Skip to content

Slight wording tweaks in constitution #208

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
wants to merge 3 commits into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+16 −6
Open

Slight wording tweaks in constitution #208

Changes from 1 commit
Commits
Show all changes
3 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
55391a2
Replace "position" with "seat" in two places
Ericson2314 Nov 14, 2025
635a5fd
Document initial elections in general
Ericson2314 Nov 17, 2025
6cd2f55
Level- not edge- trigger for special special elections
Ericson2314 Nov 14, 2025
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
6 changes: 5 additions & 1 deletion doc/constitution.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -200,10 +200,14 @@ If it is impossible to find sufficient members to resign, all members with that

#### Special Elections

In the event of a resignation or other loss of a steering committee member (including a [removal for conduct](#removal-for-conduct)), a special election for that seat may be held if the SC deems it necessary, or the SC does not have half of the normal size.
In the event of resignations or other loss of steering committee members (including [removals for conduct](#removal-for-conduct)), the SC would have less than all 7 seats filled.
Copy link
Contributor

@wolfgangwalther wolfgangwalther Nov 17, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Changing from singular to plural in resignation, member and removal seems worse than before to me.

"Is this only meant for >1 or a single one, too?" This is clarified later, but no need to make it unclear in the first place.

Copy link
Member Author

@Ericson2314 Ericson2314 Nov 17, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

the case I am thinking of is something like:

  1. After one member resigns, SC doesn't bother holding special elections
  2. After second member resigns, SC holds special elections for both seats

The singular / edge-triggered wording makes it a bit unclear whether special elections are just for the most recently-vacated seat, or for all vacant seat.


When one or more seats are vacant, a special election may be held for those vacant seats.
Otherwise, the missing seats are assumed to be abstaining from all the SC votes.
A committee member elected in a special election will serve out the remainder of the term of the person they are replacing, regardless of the length of that remainder.

A special election for vacant seats may be held if the SC deems it necessary, or the SC does not have half of the normal size.
Copy link
Contributor

@wolfgangwalther wolfgangwalther Nov 17, 2025

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

This sentence is unclear (but it was before already). If the SC does not have half the normal size, may a special election be held or must it be? I think the latter is intended.

(possibly out of scope here)

Copy link
Member Author

@Ericson2314 Ericson2314 Nov 17, 2025 •
edited
Loading

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I think it is in scope if we want it to be :). My view matches yours: it must be held.

Here's a suggestion

Suggested change
A special election for vacant seats may be held if the SC deems it necessary, or the SC does not have half of the normal size.
When a seat a vacated, a special election might be planned.
If the majority of the seats are still filled, the SC decides whether or hold a special election for vacant seats.
If only minority of seats are still filled, either a special election or the dissolution of the entire SC (which is always something that may be voted on) must happen.


#### Full Reelections

A simple majority within the SC may call a reelection of the entire SC based on perceived loss of confidence.
Expand Down