Board Election Process

This document describes the formal process of nomination and election of members on the NetBeans Board. For more information about the Board please see the description of governance of netbeans.org.

Please note this process is determined entirely by the community. The steps laid out below are the result of past open debate and discussion on the nbdiscuss mailing list - if you feel something here should be changed or added, please speak up on nbdiscuss.

Election Committee

• A loosely formed election committee will "run" the elections - set out dates, post announcements, collect nominations, set up and administer the technical implementation side of the voting itself, and formally announce the results. The election committee has previously consisted of members of the NetBeans Evangelism and Web teams.

Nominations

• The nomination period shall run for 2 weeks;
• A call for nominations will be sent via email to top level mailing lists nbannounce, nbdiscuss, nbdev and nbusers. This call will be sent 2 times - once at the opening of the nomination period, and a second "final call" for nominations on the day before the period closes;
• Any NetBeans community member is eligible for nomination;
• Any NetBeans community member may nominate any number of community members;
• As mentioned on the governance page, the Board consists of 2 "at-large" members, nominated by the community, and one Sun-appointed member. In theory a Sun employee can be nominated for one of the at-large positions, though in the past Sun employed nominees have declined their nominations to avoid this outcome - a Sun majority on the Board. It is up to the community to decide if they want this.
• Nominations should happen on the nbdiscuss mailing list (subscription required to post), or posted via the contact form (no subscription required). The nbdiscuss list is the preferred channel as it is more open.
• The nominations and elections page will clearly list the current nominees and their acceptance or otherwise of the nomination during the nomination period. A short profile of each candidate will also be collected and made available on this page. This page will be updated frequently throughout the period.

Voting

• The voting period shall run for 2 weeks;
• Voting will be done via a web-based poll. Since polling is not currently possible on netbeans.org, the poll will be hosted off-site;
• Anyone with a netbeans.org login is eligible to cast a vote;
• One person is allowed one vote;
• The poll and an encouragement to vote will be announced to the top level mailing lists nbannounce, nbdiscuss, nbdev and nbusers. This announcement will be sent three times - once at the opening of the voting period, once at the half-way mark, and one "final call" on the day before the voting period closes.
• The poll will be "advertised" for some part of the voting period via a banner on the web site. The banner will link to this page where the election procedures are clearly described; links to the Board's responsibilities should also be clearly available.
• The elections will be announced in news items featured on the web site "portal" areas (the home page, and the Community portal).
• Voting data will never be made public, though it will be collected and kept in case an audit of results is ever required.

Results

• Results will be announced on the top level mailing lists nbannounce, nbdiscuss, nbdev and nbusers the day after the voting period closes.
• The Board page will be updated to list the newly elected board members as soon as possible after results are announced.