On Monday 04 October 2010 17:30:04 Administrator wrote:
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).
Thanks for the changes you send me off-list, I've incorporated them, here's the next version, 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 an appointed chairperson. * Eligible candidates: Only openSUSE members may be elected 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 during 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 which occurred since the last elections, the term for the newly elected board members of the current elections will be adjusted if necessary to make sure that half of the elected board seats - that means at least two out and no more than three 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 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. 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 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 if not enough people are elected. Appointed board members 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 per cent 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 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 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 per cent 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 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 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 to be elected. In case that seats do not get filled, the new board will appoint board members as necessary until the next election. * 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 mid-term election will start 7 days after appointment or election. * 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 vacant seast. * Forced reelection: 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 at least 2/3s approve it including the chairperson or by vote of the membership where at least 2/3 of the openSUSE members approve it. -- 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