Re: Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board Elections -- voting procedures

[Laura Abbott <laura@labbott.name>]

> On Sep 3, 2019, at 7:13 AM, Laura Abbott <laura@labbott.name> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> On behalf of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board (TAB), I'd like to
> take this opportunity to announce the voting procedures for the 2019 TAB
> elections. As was announced[1], this year we are moving to electronic voting.
> 
> Everyone who is registered for kernel summit (co-located with Linux Plumbers
> Conference in Lisbon this year) by September 8th 2019 is eligible to vote in
> this year's TAB elections. This includes everyone registered for Plumbers and
> Maintainers summit. All eligible voters will receive a link from
> Condorcet Internet Voting Service (https://civs.cs.cornell.edu) by the
> start of the first Plumbers session (September 9th 10am UTC+1). The voting
> will run until September 11th at 10am UTC+1.
> 
> The list of all candidates and their platform is available at the following
> Google doc
> 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E3_W1c-xJMx9o2PCnKiGt3vqs-mPh77yNO4GSqNipOQ/edit?usp=sharing
> 
> We will also be hosting an open TAB session at Plumbers on Monday
> September 9th at 18:30. A more detailed FAQ about voting procedures is
> below.
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to
> tab@lists.linux-foundation.org .
> 
> Thanks,
> Laura
> 
> P.S. Please consider this a reminder to send in your TAB nominations!
> 
> [1] https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/ksummit-discuss/2019-July/006582.html
> 
> ---
> 
> Q: Why are we making this change?
> A: As explained in the previous announcement,
> https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/ksummit-discuss/2019-July/006582.html
> In person voting has a number of limitations. We'd like to move to electronic
> voting with the objective of giving more members of our community a voice in
> the membership of the TAB
> 
> Q: Who is eligible to vote?
> A: All registered attendees of Plumbers and Kernel Maintainers Summit are
> eligible.
> 
> Q: If I am registered for Plumbers but not attending can I still vote?
> A: We will be sending the e-mail to all registered attendees before confirming
> they are present.
> 
> Q: Can I register for Plumbers just to vote?
> A: Plumbers is sold out this year.
> 
> Q: Why bother with electronic voting if the voting pool is still conference
> attendees?
> A: The kernel philosophy is small incremental changes. Based on discussions
> with the TAB, changing the voting method and widening the voting pool
> simultaneously was too much for one year. The goal is to run the electronic
> voting this year with the same voting pool and then discuss how voting will
> work in subsequent years.
> 
> Q: When does voting start?
> A: E-mails with the voting link will be sent out before the start of the
> first Plumbers session on Monday September 9th at 10am UTC+1
> 
> Q: When does voting end?
> A: Voting ends on September 11th at 10am UTC+1
> 
> Q: What's the software used for voting?
> A: We will be using the hosted version of the Condorcet Internet Voting Service
> (CIVS) at https://civs.cs.cornell.edu
> 
> Q: Is this code open source?
> A: Yes. The code is available under a BSD-like research license
> 
> Q: How do I vote?
> A: You will receive an e-mail by Monday September 9th at 10am UTC+1 with
> a link to vote.
> 
> Q: Is this method of voting secure?
> A: Privacy and security is a focus of CIVS. See
> https://civs.cs.cornell.edu/sec_priv.html for more information.
> 
> Q: The website mentions ranked choice voting. What is this?
> A: In ranked choice voting, you rank your preferred choices from most
> to least liked. The theory is this results in a more accurate representation
> of what the voter pool wants. This is a different method than we've used
> for TAB elections in the past where you indicated your preferred $n out
> of $m candidates. Because we are using the hosted version of CIVS, we did
> not have the option to use our old method of voting.
> 
> Q: The description mentions an 'election supervisor'. What is this role?
> A: The election supervisor's role is to start and stop the poll, send
> links to voters, and set various options for the poll. A single e-mail
> address is used to e-mail the link to manage the election, after which
> anyone with the link can manage the poll.
> 
> Q: Who is the election supervisor for the TAB elections?
> A: We have created a mailing list for election management. This mailing
> list contains individuals from the kernel community who are not running
> for the TAB this year, similar to in-person proctors from past years.
> We are still working on getting the mailing list set up, the address will
> be announced when it is ready.
> 
> Q: What if I lose the e-mail before I vote?
> A: Please e-mail the election list, address to be announced
> 
> Q: What if I want to change my vote?
> A: This is not possible, please make sure you've made your final choices
> when you click submit.
> 
> Q: What if I want to practice voting?
> A: CIVS has a number of sample polls available. Feel free to vote in those
> to see how the process works.
> 
> Q: What if something unforeseen happens with electronic voting and we don't
> end up with results?
> A: We will arrange an in person vote similar to previous years.
> 
> Q: What if I have questions not addressed here?
> A: E-mail tab@lists.linuxfoundation.org for the current Technical Advisory
> Board or the election list, address to be announced
> 

The mailing list for questions about elections is tab-elections@lists.linuxfoundation.org