Re: Official Ballot for GNOME Foundation Referendum

[Brian Nitz - Software Engineer <Brian Nitz Sun COM>]

GNOME Foundation Elections wrote:

> Dear Brian Nitz,
>
> It is with great pleasure that the GNOME Membership Committee is
> announcing the start of the Anonymous Voting Referendum period. Your
> vote should be received by Friday, October 8th 2004, 23:59 UTC.
>
> This is your ballot for voting in the referendum.
>
>
> About the Referendum
> ====================
>
> In September 2003, the board discussed a possible move toward an
> anonymous voting scheme for the annual GNOME Foundation board of
> directors elections and brought it to the members on
> foundation-list gnome org  
>
> You can read this thread here:
>
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2003-September/msg00008.html
>
> After much discussion, it was agreed that there was significant
> objection to this so that the GNOME Foundation should hold a referendum
> to decide whether future elections should use an anonymous voting
> mechanism.
>
> Anonymous voting would allow members to vote for the board of directors
> in privacy. While the breakdown of results will be open, the individual 
> who voted for a given list of people will not be named.
>
> Information about the GNOME Foundation is here:
>
>  http://foundation.gnome.org/
>
> Voting instructions
> ===================
>
> Do you agree with an anonymous voting process for any future GNOME
> Foundation elections and referenda?
>
> The choices are:
>
> *YES* or *NO*
>
> At the end of the voting period, all votes will be posted publicly for
> verification; this is NOT a secret ballot. At that time, please verify
> that your vote was received and counted and alert elections gnome org if
> it was not.
>
> Concerns or questions about the voting process should be sent to
> elections gnome org  Preliminary results will be announced as soon as
> possible after voting closes (most probably on October 11th). Challenges
> to these preliminary results should be sent prior to October 22th.
>
> To vote, send an email to vote gnome org (you can just reply to this
> mail: the '> ' coming from the reply are okay). Your mail should contain
> the following three personalized authentication lines, unmodified:
>
> Member: Brian Nitz
> Member Address: brian nitz sun com
> Validation Token: b1d23e33f61384e2a006b9ec5b45d8fc
>
> These three lines allow us to verify that you are a foundation member
> and that your email came from you.
>
> Try not to include any text in your email other than the three
> authentication lines followed by the choice you're voting for.
>
> You shall receive a confirmation for your vote.
>
> Invalid vote
> ============
>
> Your ballot will be considered invalid if one of these conditions has
> been violated:
>
> * there is no member e-mail address
> * the member e-mail address is not the e-mail address this ballot was
>  sent to
> * there is no validation token
> * the validation token is not valid
>
> Your ballot
> ===========
>
>  
>
> > > DO NOT DELETE THIS <<
> > >      
> Member: Brian Nitz
> Member Address: brian nitz sun com
> Validation Token: b1d23e33f61384e2a006b9ec5b45d8fc
>  
>
> > > DO NOT DELETE THIS <<
> > >      
>
> Do you agree with an anonymous voting process for any future GNOME
> Foundation elections and referenda?
>
> The choices are: 
>
> NO  # keep this line if you want to vote for no, else you should drop it
>
> Deadline
> ========
>
> Votes will not be accepted after Friday, October 8th 2004, 23:59 UTC, so
> make sure you vote before this time.
>
>
> The GNOME Foundation Election & Membership Committee
>
>  Eric Baudais <baudais kkpsi org>
>  Gael Chamoulaud <strider gnome org>
>  Sayamindu Dasgupta <sayamindu randomink org>
>  Gregory Leblanc <gleblanc linuxweasel com>
>  Vincent Untz <vincent vuntz net>
>