Re: GNOME Foundation elections!

[Joe Shaw <joe helixcode com>]

> - October 30 (Monday): Elections begin.
> - November 6 (Monday): Elections end.

I think we might want to extend this a few more days, perhaps up to a
week, so we can get as many people to vote as possible, including the
people who aren't the most active.

> Some open issues:

I'm pretty satisfied with the charter as it is, the wide base of
registered voters, and the membership subcommittee.

> 4.  Putting together slates.
> As outlined in the charter, registered voters will elect a slate of
> board members and there is a process by which members can submit
> slates.  Hopefully there'll be a number of slates from which
> GNOME hackers can choose. I believe that the GNOME Steering Committee
> will also submit a slate for the board.  Hopefully, slates will be
> submitted with a note explaining why the proposed board composition will
> best meet our needs.

With the proposed elections process happening so soon, now might be a good
time to work out the technical details of these. Because of these time
constraints, I think that this election should be done via email to a
public list or something so that the count can pretty accurate and easily
verified. As for proposing slates, how can one "officially" submit a
slate? Post it to this list? gnome-list? Some foundation-slate-proposal
list? We'll need to make this very clear so that when we post to
gnome-announce, gnome-list, gnome-devel-list, gnome-hackers, gnotices, and
a bunch of other sites, people will know where to go. We don't want anyone
missing the boat.

> So rather than having a heated debate about this, if someone is really
> excited about going the fancy way, please find software or propose a
> concrete way to do this within the proposed timeline.

I would prefer the fancy way because of the number of proposed slates and
small variations that I'm sure we'll probably get, but I don't have the
time to do this. It probably wouldn't be too hard for someone to do if we
required that the votes be in a certain easy-to-parse format.

> 6.  Drafting the announcement.
> To be done, but it would include links to the archives of this list, the
> foundation charter, the Foundation FAQ document and the membership
> list.   It would explain the purpose of the foundation, the timeline,
> and how to submit a slate.
> 
> 7.  Why elections before incorporation?
> We have previously discussed the order of elections vs incorporation,
> and I most recently proposed that we first incorporate the
> GNOME Foundation and then hold elections, but I propose that we separate
> out the elections from incorporation and start organizing elections for
> the Board of Directors of the foundation.

Are there any legal issues with the charter that need to be resolved? If
not, I say we go for it and transfer control of the foundation to the
elected board from an intermediary like we were thinking as soon as is
appropriate or just installing the board if they're elected before the
foundation is incorporated.

> The chief argument to have elections after the foundation is
> incorporated is that we will then have by-laws and articles of
> incorporation, so it'll be more clear what the foundation is supposed to
> do.  The counter-argument to that is the charter of the GNOME Foundation
> has been fairly stable for a while now, and there is rough consensus on
> the mission of the foundation.  

Agreed. How do the articles of incorporation directly affect the job of
the board in such a way that elections must or ought to be held after the
incorporation?

Joe