Re: changed charter, new elections proposal

[rms39 columbia edu (Russell Steinthal)]

On Fri, 29 Sep 2000 08:50:35 PDT, Bart Decrem wrote:

>- I disagree with Russell's proposal below.  Setting aside specific slots for
>specific types of representation would be a mess that's an order of magnitude
>bigger than having slates.

It might be; I was simply pointing out that if we really believe 
broad representation is a paramount goal, we may not get that out of 
a straight election.  I don't happen to think it's that important (I 
think we'll get good diversity from the fact that the project is 
diverse to start with), so I'm OK with simple elections.  
Particularly if I get volunteered to be on the election committee. :)

>No-one has commented on the proposed timeline.  Let me know if you have
>concerns about that.  Meanwhile, I'm going to start writing up election
>documents.

Two concerns, although they are both relatively minor:

(1) I would remove the reference to when the results will be 
announced.  The election committee should obviously be charged with 
certifying the results in as expeditious a period as possible, but I 
could certainly conceive of a situation which would require more than 
48 hours to resolve ambiguities or disputes regarding the vote.

(2) Similarly, we may need more than a day to review the final 
registration list before elections begin.  OTOH, this can be 
alleviated by simply having an understanding that if someone 
registers and subsequently is determined to be ineligible (although 
I'm not sure what could actually cause that finding), their vote can 
simply be disallowed at any point prior to the announcement of the 
results.

>Also, I know there's a membership committee that was created by the steering
>committee to oversee the members registration process.
>Havoc: who's on that?
>I propose that we turn it into an election committee that would oversee
>membership registration but that would also monitor the election, announce the
>results, and propose resolutions to election logistics issues that we bump
>into.
>Russell, can I volunteer you to join that committee?

I suppose.  One caveat, however, is that I won't be able to access the
net most weekends during the next month due to religious holidays; 
assuming there are no time critical determinations which must be made 
over those weekends, I'm ok with volunteering.  (Although I still 
think there *must* be more qualified people than me. :))

-Russell

-- 
Russell Steinthal		Columbia Law School, Class of 2002
<rms39 columbia edu>		Columbia College, Class of 1999
<steintr nj org>		UNIX System Administrator, nj.org