aj@novell.com, 
Andreas Jaeger aj@novell.com gravou:
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Last years election of seats for the openSUSE board showed that
our
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election
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rules are not complete.  So, before the elections this year start,
I
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propose
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that we refine the rules and like to start with this post a
discussion on
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how 
to change them.
I see the following situations not handled:
* Less candidates than seats for a category

(Novell/non-Novell)
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* Equal number of candidates and open seats for a category 

(Novell/non-
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Novell) 
    * a board member resigning 
    * a board member disappearing and not engaging in the board 
    * a board member getting hired by Novell or leaves Novell
We also need to clarify when the new board constitutes.
We should have a light weight process that is not overly complex
and
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results
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in endless votes. We vote for people that volunteer their time for
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the
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openSUSE project and don*t get any material benefits for it. So,
let*s keep
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that in mind when discussing alternatives.
Also, currently the board has five elected seats (three non-Novell
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and two
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Novell) that get elected, so it could be that we have enough
non-Novell
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candidates but not enough Novell ones etc. To make this text
easier,
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I will
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not mention this everytime.
I have a first proposal before discussing the situations: The
board
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should
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be 
allowed to appoint people to board seats until the next board
constitutes.
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The alternative would be to have a special election when a seat
becomes
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empty. 
I fear that this just overly complicates the process.
New rule: Appointment: In case that board seats will get
appointed,
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they get
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appointed by the board.  Appointed seats are only appointed until
the
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next
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election.  The board can appoint also non-Novell folks on Novell
seats and
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vice-versa.
I suggest also to not only have self-nominations but that people
can
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nominate 
others * and the election officials will then ask the nominated
person
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whether 
they stand up for election.
New rule: Nominations: The election officials will take
self-nominations,
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nominations by others and can nominate people for election.  The
election
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officials will contact the nominated people and ask them whether
they
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stand
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for election. 
Insufficient Nominations:
This is a sorry state since it means that not enough openSUSE
members
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are
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willing to volunteer for the board. In that case, the board should
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appoint
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people to join the board and it can put Novell employees on
non-Novell seats
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and vice-versa. With the next election, the seat distribution
would
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be fixed
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again.
New rule: Insufficient Nominations: If there are fewer nominees
for
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elected
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Board seats than required to fill all seats, than the board will
appoint
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these 
remaining seats.
The question remains what to do with the candidates that
volunteer,
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let*s
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handle them in the next case: 
Equal number of candidates and seats
One option here is to just declare the candidates as new board
members.
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This 
would be the simplest process.
In other situations, you have a vote of confidence where people
give
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a
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yes/no 
vote for the candidates.
One suggestion is a yes/no/abstain vote for the candidates and a
candidate
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needs more yes than no votes to be elected.  If somebody does not
get
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elected, 
the seat gets appointed (see insufficient nominations). 
Since it could happen that one category has enough nominations but
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not the
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other, the voting would be different for both categories and this
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makes the
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whole process complicated.  So, I suggest to change the rule to
have
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just
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more 
than 50 per cent yes votes.
New rule: Equal number of candidates of seats: If there is an
equal
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number
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of 
candidates and seats, voting occurs as normal but each candidate
needs to
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have 
more than 50 per cent yes votes. In case that seats do not get
elected, the
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board will appoint them. 
Board member resigning
The board should appoint somebody.
New rule: Resigning: If a board member resigns, the board should
appoint a
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new 
board member. 
Removal of board member
This is something that*s not covered yet as well. What happens if
a
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member
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disappears virtually? Or what if a board member goes wild?
New rule: Removal: In the event of repeated absence without
contact,
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or
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other 
serious misconduct or negligence, a Board member may be subject to
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removal.
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Before any other process occurs, the Board member in question will
be
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personally contacted by the chairperson to try to resolve the
situation. If
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this contact does not successfully resolve the situation, the
Board
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member
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in 
question may be removed by unanimous vote of the other members of
the
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Board.
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The board should appoint a new board member. 
Getting hired by Novell or leaves Novell
The elected seats are currently either Novell employee seats or
non-Novell
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employee seats. Should a board member resign if he gets fired or
hired by
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Novell?  IMO the board should stay functional, the seat was
elected.
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So,
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again let*s use a pragmatic approach:
New rule: Change of employment: The board member will continue to
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stay
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in the board until the end of the term and the next election the 
distribution 
of seats gets fixed again. 
Constitution
There was some confusion when the new term starts, let*s rectify
it.
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New rule: Constitution: A new board term should start on the first
of
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January, 
the elections should be finished 14 days before.  In the case of
delays, the
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new board will start 7 days after the election results are
published.
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Amendment
How can we change the rules?  Should the election officials be in
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charge of
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them or the board itself?  As member of the election officials for
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the 2009
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board election, I propose this change but I suggest that anybody
can
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propose
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changes but that the board has the final say on them.
New rule: Amendment: Changes by the election rules can be done by
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vote of
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the 
board where 2/3s approve including the chairperson.
So, once there*s consensus about my changes, I propose that the
board
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approves 
them as stated in the Changes of elections. 
Conclusion
The current openSUSE Board election rules are available in the
wiki.
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Did I miss any case in the elections? What would you differently
than
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I
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proposed?
Btw. I read the Fedora guidelines on Board elections and also read
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also what
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Jono Bacon wrote in *The Art of community management* on
governance.
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Published also via:
http://lizards.opensuse.org/2010/08/25/revising-the-board-election-rules/
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Andreas
Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE,
aj@{novell.com,opensuse.org}
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Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi 
   SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG
Nürnberg)
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Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany 
 GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F  FED1 389A 563C

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Re: Enc.: [opensuse-project] Revising the Board election rules

Andreas