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       <a href="index.html">Home</a> :&nbsp;
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       <a href="membership.html">Membership</a> :&nbsp;
       Elections :&nbsp;
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       <a href="elections.html">General Information</a> :&nbsp;
       Rules & Timeline :&nbsp;
       <a href="ballot-summary.html">List of candidates</a> :&nbsp;
       <a href="voters.html">List of voters</a> :&nbsp;
       <a href="overview.html">Director Overview</a> :&nbsp;
       <a href="election-2000.html">2000</a> :&nbsp;
       <a href="election-2001.html">2001</a>
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      <h2 align="center">GNOME Foundation Election Rules & Timeline</h2>


       <h3>Election Rules</h3> 

       <OL>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">See the <A HREF="charter.html">GNOME
	Foundation charter</A> for general rules.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">There are 11 board slots that are
	to be filled during this election.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Members of the GNOME
	Foundation as of November 1, 2002 are eligible to vote in the
	election.  Anyone who has made a contribution to GNOME can
	apply for membership by completing the <a href="http://foundation.gnome.org/membership-form.php">application</a>.
	</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Any eligible voter is
	eligible to be elected to the Board of Directors.  To announce
	your candidacy, send a message to
	foundation-announce@gnome.org with your full name, e-mail,
	corporate affiliation (if any), and a description of your
	reasons for wanting to serve as a director.  Candidacies must
	be announced prior to November 4, 2002, 23:59 UTC.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">All candidates should mail a
	summary of their candicacy announcement (see previous rule) to
	elections@gnome.org.  Summaries should be no more than 75
	words of continuous text (i.e. no bullet lists or multiple
	paragraphs) and must be received by the nomination deadline
	given above.  A compilation of the summaries will be mailed to
	all registered voters several days prior to the election.</LI>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">All discussion related to
	the election should be held on foundation-list@gnome.org.
	Members are invited to ask questions to one or all candidates
	on that list.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Ballots will be sent via
	e-mail to all eligible voters on November 25, 2002, and must
	be returned by December 2, 2002, 23:59 UTC (18:59 EST).  Full
	instructions will be included in the ballot.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Ballots will be held
	confidential during the election, but an archive of all
	submitted ballots will be made publicly accessible at its
	conclusion.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">The Elections Committee is
	responsible for counting the ballots, after taking appropriate
	action to fix misformatted ballots.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">The 11 candidates who
	receive the most votes will be elected, except that no more
	than four individuals affiliated with any one corporation may
	be elected.  Should more than four of the top eleven
	vote-getters be affiliated with the same company, only the
	four with the most votes will be considered elected.  For a
	full definition of corporate affiliation, see the GNOME
	Foundation Charter.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">In the event of a tie for
	the final slot on the board, the Elections Committee will
	schedule a run-off election as soon as possible.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">The Elections Committee will
	announce preliminary results as soon as possible after the
	election closes, along with instructions on how to access the
	ballot archive and how to independently verify the vote
	count.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Any eligible voter may challenge the preliminary
	results by e-mailing elections@gnome.org prior to December 20,
	2002.  The decision of the Elections Committee as to any
	challenge shall be final.  Once any challenges have been
	resolved, the Elections Committee shall announce the final
	results.</P>

	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">Any questions regarding
	these procedures should be directed to the Elections Committee
	by e-mail to elections@gnome.org.  The committee shall have
	the power to make any necessary changes or clarifications to
	these rules at any point during the election.</P>
      </OL>
       <h3>Timeline (all deadlines are 23:59 UTC/18:59 EST)</h3> 
       <UL>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">November 4 (Monday): Last
	day to announce candidacies, submit summary statements, and
	apply for membership (to be eligible for this election).</p>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">November 6 (Wednesday):
	Final list of candidates, platform summaries mailed to
 foundation-announce@gnome.org</P></LI>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">November 25 (Monday):
	Ballots mailed to eligible voters, voting begins.</P></LI>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">December 2 (Monday):
	Voting closes.</P></LI>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">December 3 (Tuesday):
	Preliminary results mailed to foundation-announce@gnome.org
 </P></LI>
	<LI><P STYLE="margin-bottom: 0in">December 20 (Friday): Last
	day to challenge preliminary results.</P>
</UL>


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      <center><font size=-1>This site is maintained by
      <a href="mailto:membership-committee@gnome.org">the GNOME Foundation Membership and Elections Committee</a>
      and was designed by <a href="mailto:jpsc@users.sourceforge.net">JP
      Schnapper-Casteras</a> and <a href="mailto:bart@eazel.com">Bart Decrem</a>.</font></center>
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