Monday 5 April, 2004, will be the first annual election for members of the MMBase Management Comittee. At this date we will bring out a vote to elect members for two seats that will become contestable. The contestable seats for this year are those of Rico Jansen and Daniel Ockeloen.
You have until march 29 (next monday) to announce yourself as candidate (if you had not done already), by sending an email to the MMC at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Candidates should realize that they are expected to be able to spend 4 hours a week on MMC duties. please refer to the rules below for requirements.
Monday 29 march we will announce the candidates, which allows those who desire to ask questions. Monday april 5 we will start the actual vote. Voting takes a week. You vote for one candidate for each seat.
Voting make use of the rules as described below.
Pierre van Rooden, MMC voting guru
MBase Management Committee Yearly Elections
The MMBase Management Committee consists of five members, responsible for coordinating the development of MMBase and solving conflicts within the MMBase Developers Community. The MMC ensures the CVS is monitored, arranges for releases to be brought out, creates MMBase projects and assigns project leaders, and represents the Developers Community to the outside world where needed.
The original MMC was appointed when MMBase was made Open Source in April 2000. At that point, the MMC consisted of four members. The MMC later expanded to five members.
From April 2004 and onwards, the composition of the MMC will be decided through voting. To avoid continuity problems, each year the MMC will offer up the two oldest seats in the committee for elections, including any additional seats that have become vacant throughout the previous year. MMC members that offer their seat for election may re-enter the election as a candidate for the seat they are offering up.
Elections are held at April 4. A prospective candidate for a seat in the MMC need to fulfill the following requirements:
1.The member needs to be a MMBase committer for at least half a year. 2.The member needs to make himself candidate two weeks before the elections take place at the latest. (In case of the 2004 elections, this is one week. This is due to the late release of the voting rules.) 3.The member needs to make himself a public candidate for the MMC through the developers list. 4.The member acknowledges that MMC membership is on a personal basis, is volunteers work, and does not as a rule involve payment or compensation of time spent performing MMC tasks. 5.The member has the means to spend 4 hours a week performing MMC tasks (some of which may be during office hours). 6. One makes oneself candidate by emailing the MMC ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) annnouncing ones candidacy.
Once made candidate, the MMC makes a public announcement of candidates, one week before the elections to be held (March 28 at the latest). This allows candidates to present their candidacy if desired. One week later, at April 4 (or April 5 if April 4 falls in the weekend), the vote is called. This vote will again describe the seats that come available, and the candidates' names.
Each committer is allowed to vote once. Each vote should contain one name for each seat coming available (typically two, but when more seats are available, more names should be entered). A vote can contain blanks if no preference can be given for a seat. The voting takes place over the course of one week. Voting for elections is private. Votes should be send in private to the caller of the vote, who is responsible for collecting the votes and announcing the results. All committers including candidates and MMC members, but excluding the member making the call, may vote.
After voting, those candidates with the most votes take seats in the MMC. In case of a tie, unless one of the tie-ing candidates offers to retreat, a new voting round is made between tying candidates, using the same rules but limited to the tied seat. If this also ties, the MMC chooses the candidate, typically by lot. MMC members generally run at least one year in the MMC (barring personal circumstances). Each year, the two oldest members need to resign their chair (though they can make them self re-electable).
If not enough candidates are presented to make an election, the candidates are presented in a confidence vote. This vote allows committers to reject someone as unsuitable for MMC membership. This vote runs for one week. Members voting can vote YEA, ABSTAIN, NAY, or VETO on each proposed member. A candidate is accepted if there are no negative votes, if he has more positive than negative votes, and if there has been no VETO. As always, ANY and VETO votes need to be provided with arguments. Candidates cannot themselves vote on a confidence vote, nor can the caller of the vote. Unlike elective votes, a confidence vote is public.
MMC members that are not candidates are not presented in the confidence vote. Committers can, however, present a confidence vote vs a MMC member in office if they feel his or her credicility is undermined. This vote can be called by any committer at any time, and follows the proceeds of the confidence vote as described above. Note that a committer calling a confidence vote cannot vote himself.
A MMC member that fails a confidence vote is required to leave the MMC, and his or her seat will be up for election in the next year. If the seat is not one of the oldest seats, the seat is in addition to the seats that are normally held up for election.
The MMC may call for early elections if the MMC grows too small due to members resigning or being ousted. This follows the same format but involves only the seats that are empty.
