Elections for the board of Open Source Matters inc. occur twice a year at 6 monthly intervals to ensure continuity of the board by electing half the members in each cycle.   

This method has been adopted to ensure continuity at board level. Please see the election cycle document on the Open Source Matters site here for more information.

The following 5 positions are open for nomination and election in this cycle:

• President
• Secretary
• Production Department Coordinator
• Legal & Finance Department Coordinator
• Operations Department Coordinator

PROCESS FOR DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR ELECTIONS

Each department already has teams set up under them. The Team Leaders of each team in each department will cast one (1) vote for the person they wish to be their Department Coordinator.

Votes will be tallied and a winner will be chosen. In the event that the winner of this vote is already a Team Lead, their role as Team Lead will need to be backfilled as an individual may not serve as a Department Coordinator and also be a Team Lead concurrently.

It is a good idea for all nominees to familiarize themselves with the Bylaws especially the sections relating to the Department Coordinator Team Leader role:

http://opensourcematters.org/images/documents/20-10-2016-OSM-ByLaws.pdf

PROCESS FOR OFFICER ELECTIONS

Each Department Coordinator and Team Leader will cast one (1) vote each for each Officer Position.  These votes will be tallied within each department and the results of this tally will serve as the Department’s vote for the officer.  

Additionally each existing Officer (President, Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer) will also cast one (1) vote for each Position.  

The four (4) Officer votes will be added to the department votes and the candidate with the most votes for each position will be duly elected.

Timeline

• Deadline for Nominations: 27th of January 2018 at 23:59 GMT.
• Deadline for acceptance: 3rd of February 2018 at 23:59 GMT
  (Nominees who have not responded by this time will be presumed to be not interested in the position and removed from the ballot)
• Ballots issued:  4th of February 2018 by 15:00 GMT
  (Via a Google Form to Team Leads and Department Coordinator Team Leaders to cast votes for each officer position.  If all nominees accept prior to the closing date, this may be brought forward.)
• Voting Closes:  10th February 2018 at 23:59 GMT.
  (The Secretary will tally up each Departments’ votes as outlined in Section 6.02.E of the Bylaws (excerpt above).  If a Team Lead or Department Coordinator has not voted by this time, their vote will be classed as an abstention.)
• Results Published: 12th February 2018 at 15:00 GMT
• Handover/Transition Period: Ends 24th March 2018
  In order to allow a smooth transition for new and departing board members, a transition period has been added before the end of the previous term. During this period the existing Department Coordinator / Officer will still hold their position. The new Department Coordinator / Officer will shadow them until their term officially starts on the 24th March 2018. 

Submit your nomination using the form at the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/FPseIr6CJLrCklCr1
Please be aware that the form will be closed automatically at the deadline, January 27th, 2018 at 23.59 GMT.