voting procedure when number of nominees equals number of vacancies

[Steve Langasek]

Hi Jeremy,

On Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 02:26:34PM -0400, Jeremy Bicha wrote:
> Hi Tech Board,

> The initial deadline [1] for nominations for the Developer Membership
> Board (DMB) just passed yesterday. The DMB is currently composed of 7
> members. Since the terms for 5 members are expiring, we have 5
> vacancies and we have 5 nominees. [2]

> I didn't see any documentation for how this situation should be
> handled. Here are some options:

> 1) No vote is necessary. The 5 nominees will join the DMB upon
> confirmation by the DMB.

> 2) A vote is necessary. There should a None of the Above option.

> 3) We could extend the deadline in hopes of avoiding needing to do
> either of the first 2 options.

> #2 is similar to how Debian votes, such as in the recently concluded
> Debian Project Leader election where there was only one nominee. I
> believe #3 is similar to what was done last year except that there
> fewer nominees than vacancies at the initial deadlines.

> I am adding this question to the Agenda for the next TB meeting
> scheduled for April 24.

Thanks for raising this.  It has always troubled me that votes in Ubuntu had
no None Of The Above option.  While in my view we've always had wonderful,
qualified candidates to choose from in every election, I think it's
important that the community have the option of a "vote of no confidence"
for a given candidate even if I personally think the candidates are good.  I
think this should be the case regardless of the number of candidates.

It is unclear to me whether the lack of a NOTA option on Ubuntu ballots is
enshrined somewhere in policy, or if it is simply received practice.  Does
the TB have the authority to change the ballot?

> [1] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2018-April/001241.html
> [2] The nominees are
> Robie Basak (incumbent)
> Eric Desrochers
> Micah Gersten (incumbent)
> Simon Quigley
> Lukasz Zemczak (incumbent)
> 
> 
> On behalf of the DMB,
> Jeremy Bicha

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org
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