[OSGeo-Discuss] Fwd: Re: withdrawal from Board election

[Vasile Craciunescu]

Forwarding Even's opinion on the subject.

Best,
Vasile
CRO 2017


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] withdrawal from Board election
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2017 16:27:45 +0200
From: Even Rouault <even.rouault at spatialys.com>
To: Barry Rowlingson <b.rowlingson at lancaster.ac.uk>, Vasile Craciunescu 
<vasile at geo-spatial.org>

On dimanche 22 octobre 2017 14:33:30 CEST Barry Rowlingson wrote:
> My proposal to the Board and the OSGeo charter members is to leave the
> 
> > list as it is and make sure that the people that did not vote yet are
> > aware of Jeff's request to withdraw from the Board elections.
> 
> No, this is completely off. If a candidate withdraws during an election,
> you should declare the current ballot void and start a new one without the
> withdrawn candidate.
> 
> Leaving the ballot running, but telling people who have not voted yet that
> one candidate has withdrawn is *unfair* to those who already voted.
> 
> I would hope that running a ballot is low-enough cost that this doesn't
> have a cost impact, unlike a paper election!
> 
> If Jeff had been elected to the board and then resigned the day after the
> election then I assume there's regulations for having new by-elections for
> vacant seats, but this situation is not the same.
> 

I had a quick search in the bylaws and as far as I can see, there's no 
provison for a candidate withdrawing during the election time.
For what is worth, in France for presidential election, once the 
candidatures have been approved as valid, a candidate can no longer 
withdraw (the election would be re-run only in the case where a 
candidate would die or some force majeure impeaching him). If there are 
laws of Delaware on the subject, they would probably be a better fit in 
that instance...
So my view on this situation would be to proceed to the end of the 
election with the initial list of candidates. And there are 3 possible 
outcomes:
* candidate wanting to withdraw is finally not elected. Life goes on
* candidate is elected, and immediately resigns. Then my understanding 
of bylaws ("Section 3.7. Vacancies") is that the remaining directors 
will elect someone to fill the seat
* candidate is elected, and doesn't resign. Life goes on

Re-running elections could result in a almost endless loop in case 
individuals organize a plot to propose candidates and that they resign 
during the election (until we go short of charter members to be 
elligible :-) And, in fact, nothing probably formally prevents a 
candidate that has withdrawned to be a candidate again...)

(I dropped-off discuss at lists.osgeo.org from my reply to limit the 
trafic, but if Vasile prefers to make it public, or incorporate some of 
it in a message, no problem)

Even

-- 
Spatialys - Geospatial professional services
http://www.spatialys.com