Re: GNOME Foundation elections!

[rms39 columbia edu (Russell Steinthal)]

Joe Shaw writes:
>> 
>> My inclination would be to go with an impartial body, i.e. a 
>> committee without any members who are also standing for election.  
>
>Perhaps the collab.net guys could be in charge of this? Are they still
>involved in the foundation? How will having an oversight board make the
>election process radically easier?
>
>As long as everyone verifies their own vote, I don't really see a big
>problem in having the community oversee their own election.

I think that self-validation is the assumed first step; Havoc's
message, at least as I read it, addressed the step beyond that: how do
we arbitrate any disputes which might arise?  The traditional "discuss
until we get consensus" model is simply not sufficient for this
purpose, when we need to reach a definite decision in a short period
of time.  Hopefully, there won't be any disputes which require
adjudication; I doubt there will be.  But we should have a process,
even if a simple one, in place in advance to handle any problems which
do arise.

Havoc suggested two possible mechanisms: allow the current steering
committee to rule on any questions (subject to recusal by members at
interest in the dispute) or having an independent body whose sole
purpose is to resolve the hopefully small number of disputes.  I
suggested that I think the latter would be simpler.

As to collab.net, if they are willing and non-candidates, they could
certainly fill this role, probably better than an ad hoc group could.

-Russell