Category talk:Elections

Please add questions to the elections process here and also add suggestions how we can improve the process. This page is open for anybody. If you are interested in helping to clean up ambiguities in out Elections and membership processes, please add yourself to the list below.

Member Registry

Does OSGeo have a register of current members

• Yes: http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/members/voting_members.html
• See Also: OSGeo_Advocate which provides a brief profile of many of the OSGeo members

Does the Foundation know who voted and who became inactive?

• Yes. This information is maintained by the OSGeo secretary and reflected on the Charter Membership list which is plublicly available (so far no drops-outs).
• All Charter Members are contacted before elections. During the election period members are reminded several times.
• After elections Charter Members who did not participate are contacted and informed if their status has changed to dormant due to inactivity.

Bylaws

Does anybody understand our bylaws?

• Maybe?
• Do we need to keep them as they are?
• Is there immediate need to change them?

Section 7.7 Automatic Termination.

• Currently Charter Members who have failed to take part in three consecutive elections are moved to dormant. There is no other regular interaction with or between the Charter Members, therefore there are also no meeting minutes or similar to record attendance.
  • Actually the stated criterion is 'participated in meetings' which is very different from voting.

Role of the CRO

The Chief Returning Officer administers elections.

• Is the CRO allowed to nominate members? Thsi is unclear. There has been one complaint in 2012 but no further action was taken. To avoid further discussion the CRO in 2013 (Arnulf Christl) decided to refrain from nominating individuals.
• Is the CRO allowed to take part in the elections (given she is a Charter Member at the time of the elections)?
  • Yes (otherwise it may be hard to find anybody taking on the job)

Please add your questions, ideas, answers.

Amending elections and membership process and fix bylaws

The bylaws, election and membership process of OSGeo need to be consistent. Currently they differ considerably and are amended on the fly during the process which is not good practice. Pleae add yourself to this list if you are interested in leading an effort to clean this up and make it consistent. Final approval of changes will require a successful formal board motion. Changes to the bylaws then also require a majority vote of the existing Charter Membership so this is not an easy thing.

Vision

• Protect the integrity of the Foundation
• Make the membership process as transparent and open as possible
• Amend the bylaws to be as simple as possible
• Observe legal background

Related Links

Please add if you find more!

• http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html
• http://www.osgeo.org/membership
• http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Elections
• http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category_talk:Elections

Members

Please add yourself. If the board thinks it is necessary this might become a small sub committee with official endorsement by the board.

• Arnulf Christl