Chair selection

Dom Hazael-Massieux and Ian Jacobs are contemplating a Chair selection algorithm for CGs. See also community council discussion.

Risk Space

In order to understand why we include various pieces in the algorithm, we list here some of the "risks" that we wish to address:

Organization invites other parties to join a group to influence chair election.
In response to an election, a "deposed" chair organizes a fast follow-up election to regain the chair position.

Simple Algorithm

Text version

In general, groups choose their own Chair(s) and can replace their Chair(s) at any time using whatever means they prefer. However, if 5 participants —no two from the same organization— call for an election, the group must use the following process to replace any current Chair(s) with a new Chair, consulting the Community Development Lead on election operations (e.g., voting infrastructure and using RFC 2777).

Participants announce their candidacies. Participants have 14 days to announce their candidacies, but this period ends as soon as all participants have announced their intentions. If there is only one candidate, that person becomes the Chair. If there are two or more candidates, there is a vote. Otherwise, nothing changes.
Participants vote. Participants have 21 days to vote for a single candidate, but this period ends as soon as all participants have voted. The individual who receives the most votes —no two from the same organization— is elected chair. In case of a tie, RFC2777 is used to break the tie. An elected Chair may appoint co-Chairs.

Participants dissatisfied with the outcome of an election may ask the Community Development Lead to intervene. The Community Development Lead, after evaluating the election, may take any action including no action.

Previous algorithm used for simplification

Phase 0: Zero chairs or fewer than 4 voting entities.
- Groups choose their own Chairs however they wish.
Phase 1: Call for election
- Any participant may call for an election to change chair(s).
- The election will be organized once a total of 5 voting entities support the call for an election.
Phase 2: Nominations
- Candidates have 14 days to make their candidacy known to the group.
  - 0 candidates: Do nothing.
  - 1 candidate: That candidate elected.
  - 2 or more: advance to Phase 3.
Phase 3: Vote
- The election is open for 20 business days.
- The individual who receives the most votes is elected chair. In case of a tie, use RFC2777.
- After an election, if there is continued disagreement, a Participant may ask for staff intervention, but no sooner than 60 days after the end of the election.
Phase 4: Staff intervention
- The staff may appoint the group's chair(s), close the group, do nothing, license the group to hold elections again, or take other actions.

Definitions and constraints

Definition: "voting entity" is any of: unaffiliated individual, organization with employees in a group.
Each voting entity in a group gets one vote.
Candidates must be group participants and accept to be candidates.
An elected chair may appoint co-Chairs.

Full Algorithm

NOTE: This algorithm is not endorsed; we are noodling.

There are various phases of Chairing, in this order:

Initial
Call for Election to change a chair
Election
Call for Staff intervention

All groups start in the Initial phase.

Initial

START

A group is defined to be in the initial phase if either is true:
- There has never been a call for elections
- The group has fewer than 5 participants

PROCESS

Anyone may become the chair (including naming oneself chair).
The selection process is that any participant may check a box next to the Chair's name on the Web site.

The first chair may select any number of co-chairs.
In the initial phase, any co-Chair may add or remove other co-Chairs.
- Adding and deleting is likely only administrative in this phase.

Call for Election

START

A call for election to change a chair starts when:
- A group is in the initial phase OR the previous call for election was greater than 60 days after the end of the most recent election.
- AND a participant calls for election

PROCESS

A successful call for elections is one where:
- At least four additional participants support the call for election. They may retract their support. There is no time limit for expressing support.
- AND One "vote" per organization
- AND Those participants must have participated in the group for at least (a) six months or (b) half of the time since the date the group was created, whichever of (a) or (b) is shorter.

If there is a successful call for an election, see the next phase.
If there is an unsuccessful call for an election, the current Chair(s) remain.

Notes:

Do we need to say any more about how people support a call for election or retract their support? (Ian doesn't think so here.)

Election

START

An election starts as soon as there has been a successful call for elections
- We can automate this part (e.g., send an email automatically announcing the election).

PROCESS

A "voting participant" is any participant in the group as of the date of the call for the election, or 30 days prior to the election, whichever is most recent.
Any voting participant may run for Chair.
The election period is 20 business days.
The individual who receives the most votes is elected chair. One vote per organization.
Votes can be changed until the election ends and a running total is visible (leaves flexibility for groups to converge towards candidates getting the most support if they choose to).
If there is a tie, the Chair is selected by applying a random process (RFC 2777) to the list of tied candidates. See the W3C Process Document for how W3C applies 2777 in the case of an election tie.

The elected Chair is authorized to add or remove co-Chairs and only the elected Chair may do so.

Call for Staff intervention

If participants continue to be dissatisfied, they can ask the staff to take over the role of assigning leadership in the group, but no sooner than 60 days after the end of the previous election.
The staff may appoint the group's chair(s), close the group, do nothing, license the group to hold elections again, or take other actions.
After staff intervention, participants who remain dissatisfied with the chairs have the recourse of leaving the group (and starting another one).

Simple Algorithm by Wayne Carr

Groups may choose their own Chairs (using the current user interface) by whatever algorithm they choose.
However, if 5 participants (one per organization) support a call for a formal election, an election will be held following the process specified here.
- A formal election may start no sooner than 60 days after the close of any previous formal election.
- The election is open for 20 business days.
- Only participants who at the start of the election have been in the group for either 60 days or half the **lifetime of the group are eligible to vote
- Only participants who have chosen to run may receive votes.
- One vote per organization.
- The individual who receives the most votes is elected chair. In the event of a tie, there are co-chairs.
Any participant may appeal to the W3C staff if they believe the group is not capable of governing itself. This must be no sooner than 60 days after the most recent election has ended.
- The staff may choose to do nothing, or may appoint the group's chair(s), or close the group, or license the group to hold elections again or take other actions.
Participants who are dissatisfied with a group's governance may at any time leave the group and start another group.

Notes

In 2014, the AB/AC are talking about other voting mechanisms (e.g., STV) so need to track that here as well.