Nov 22 2024
Sugar Labs is running an election this fall for three seats to its board of directors. The deadline to apply for a ballot, as well as submit candidacy for the board, is November 24. Sugar Labs community members are encouraged to participate. By submitting an application for a ballot you will also be considered for membership. Current members who do not apply for a ballot will have their membership rescinded.
The deadline to apply for a ballot and apply for candidacy is fast approaching. Extended to Sunday, the deadline to apply for a ballot is now November 24, 2024, End of Day (EoD), Anywhere on Earth (AoE). It is also the deadline to submit for candidacyfor the board of directors.
Since we made our initial announcement, one of the most frequently asked questions has been what determines eligibility for participating in the election? Participation in the election is open to any member of Sugar Labs, and the eligibility requirements for membership are published on https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Members. The main gist, however, is that you’ve made a contribution to Sugar Labs. According to our definition, such a contribution “may be code, documentation, translations, maintenance of project-wide resources, running a Sugar deployment, or other non-trivial activities which benefit Sugar Labs”.
If you’ve made such a contribution to Sugar Labs, you are eligible as a member, and, as a member, you may vote. Also, if you’re not a member or unsure about your status, we still encourage you to submit an application for a ballot. We will automatically begin to determine your membership eligibility based on your publicly visible contributions, so no other steps are necessary on your part.
Our most recent membership list may be found here: https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Labs/Members/List. If you are currently a member but you do not apply for a ballot to vote in this election, then we will consider your membership to be rescinded and your membership will be made inactive. Because our bylaws require a majority vote from members to pass certain amendments we need to ensure that our current membership list is up-to-date with active members.
If you’ve made a contribution to Sugar Labs in the past, we strongly encourage you to vote in this election to maintain your membership status. We thank you for your contribution, and we encourage you to continue to participate in Sugar Labs, which is now investing in its growth and expansion like never before.
If it’s been a while since you’ve made a contribution, we encourage you to join us on our main Matrix channel at https://matrix.to/#/#sugar:matrix.org and follow us on GitHub at https://github.com/sugarlabs/). These two channels are currently the most active for coordinating contributions.
We encourage you to vote. The application to receive your ballot, due by the End of Day (EoD), Anywhere on Earth (AoE), November 24, 2024, is here: https://forms.gle/48F6h5wdV6BpSro66
For those of you who would like to run for a board position, you will need to add your name and statement to the list on https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Oversight_Board/2025-2026-candidates. If you need any technical assistance with the wiki, please contact elections@sugarlabs.org.
Candidates should read and understand the terms of the Sugar Labs Inc.’s Bylaws, as well as any domestic and international laws governing participation in a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit board.
The updated timeline of the election is planned as follows, with a deadline to receive ballot applications for the End of Day (EoD), Anywhere on Earth (AoE), November 24, 2024, and a deadline to vote for the end of day on December 13, 2024.
| Stage I | November 8 | Announcement of election date and first call for candidates. |
|---|---|---|
| Stage II | Deadline to receive candidacy applications and candidate bios; and deadline to receive ballot applications. | |
| Stage III | November 27 | Ballots to be sent by email; If you do not receive your ballot by the following day, please email elections@sugarlabs.org |
| Stage IV | December 13 | Deadline to vote |
| Stage V | December 19 | Election results announced |
After doing research on various election software recommended by the FLOSS community, we have decided to use bettervoting.com. The software is licensed under the AGPLv3, and the system supports automatic runoff vote tallying. Our internal research on the system can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kuXXL-tVgB1Ptu50cTonWtRnAuKmWn1jyKd1qPgqFJY/edit?tab=t.0
Again, we encourage you to take the first step and apply for a ballot via our application form, and we look forward to your involvement.