[cabfpub] Ballot FORUM-18: Allow re-election of CWG Chairs and Vice Chairs

[Tim Hollebeek]

Thank you for your feedback.

We can certainly discuss having an upper limit for the number of terms in the future.  As I noted in the overview of the ballot, there are a number of other election improvements that need to be made, but unfortunately cannot be addressed before the next election process starts, which is only a few weeks away.  The limits you propose would mostly only affect future elections anyway, after people have been re-elected a few times.

If you don't mind, I'd like to add your suggested discussion topic to the next election cleanup ballot, which will be more in depth.  This will give us time to discuss the issue you raised and get it right, since I imagine there's probably a range of variation of opinions on this topic, and it may take us a while to reach consensus.

-Tim

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Yoshiro YONEYA <yoshiro.yoneya at jprs.co.jp>
> Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 5:19 AM
> To: Tim Hollebeek <tim.hollebeek at digicert.com>; CABforum1
> <public at cabforum.org>
> Subject: Re: [cabfpub] Ballot FORUM-18: Allow re-election of CWG Chairs and
> Vice Chairs
> 
> Dear Tim and all,
> 
> This is a comment for the proposed modification.
> There should be upper limit for re-election count (e.g. third or forth or so) as
> the safeguard, although everyone believe CABF members are good faith.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> --
> Yoshiro YONEYA <yoshiro.yoneya at jprs.co.jp>
> 
> On Wed, 20 Jul 2022 18:46:36 +0000 Tim Hollebeek via Public
> <public at cabforum.org> wrote:
> 
> > Ballot FORUM-18: Allow Re-election of CWG Chairs and Vice Chairs
> >
> > Proposed by Tim Hollebeek of DigiCert and endorsed by Ben Wilson of
> Mozilla and Wayne Thayer of Fastly.
> >
> > *** Overview ***
> >
> > Section 4.1 of the Bylaws describes elections for Forum Chair and Vice
> Chair, and says:
> >
> > "No person may serve as Chair for more than a two-year period or be
> > elected to Vice Chair upon expiration or termination of the person's
> > service as Chair, but a person is eligible to be elected as Chair again after
> having vacated the position as Chair for at least one (1) term."
> >
> > This makes it clear Forum Chairs cannot be re-elected (be elected to a
> > new term for the same office they currently hold), but the situation is less
> clear for Chairs and Vice Chairs of Chartered Working Groups (CWGs).
> >
> > The current Bylaws have been read by some to allow re-election of CWG
> Chairs and Vice Chairs, and by others to prohibit it.
> > It has happened once in the past, and whether it is allowed depends on
> > whether "follow the procedures of Bylaws Section 4.1 as closely as
> possible" is merely referring to election procedures, or also candidate
> qualifications.
> >
> > This ambiguity was discussed during the spring CA/Browser Forum
> > Face-to-face meeting, and the consensus was that we should update the
> > Bylaws to clarify that re-election is allowed, and the election process itself is
> sufficient to determine whether members want to retain the existing Chair
> and/or Vice Chair, or whether they want to vote for someone else.
> > This is important because the pool of qualified and willing candidates is not
> particularly large.
> >
> > This ballot retains the existing prohibition on re-election for Forum Chairs
> and Vice Chairs.
> >
> > - MOTION BEGINS -
> >
> > The Bylaws of the CA/Browser Forum are amended as described in the
> following redline:
> >
> >
> https://github.com/cabforum/forum/compare/fa1a5cb37a452e53d769ed75
> 9c06
> > f05d21b1cb4b..f197d28fac92c807896d55b6ef43b776b6264aca
> >
> > - MOTION ENDS -
> >
> > The procedure for approval of this ballot is as follows:
> >
> > Discussion (7+ days)
> >
> > Start Time: 2022-07-20 2:45 PM Eastern
> >
> > End Time: Not before 7 days have elapsed
> >
> > Vote for approval (7 days)
> >
> > Start Time: ???
> >
> > End Time: ???
> >