Community Portal 
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.
According to the new Nomination and Election Process voted by the Members of Open Source Matters, Inc. and published here, The Secretary has to publish a Call for Manifestos from Candidates who are interested in running as Candidates for the Election as Officers and Department Coordinators of Open Source Matters, Inc.
The following 4 positions are open for nomination and election in this cycle:
Announcements about current Officers and Directors intention to run for another term.
- President - vacant
- Secretary - Angie Radtke - current will not run for another term.
- Production Department Coordinator - Sigrid Gramlinger - current - will run for another term.
- Operations Department Coordinator - vacant
Manifestos
Each interested individual in running as Candidate for any of the positions mentioned above shall send their application to the Secretary of Open Source Matters, Inc. containing:
- their Full name (legal name)
- their Country
- the position for which they're interested to run.
- their picture (or the one in the Volunteers Portal will be used).
- their manifesto in a PDF format that can be easily attached to the Candidate Announcement.
Candidates who wish to run for any of the positions, should submit their manifesto using the form linked below.
The deadline for manifesto is Febuary 16, 2026 at 23.59 UTC.
After all the manifestos will be in, the Secretary will publish a full list of candidates for each role alongside their manifestos. The Secretary will also open a “Recommendations” form which will replace the Nominations form currently used. This will give anyone an opportunity to add words of support for the candidates and let the community know why they think they are ideal for the role.
Election channels will be opened in Mattermost for each role. These channels will allow department/community members to ask candidates questions regarding their manifestos in order to help them decide who to vote for.
All the details about next steps can and the new process can be found here.
Members of Open Source Matters (Class 1, 2 and 3) as of January 19, 2026 will be entitled to vote in this Election Cycle.
Timeline
Following the expected standard timeline. In the case of Uncontested same or new Board member, the timeline would be shorter, as outlined in the Election Policy page.
| Milestone | Deadline | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Call for Candidate Manifestos published | January 19 | The Call for manifestos shall be published when a position becomes vacant after resignation or removal. This represent the "Day 0" of the election phase. |
| Candidate Manifesto submission deadline | February 16 | Candidates have 28 days to prepare/submit their manifestos. |
| Full list of Candidates and Manifestos published. Recommendation form opened. |
February 17 | 1 day after the manifesto submissions deadline. Communication channels with candidates are opened (one for each position). |
| Recommendations submission deadline | February 24 | The Community has 7 days to submit their recommendations for the candidates. During this time candidate shall be available to answer the questions from the Community in the dedicated channels. |
| Recommendations published |
February 25 | The Secretary publishes the recommendations received for each Candidate. The Community will have one week to digest the recommendations and ask questions to candidates. |
| Ballots sent out | February 26 | Voting parties have seven (7) days to submit their preferences. Ballots shall also have the opportunity to vote for "None of the above". |
| Ballots close | March 05 | Ballots automatically close at 23.59 UTC of the 7th day after the ballots are sent out. |
| Results announced / Handover begins |
March 06 | The Secretary publishes the Elections Results announcement. During the three (3) following weeks, the current DC/Officer shall start handing over information, assets and permissions to the elected successor. |
| First Day of New Term | March 27 | The newly elected DC/Officers are effective in their position. |
