Rules & Timeline for the GNOME Foundation Anonymous Voting Referendum

Referendum Rules

  1. See the GNOME Foundation charter for general rules.
  2. Members of the GNOME Foundation as of September 24, 2004 are eligible to vote in the referendum. Anyone who has made a contribution to GNOME can apply for membership by completing the application.
  3. All discussion related to the referendum should be held on foundation-list@gnome.org.
  4. Ballots will be sent via e-mail to all eligible voters on September 27, 2004, and must be returned by October 8, 2004, 23:59 UTC (18:59 EST). Full instructions will be included in the ballot.
  5. Ballots will be held confidential during the referendum, but an archive of all submitted ballots will be made publicly accessible at its conclusion.
  6. The Elections Committee is responsible for counting the ballots, after taking appropriate action to fix misformatted ballots.
  7. In the event of a tie, the Elections Committee will schedule a run-off referendum as soon as possible.
  8. The Elections Committee will announce preliminary results as soon as possible after the referendum closes, along with instructions on how to access the ballot archive and how to independently verify the vote count.
  9. Any eligible voter may challenge the preliminary results by e-mailing elections@gnome.org prior to October 22, 2004. The decision of the Elections Committee as to any challenge shall be final. Once any challenges have been resolved, the Elections Committee shall announce the final results.
  10. Any questions regarding these procedures should be directed to the Elections Committee by e-mail to elections@gnome.org. The committee shall have the power to make any necessary changes or clarifications to these rules at any point during the referendum.

Timeline

(all deadlines are 23:59 UTC/18:59 EST)