[openstack-dev] [elections][tc]Thoughts on the TC election process

Doug Hellmann doug at doughellmann.com
Mon Oct 3 17:51:13 UTC 2016


Excerpts from Clay Gerrard's message of 2016-10-03 10:18:43 -0700:
> On Mon, Oct 3, 2016 at 9:46 AM, Edward Leafe <ed at leafe.com> wrote:
> 
> > After the nominations close, the election officials will assign each
> > candidate a non-identifying label, such as a random number, and those
> > officials will be the only ones who know which candidate is associated with
> > which number.
> 
> 
> I'm really uneasy about this suggestion.  Especially when it comes to
> re-election, for the purposes of accountability I think it's really
> important that voters be able to identify the candidates.  For some people
> there's a difference in what they say and what they end up doing when left
> calling shots from the bubble for too long.
> 
> As far as the other stuff... idk if familiarity == bias.  I'm sure lots of
> occasions people vote for people they know because they *trust* them; but I
> don't think that's bias?  I think a more common problem is when people vote
> for a *name* they recognize without really knowing that person or what
> they're about.  Or perhaps just as bad - *not* voting because they realize
> they have on context to consider these candidates beyond name familiarity
> and an (optional) email.
> 
> I think a campaign period, and especially some effort [1] to have
> candidates verbalize their viewpoints on topics that matter to the
> constituency could go a long way towards giving people some more context
> beyond "i think this name looks familiar; I don't really recognize this
> name"

I agree, on both counts.

When I vote, I consider the positions a candidate takes, the ideas
they propose, and -- equally importantly -- their track record of
actually getting things done.  Hiding the candidate's identity makes
it impossible to evaluate that track record and have a sense of
whether they're likely to make any real progress on their ideas.

In the past we experimented with a few formal questions being posed
to all candidates. I appreciate the fact that Gordon took the
initiative and started a less formal thread on his own this time.
I hope that everyone feels able to do the same, whether they have
questions for specific candidates or for the entire slate.

I don't want to speak for everyone else, but my self-nomination
email is only intended as a snapshot or summary of my thoughts on
a few issues that I see as important.  If I didn't mention a topic,
it's not necessarily due to lack of interest. I'll be happy to
respond to questions here on the list.

Doug



More information about the OpenStack-dev mailing list