[OSGeo-Discuss] withdrawal from Board election

[Ben Caradoc-Davies]

Vasile,

+1. You have my full support for this course of action.

I am not aware of any voting system that permits withdrawal of a 
candidate during the voting period. In my view, withdrawal during the 
voting period is out of order. Should the candidate be elected, the 
candidate may then formally resign. This will not be the CRO's problem.

If a vacancy occurs immediately after a board election, I urge the board 
to use their authority to appoint as the replacement board member the 
unsuccessful candidate with the most votes. This would be in order, be 
in accord with the bylaws, and in keeping with the spirit of the 
election. Voters are no more disadvantaged than if they had voted for an 
unsuccessful candidate.

Kind regards,
Ben.

On 23/10/17 02:19, Vasile Craciunescu wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> Please accept my apologies for the delayed reply. I was heavily involved 
> in organizing the 20th edition of FOSS4G Romania [1].
> 
> I will try to express my opinion on what was said here and the board 
> mailing list.
> 
> 1. Neighter CRO or the Board cannot refuse Jeff's request to withdraw 
> from the elections. In the absence of a specific rule, this is a 
> unilateral act which does not require the CRO/Board acceptance in order 
> to be valid. So, is up to Jeff to decide, based on people feedback, if 
> he maintains his request or not.
> 
> 2. We cannot remove Jeff's name from the voting ballot for at least two 
> reasons. First one if of technical nature. LimeSurvey, the tool used for 
> the electronic voting system, does not allow such changes in a running 
> survey. Second, it is not correct/moral to change the list. Almost half 
> of our charter members voted already based on that list and, actually, 
> this is the main problem. Jeff's withdrawal has the potential to affect 
> the result of this elections. We will never know where his votes could 
> go and we have no clue how his decision will impact the votes that are 
> still to come. Unfortunately, I see no good solution for the situation.
> 
> 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. I can 
> insert the information in the reminder mail that I'm planing to submit 
> tonight/Monday morning.
> 
> Best,
> Vasile
> CRO 2017
> 
> 
> [1] http://www.geo-spatial.org/osgeo/bucuresti2017
> 
> 
> On 10/21/17 3:34 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>> Dear CRO,
>>
>> Please accept my withdrawal from the Board election.  I am sorry to 
>> cause all of the problems so clearly explained by so many here 
>> publicly this election.
>>
>> I wish to take the time now to thank all of the candidates for 
>> volunteering their time for the OSGeo community.
>>
>> Yours,
>>
>> -Jeff McKenna
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
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-- 
Ben Caradoc-Davies <ben at transient.nz>
Director
Transient Software Limited <http://transient.nz/>
New Zealand