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Elections

February 2020. Honolulu, Hawai’i

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Why do elections happen?

  • We have a person stepping down
  • We have a person stepping up
  • There is contention about a role
  • There is a significant change happening in a role that impacts the entire committee
  • We do not have elections every year

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We need a process

  • Editor elections in December
  • Editor & chair elections last year
  • Each time, different process

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Recap: 2018 Chairs

  • Presentation was made in September with a new management structure proposed
  • December, Presentation was recapped
  • Chairs were asked to leave the room
  • Asked if there were objections to the chair group
  • There were none
  • Chair group was elected

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Recap: 2018 Editors

  • Editors were asked to leave the room
  • Editors were discussed at length (1hr)
  • Paper ballot counted by the new chair group
    • Ballot was counted by a simple majority using “first and second option voting”
    • Ballot had the following options:
      • Editor a
      • Editor b
      • Both editors
    • “Both editors” option got the simple majority (50%)
  • Editors were elected on the same day

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Recap: 2019 Editors

  • Editors were asked to leave the room
  • Editors were discussed at length (1hr)
  • Mail in ballot sent to Ecma international
    • Ballot was counted by a simple majority
    • Ballot had each editor as a potential candidate, voted on in isolation from one another
    • All editors got a simple majority
  • Editors were elected one month later

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A Proposal

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Pre-election

  • Projects and plans by a group can be presented for discussion by the committee
    • Projects planned to be undertaken
    • Roles, time commitment
  • Before the election,presentation is recapped

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Election

  • Candidates leave the room
  • Room is asked “do we want to vote”
    • No - then the candidates are elected by unanimous vote
    • Yes - discussion of candidates on the following lines
      • What do they bring to the role?
      • What areas need work for them to perform this role?
      • This feedback is summarized outside of the notes and given to the candidates regardless of the result
      • Election discussion timeboxed to 30 min. max 1 hr.

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Ballot

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Some questions

  • Do we want to have a mail in ballot? Or an on site paper ballot?
  • Should it be a simple majority or a super majority?

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Why Paper Ballot

  • Email system drops and is inconsistent in sending emails
  • Result is faster, groups can start working faster

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Discussion