Hi,
I write to chime in my opinions on the topics in this thread. But, first i find it necessary to preface this message with a meta-discussion.
--- Meta-Discussion: The messed-up election ---
With out alleging any impropriety actions beyond those mentioned in last years election correspondence ( http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/discussion/2016-April/010944.html ). I think it's widely agreed that many issues from all-time low voter turn out to Paul Boddie's points (Ie: "a misleading process") combined to make this a messed-up election.
anomalous - ajd. 1. deviating from or inconsistent with the common order, form, or rule; irregular; abnormal: Advanced forms of life may be anomalous in the universe. 2. not fitting into a common or familiar type, classification, or pattern; unusual: He held an anomalous position in the art world. 3. incongruous or inconsistent.
I don't want to place blame exclusivity on the voting process, but IMO it's the functional bottle-neck of this voting system. At the very least, this statement from the wiki needs to be revised:
"Voting System: For the voting process we will use the Schulze method, a popular voting system used by Debian, Wikimedia and others. It is a well tested method and has proven to be resistant to voting anomalies."
Because the last two years elections have been anomalous!
--- End-Meta Discussion ---
I'm thinking in an Abstract way about what happened here. How can software help us reach consensus and over-come issues that seem to be filibustered: perhaps a new voting method?
I know the direction we need to be headed: engaging with more fellows by showing them the positive effects of effective representation and administration. The wiki is a huge tool for that. But, diverting people to another site to vote is a detour that probably caused some people to lose their vote. Is there a possibility to amend the wiki software with polling function so fellows can voice their opinions on issues facing the foundation?
* Title change This is the first time ive heard about the plan to transition from Fellows to Supporters. Can i get linked to the aforementioned discussions? As long as this title is preserved for the time-being, im open to considering other options.
As an idea to improve governance, why not include important decisions like this as a referendum in the election?
On 27 April 2017 at 06:25, Franz Seidl fseidl@f9s.eu wrote:
Hi Eric,
in my opinion a downturn in voter participation is to be expected when the decision gets more complicated and time consuming. ("Oh, looks like this will take longer than expected. I don't have time for this now, I will do it in the evening..." - what could possibly go wrong?)
Btw, do the absolute numbers point in the same direction?
Regards, Franz
Am 25.04.2017 um 13:00 schrieb Erik Albers:
Hi list,
the Fellowship elections 2017 are over and the winner is Daniel Pocock.
https://fsfe.org/news/2017/news-20170425-01
I like to thank all candidates for bringing life into this years
election and
every voter for rewarding our candidates' activities by participating in
the
elections.
Unfortunately, we only had a participation of around 17 % which seems to
be
the lowest participation since we record participation (2014). Many of
the
list subscribers here have had the possibility to vote, so I like to ask
for
explanations and possibilities how we can raise participation?
The low amount of participation leaves me in particular wondering as
this year
we had 7 candidates, each of them with a short representation in out
wiki [1],
public hustings [2] and a reminder three days before the end of
elections.
However, former elections with only one (!) candidate and without
reminders
and no public hustings (2016 and 2014) have had more participation ...
Why is this? Please help us to understand what FSFE can do to make the electiosn more appealing or raise participation? Or help us to understand what was the reason that this year there was
such a
low amount of participation?
Thank you very much, Erik
[1] https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Election/FellowshipElection_2017 [2] https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/Election/FellowshipElection_2017#
Hustings
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