The board believes a strong, transparent, and equitable governance structure is essential to advancing our mission to serve open source scientific software communities. As we approached the 2024 Board Elections, we set a goal to have a more open, equitable, and transparent process. Based on community feedback we drafted a plan for community member participation in the election process, mechanisms for projects to play a key role in nominating and voting, and increased outreach efforts to ensure an equitable and inclusive slate of nominees and board members. This plan also included the formation of a community-led election committee to leverage the knowledge of NumFOCUS’s stakeholder community to advise on and administer (plan, publicize, execute, document, and deliver results transparently) the Board nomination and election procedures.
Following our Bylaws, the Board will approve procedures, nominations, and election results.
When addressing transparency, we felt it was important to clarify that while there have been questions about the board being in violation of the bylaws — this was not the case:
- Per the authors of the amended bylaws in 2019, the number of terms was never intended to be limited. The meaning of Section 5: Election and Term of Office is, of course, open to interpretation, but the intention is to define the length of a term as 2 years with the option for board members to serve multiple terms at the board’s discretion. We know this to be true because the board members who worked to revise the bylaws are still on the board.
- Serving additional terms. The board determined that members can serve additional board terms, especially in cases where:
- An officer role is taken after serving a two-year term
- There is no available successor due to extenuating circumstances, such as COVID challenges.
3. Term Renewal. The board voted to renew all board terms for those who wished to continue serving in 2022.
We are leaving it to the next board, after the elections, to amend the bylaws to include explicit term limits or make any other updates.
In the forthcoming election, tentatively planned to kick off in June, there will be 4 open board seats and 7 open seats for members of the Technical Steering Committee. The Technical Steering Committee will ensure project representation in NumFOCUS governance. The Election Committee will open the call for community nominations and send out additional election details in the coming weeks. After the slate of nominees is posted, internal NumFOCUS stakeholders, including NF Sponsored and Affiliated Projects, NF committee members, and event chairs, will vote using an online voting platform.
Transparency
From the nomination phase to the final voting, all procedures and outcomes will be documented and accessible to the community. The Election Committee has committed to producing summaries of procedures, methods used, and detailed results of nominations and elections. Our hope is that his level of transparency not only builds trust within our community but also sets a precedent for future elections, reinforcing our commitment to an open and fair process.
Equity
The Election Committee’s mission includes aligning the board’s composition with NumFOCUS’s Statement of Diversity and actively working to encourage participation from individuals of all backgrounds and identities.
How to get Involved
We asked for volunteers to join the inaugural election committee during the Town Hall but were unsure of the time commitment at that time. A few of the initial committee members worked hard to establish the foundation for the election process, and have now rolled off the committee. We are now reopening the call for additional members.
- The committee meets once per week for one hour for the next 8 weeks.
- Committee members are expected to spend an additional two hours per week of independent work for the next four to six weeks.
- If you would like to participate, please e-mail electioncommittee@numfocus.org.
For more information view The Election Committee Charter. The Committee is working on documenting election details and will post that information in the coming weeks. To learn more about the process, please visit our GitHub repository or reach out to the committee at electioncommittee@numfocus.org.
