Governance

Now we've completed the process of running our first community elections, let's put some effort into recording what we did, and think about what we could do better.

We've had some great debates. Some decisions have had to be made quickly for pragmatic reasons, and some problems were not foreseen. So this is a rough wiki space to start noting the "ok, so we should do that differently" issues that have arisen, and may continue to arise.

So in true wikispirit - go forth, edit and BE BOLD :)

Voter Eligibility

Overview

The Drupal Association is holding its first round of elections for "at-large" (community-elected) board members under its new governance structure. This proposal was prepared by numerous community participants, including the Election Committee members, at http://groups.drupal.org/node/199178 and related sub-threads.

Election Timeline

December 30 - January 14 (2 weeks): Election committee works with community to develop plan for elections.
January 15 - 17 (3 days): Final refinement of plan, get election tools in place.

As a result of the call to discuss the DA board elections resulting from this thread: http://groups.drupal.org/node/199178, we agreed to post a couple of specific follow up threads on topics that needed further resolution, so I'm posting on behalf of those who were on the call (FTR the call's etherpad is here: http://lullapad.com/5TCVHgaCYV)

The relevant section of the DA Board Election wiki post calling for input and suggestions has been pasted below for convenience.

As a result of the call to discuss the DA board elections resulting from this thread: http://groups.drupal.org/node/199178, we agreed to post a couple of specific follow up threads on topics that needed further resolution, so I'm posting on behalf of those who were on the call (FTR the call's etherpad is here: http://lullapad.com/5TCVHgaCYV):

Voting eligibility

Question: Who gets to vote [DA Members? Drupal.org users? Some other parameters?]

Answer: Basically, narrowed it down to two choices for this year's election, and these are generally for practical reasons:

To help provide background information that Drupal community members might find useful in tasks like planning elections of at large Drupal Association directors, this wiki page aims to document the evolution of decision making and meetings in the Drupal Associations, both the Belgian-based VZW and the US-based Drupalcon Inc.

The DA board has regular meetings online and in-person. It's currently a requirement for board members to attend 4 in-person meetings per year.

Board members can get reimbursed for costs if that is necessary and if the DA has the funds for it.

Is this a reasonable requirement to place on board members?

Are in-person meetings valuable for the board?

Does this burden exclude people who would be valuable board members?

This planning document produced a plan for the 2012 Drupal Association elections of at large directors that was approved by the DA board.

The Drupal Association is holding its first round of elections for board members under its new governance structure. See the the elections announcement for background and details. To invite community input on how best to run the elections, we've outlined below some possible suggestions, along with their pros and cons. Please tell us what you think by posting comments, or add your ideas!