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
...
...
...
Em 25/08/2010 às 04:27 PM, na mensagem
, Izabel
Valverde
 gravou:
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 :
...
FYI
...
...
...
Em 25/08/2010 às 10:54 AM, na mensagem 
<201008251554.38854.aj@novell.com>, 
Andreas Jaeger  gravou: 
Last years election of seats for the openSUSE board showed that
our 
election 
rules are not complete.  So, before the elections this year start,
I 
propose
that we refine the rules and like to start with this post a 
discussion on 
how 
to change them.
I see the following situations not handled:
* Less candidates than seats for a category
(Novell/non-Novell) 
    * Equal number of candidates and open seats for a category 
(Novell/non- 
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 
results
in endless votes. We vote for people that volunteer their time for
...
...
the
...
openSUSE project and don*t get any material benefits for it. So, 
let*s keep 
that in mind when discussing alternatives.
Also, currently the board has five elected seats (three non-Novell
...
...
...
Novell) that get elected, so it could be that we have enough 
non-Novell 
candidates but not enough Novell ones etc. To make this text
easier, 
I will 
not mention this everytime.
I have a first proposal before discussing the situations: The
board 
should 
be 
allowed to appoint people to board seats until the next board 
constitutes.
The alternative would be to have a special election when a seat 
becomes 
empty. 
I fear that this just overly complicates the process.
New rule: Appointment: In case that board seats will get
appointed,
and two 
they get
...
appointed by the board.  Appointed seats are only appointed until
the 
next
...
election.  The board can appoint also non-Novell folks on Novell 
seats and 
vice-versa.
I suggest also to not only have self-nominations but that people
can
...
nominate 
others * and the election officials will then ask the nominated 
person 
whether 
they stand up for election.
New rule: Nominations: The election officials will take 
self-nominations, 
nominations by others and can nominate people for election.  The 
election 
officials will contact the nominated people and ask them whether
they 
stand 
for election. 
Insufficient Nominations:
This is a sorry state since it means that not enough openSUSE
members 
are 
willing to volunteer for the board. In that case, the board should
...
...
appoint
...
people to join the board and it can put Novell employees on 
non-Novell seats
and vice-versa. With the next election, the seat distribution
would 
be fixed
again.
New rule: Insufficient Nominations: If there are fewer nominees
for 
elected 
Board seats than required to fill all seats, than the board will 
appoint 
these 
remaining seats.
The question remains what to do with the candidates that
volunteer, 
let*s 
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. 
This 
would be the simplest process.
In other situations, you have a vote of confidence where people
give 
a 
yes/no 
vote for the candidates.
One suggestion is a yes/no/abstain vote for the candidates and a 
candidate 
needs more yes than no votes to be elected.  If somebody does not
get
...
elected, 
the seat gets appointed (see insufficient nominations). 
Since it could happen that one category has enough nominations but
...
...
not the
...
other, the voting would be different for both categories and this
...
...
makes the
...
whole process complicated.  So, I suggest to change the rule to
have 
just 
more 
than 50 per cent yes votes.
New rule: Equal number of candidates of seats: If there is an
equal 
number 
of 
candidates and 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 
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 
new 
board member. 
Removal of board member
This is something that*s not covered yet as well. What happens if
a 
member 
disappears virtually? Or what if a board member goes wild?
New rule: 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 unanimous vote of the other members of
the 
Board.
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 
employee seats. Should a board member resign if he gets fired or 
hired by 
Novell?  IMO the board should stay functional, the seat was
elected. 
So, 
again let*s use a pragmatic approach:
New rule: Change of employment: The board member will continue to
...
...
stay
...
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.
New rule: 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.
...
Amendment
How can we change the rules?  Should the election officials be in
...
...
charge of
...
them or the board itself?  As member of the election officials for
...
...
...
board election, I propose this change but I suggest that anybody
can
the 2009 
propose
...
changes but that the board has the final say on them.
New rule: Amendment: Changes by the election rules can be done by
...
...
vote of
...
the 
board where 2/3s approve including the chairperson.
So, once there*s consensus about my changes, I propose that the 
board 
approves 
them as stated in the Changes of elections. 
Conclusion
The current openSUSE Board election rules are available in the
wiki.
...
Did I miss any case in the elections? What would you differently
than 
I
...
proposed?
Btw. I read the Fedora guidelines on Board elections and also read
...
...
also what
...
Jono Bacon wrote in *The Art of community management* on
governance.
...
Published also via:
http://lizards.opensuse.org/2010/08/25/revising-the-board-election-rules/
...
...
...
Andreas 
-- 
 Andreas Jaeger, Program Manager openSUSE,
aj@{novell.com,opensuse.org}
...
Twitter: jaegerandi | Identica: jaegerandi 
   SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG
Nürnberg)
...
...
Maxfeldstr. 5, 90409 Nürnberg, Germany 
     GPG fingerprint = 93A3 365E CE47 B889 DF7F  FED1 389A 563C
C272
...
A126
...
-- 
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org

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

Carlos Ribeiro

jdd

Andreas Jaeger

tags

participants (3)