[KI-LC] Majority vote??

[Roger Martin]

Kenji,

references:

    * _Bylaws:_
      http://kantarainitiative.org/confluence/download/attachments/2293776/Kantara+Initiative+ByLaws_v1.0_+2009-04-03.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1239840451000
    * _Operating Procedures:_
      http://kantarainitiative.org/confluence/download/attachments/2293776/Kantara+Initiative+Operating+Procedures+_V1.0_+2009-04-03.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1245549205000

   1. Bylaws, section 1.10 defines Majority "shall mean more than 50% of
      all members of a group."  "Simple Majority shall mean "more than
      50% of all those casting a vote (excluding abstentions)."

   2. Bylaws, section 3.3 states: "Except when otherwise specified in
      these Bylaws or other Controlling Documents, approval requires a
      Simple Majority (greater than 50%) of those voting when a Quorum
      exists."

   3. Operating Procedures section 3.3 states: "A WG shall, at a
      minimum, have a Chair and Vice-chair elected from the WG
      membership by a majority vote of the WG Participants."   Thus, the
      "Simple Majority" default voting requirement defined in the Bylaws
      is overridden by the Operating Procedures requirement. /([RM] I
      note that there is a typo in this sentence and "majority" should
      be "Majority".)/ 

      As a result:
         1. WG Chairs and Vice-chairs must receive votes from more than
            50% of the WG Participants (not just of those casting votes)
            in order to be elected.
         2. WG Participants are all those who have signed the Group
            Participation Agreement at the time the election is held.
         3. In the case of more than two candidates, where no candidate
            receives a Majority of the votes, then the election fails. 
         4. As far as I know, the Controlling Documents (Bylaws,
            Operating Procedures, etc) do not specify how to resolve
            this issue.  A second vote will have to be held using
            whatever process the WG decides on (or the one defined by
            the LC if it  has defined one).

   4. To change this requirement to "plurality vote" will require a
      change to the Operating Procedures. 
      Please note that changing to "plurality vote" will have two impacts:
         1. The candidate with the greatest number of votes will be
            elected on the first ballot (barring a tie).
         2. There will not be a requirement based on the total number of
            Group Participants (as defined in "Majority"), only on the
            number of Group Participants who actually cast votes (as
            defined in "Simple Majority").

    ....rogerM


Kenji Takahashi wrote:
> Sorry but I sent an unfinished message....  Here try it again.
>
> Hi,
>
> A question on Operating Procedure...
>
> Item 3.3 describes the election of chairs, "A WG shall, at a minimum, 
> have a Chair and Vice-chair elected from the WG membership by a 
> majority vote of the WG Participants."
>
> Here "majority vote" means that a candidate must get over 50% of votes 
> casted (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majority)?? In that case, if 
> there are several candidates and anyone can not get more than 50% of 
> votes, WGs must go on to the second vote (or further).
>
> Or can I understand that this means simple "plurality vote" as 
> described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_voting_system??
>
> I strongly recommend to adopt plurality vote for elections in KI 
> activities for simplicity.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kenji
>>
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