The openSUSE Project's first board elections

The openSUSE Project is about to hold it's first board election. The process is well underway, with the first phase nearly over. All members of the openSUSE project may vote and can run for the board positions, but there is a fast approaching deadline in which to register for this vote or to declare your intention to run for this election. In the last call for candidates, received a bit too late for last week's LWN issue, states that application deadline ends September 24th, 12:00 UTC.

An election committee has been formed to oversee the elections. Four people, two from Novell and two from the community, will organize and oversee the election. Committee members Claes Backstrom, Andrew Wafaa, Marko Jung, and Vincent Untz have agreed not to run for this election so that they might remain impartial.

The initial openSUSE board was appointed by Novell. Pascal Bleser, a member of that board, has written a blog post about the openSUSE Board and the elections giving his view of the what the board does and does not do. "One point that really must be clarified (again) is that the Board is not responsible for taking technical decisions. That's other people's job, e.g. AJ as the director of openSUSE and platform, Coolo as the openSUSE distribution project manager, or Michl as the openSUSE product manager." Pascal also has a followup post answering some additional questions about the time commitments and involvement expected of a board member.

Andreas Jaeger, also a member of the current board, has also written about the board, how it's organized and what upcoming board members might expect. "I'm part of the first openSUSE board and in my opinion we're still bootstrapping it and forming it. Federico mentioned that it took the GNOME board several years until they were really functional - so this shaping of the board is not only in the openSUSE project an evolutionary process that takes time and is influenced by e.g. (constructive) criticism, praise, communication in general, and decisions." New board members will be able to shape the board from the inside. With a new board, community members can also help shape the board with questions, comments and letting their expectations be known.

The board will consist of five members, a Novell appointed chairperson, two Novell employees and two community members (not employed by Novell). So far there are three Novell candidates and five non-Novell candidates. The list of candidates with pointers to their platforms can be found here.

We will soon be into the campaign period, which runs from September 25th to October 9th. During this time period will be blog entries from the candidates, interviews by the openSUSE news team, and a moderated Q&A session on IRC. There is also a feature in the openSUSE election in which each eligible voter may appoint a second openSUSE member to be eligible to vote. The option to appoint a second voter will be available during the campaign period and may allow a few people who missed the September 24th deadline to vote.

The actual election begins as the campaign period ends. Each eligible voter will be able to cast their votes once. No changes will be allowed. Votes will be stored anonymously in the electronic system. Ballots will be closed October 23rd, the winners announced once the election committee has had a chance to verify and count the votes.

If you care about the openSUSE project, this is a great time to get involved. Run for the board, vote in the election, and have a say in the shape of things to come.

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