Results of the 2015 Election to the X.Org BoD & Vote on the By-Law Changes

[Eberhard Moenkeberg]

Hi,

On Mon, 13 Apr 2015, Eric Anholt wrote:
> Peter Jones <pjones at redhat.com> writes:
>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 04:10:24PM +1000, Peter Hutterer wrote:
>>> On Thu, Apr 09, 2015 at 08:27:45AM +0100, Daniel Stone wrote:
>>>>> 2. On the question:
>>>>>
>>>>> Do you agree to the changed By-Laws?
>>>>> No 2
>>>>> Abstain 4
>>>>> Yes 35
>>>>>
>>>>> According to Article 7 of the Oct. 29, 2006 By-Laws the following
>>>>> provision is made for changes to the By-Laws:
>>>>>
>>>>>  "AMENDMENT These By-law may be altered, amended or repealed by
>>>>>   an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds (2/3) of the Members
>>>>>   of X.Org."
>>>>>
>>>>> With 69 active Members a two-thirds of the Members of X.Org is 46.
>>>>> This would be the number of affirmative votes required for acceptance.
>>>>> This was clearly missed. Therefore the changes to the By-Laws
>>>>> were not accepted.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> That's incredibly disappointing, especially with such a resounding majority
>>>> of those who did vote in favour.
>>>>
>>>> Do we have a good sense of why turnout is so low? How does this compare
>>>> with previous elections, including the last bylaw revision? And, more
>>>> importantly, where to from here?
>>>
>>> I'm gonna go with "communication issues". with the delay in the election it
>>> was pushed to the easter week where plenty of people are on holidays. The
>>> final day was easter sunday, so we should've spammed a lot more reminders to
>>> make sure we get through to everyone. And it looks like it wasn't clear to
>>> all members that the 2/3 majority was required to get the bylaws approved.
>>>
>>> Voter participation wasn't bad as such, I think 41 out of 69 is on par or
>>> higher than most other projects, or political elections in general. The need
>>> for a 2/3 majority is what killed us here though.
>>>
>>> Personally, I think the clear tendency towards "yes" is motivation enough
>>> that we should try again, with clearer communication how important the vote
>>> is (this is not an official position of the board).
>>> SPI is likely to extend another invitation should we get to that point.
>>
>> As somebody who probably is counted as an "active" member for this
>> purpose, but *really* isn't, I think you're right.
>>
>> Which is to say that my incredibly passive membership is among the
>> reasons this completely reasonable initiative, which I knew about but
>> hadn't thought through in terms of /do I need to vote for this and if so
>> when/, didn't pass.  That's really embarrassing.  Sorry.
>
> Hey, I'm a former board member, and I missed the voting window myself (I
> saw the "changes up for review" message but missed that it was time to
> go click buttons).  2/3 of active, rather than 2/3 of those who voted,
> is harsh.
>
> I'm hoping the board takes another go at this.  My apologies to them.  I
> think we've done nag emails during votes before, and it might be worth
> it if another vote happens.

Yes, agree, this has to be fulfilled to continue the mission. Another 
go, no chance seen here to say it less sensitive.

We have elected our decisioners for all questions (say: for this too), so 
I am waiting for a new way to say yes (again) in the next vote.

I guess there is no negative relative majority, but only a sleeping one. 
So the best chance for the director's board to influence the members onto 
the way to the goal:

Simply try to waikup with some focussed words, and let us elect again.

I guess this "plus vote" is an existential need for X.org.

Viele Gruesse
Eberhard Moenkeberg (emoenke at gwdg.de, em at kki.org)

-- 
Eberhard Moenkeberg
Arbeitsgruppe IT-Infrastruktur
E-Mail: emoenke at gwdg.de      Tel.: +49 (0)551 201-1551
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gesellschaft fuer wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Goettingen (GWDG)
Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Goettingen
Zertifiziert nach ISO 9001
URL:    http://www.gwdg.de             E-Mail: gwdg at gwdg.de
Tel.:   +49 (0)551 201-1510            Fax:    +49 (0)551 201-2150
Geschaeftsfuehrer:         Prof. Dr. Ramin Yahyapour
Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender: Prof. Dr. Christian Griesinger
Sitz der Gesellschaft:     Goettingen
Registergericht:           Goettingen  Handelsregister-Nr. B 598
-------------------------------------------------------------------------