Add language around voting members and affirmation

[knyghty]

No description provided.

[jefftriplett]

This is great. I think we might want to double check some of the other sections just to make sure Voting Members and membership don't cause any confussion for future boards and members.

[ryancheley]

What would the mechanism be for waiving this requirement? What would the criteria be for such a waiver?

[knyghty]

The criteria are in the wording - that they voted in the last election. If you mean when would we do this, I think we could do it always, so in reality you only have to affirm once every couple of elections. One thing to note is that sometimes the SC elections and board elections can happen close together so it might be a bit annoying to need to affirm twice.

The mechanism I'm less sure of, but that's mostly because I don't really know the mechanism for affirmation in the first place, we would need some way to track it and ideally automate it all.

[jacobian]

Broadly the way I see this working is that some time prior to the election, the administrator does some things:

• Collect a list of everyone who voted in last year's election; that's our beginning Voting Members list for this year.
• Everyone on that list gets an email saying: "hi, you voted last year, so automatically registered to vote this year. If you don't want to vote, email us to be removed." (Anyone who emails is removed.)
• Every member who didn't vote last year gets an email: "hi, in order to vote in the upcoming election, you need to register to vote. click here." (This could link to a google form, whatever). Anyone who registers by some deadline is is now a voting member.
• Election begins: everyone on the list gets a link to the ballot.

This absolutely doesn't need to be in the bylaws, but it's worth writing down in some procedure guide somewhere.

[jacobian]

Hooray, thank you for getting the ball rolling!

[jacobian]

Broadly the way I see this working is that some time prior to the election, the administrator does some things:

• Collect a list of everyone who voted in last year's election; that's our beginning Voting Members list for this year.
• Everyone on that list gets an email saying: "hi, you voted last year, so automatically registered to vote this year. If you don't want to vote, email us to be removed." (Anyone who emails is removed.)
• Every member who didn't vote last year gets an email: "hi, in order to vote in the upcoming election, you need to register to vote. click here." (This could link to a google form, whatever). Anyone who registers by some deadline is is now a voting member.
• Election begins: everyone on the list gets a link to the ballot.

This absolutely doesn't need to be in the bylaws, but it's worth writing down in some procedure guide somewhere.

[jacobian]

Suggested change

	The Board may waive the affirmation requirement for any Member who voted in the most recent preceding election. Such Members shall be considered Voting Members without a new affirmation unless they notify the Foundation in writing that they do not intend to vote.
	The Board will waive the affirmation requirement for any Member who voted in the most recent preceding election. Such Members shall be considered Voting Members without a new affirmation unless they notify the Foundation in writing that they do not intend to vote.

I'm unsure about this change, we should probably discuss.

If it's "may": the Board will need to take affirmative action each year (e.g. a vote) to waive affirmation for people who voted last year. If it's "will", this would be assumed to happen automatically, and we don't have to do anything. There are pros and cons to each approach!

[jacobian]

One thing we need to address: our bylaws are unclear about whether Corporate Members may be Voting Members. Historically I don't believe they have actually voted, and I don't believe anyone's ever asked, but... Right now with this change as is, it seems like it probably defaults to assuming that Corproate Members can vote, which is fine, but it is an additional step (they'd have to designate a representative to vote, etc.). I think either way we should explicitly add something to the membership classes clarifying which classes are eligible to vote.

[jefftriplett]

One thing we need to address: our bylaws are unclear about whether Corporate Members may be Voting Members. Historically I don't believe they have actually voted, and I don't believe anyone's ever asked, but... Right now with this change as is, it seems like it probably defaults to assuming that Corproate Members can vote, which is fine, but it is an additional step (they'd have to designate a representative to vote, etc.). I think either way we should explicitly add something to the membership classes clarifying which classes are eligible to vote.

I found this in 3.2.2:

From the due date, until the fee is paid, all membership rights of the Corporate Member, including the right to vote and be counted for purposes of quorum, are suspended and terminated until the Corporate Member's yearly fee has been paid in full.

Since "including the right to vote and be counted for purposes of quorum" mentions suspending their right to vote, I would say this builds a strong case that they do have voting rights so long as their membership is valid/paid up.

[jefftriplett]

We should look into 3.2.1 too (proposed changes in bold):

3.2.1. Individual Members

Individual Members are those who further the PURPOSE of the Foundation at a degree the Foundation accepts and deems to be sufficiently material to merit election. Individual Members remain active and continuing Members of the Foundation unless they resign or their membership is otherwise terminated. Individual Members are eligible to be Voting Members, subject to the affirmation requirements of Section 3.7.

Proposed 3.7.4

3.7.4

A Member who does not vote in two (2) consecutive elections for which they were eligible shall be considered to have lapsed voting status. Such Members remain Members of the Foundation, but must submit a new written affirmation under Section 3.7.1 before being considered Voting Members in a future election. The waiver in Section 3.7.2 shall not apply to Members with lapsed voting status.

Here's some bullets points to summarize. I'm proposing the same method we used for the PSF's bylaw change:

• You're always a Member once admitted; skipping elections never costs you your membership.
• Vote last time → you're automatically in for the next election (no paperwork).
• Skip one election → just affirm in writing that you want to vote, and you're back in.
• Skip two in a row → your voting status lapses. You're still a Member, but to vote again you have to re‑affirm; the auto‑waiver doesn't carry you back in.

The goal: keep the Voting Members roll accurate so quorum is achievable, without ever kicking anyone out of the Foundation.