[ANN] Announcing the election for the next TDF Membership Committee

Announcing the election for the next TDF Membership Committee

Dear Community,

we hereby officially announce the upcoming election for the next Membership
Committee of The Document Foundation.

As per § 12 II of our statutes, [1] the Membership Committee's term lasts two
years. The current Membership Committee started its duty on September 19,
2020. Therefore, the old Membership Committee remains in charge until the end
of September 18, 2022, so the new Membership Committee will be in charge the
day after that, which is September 19, 2022.

That upcoming term will then (regularly) end on September 18, 2024, so the
next election of the Membership Committee will take place before.

As per § 6 III of our statutes, only members of the Board of Trustees of The
Document Foundation, as well as current members of any of its bodies, are
eligible to be elected into the Membership Committee, and the election is
overseen by the Board of Directors (§ 12 II).

The active electoral right is reserved to those who have been members of the
Board of Trustees before this announcement (§ 12 II).

§ 6 III also states that members of the Board of Directors or their deputies
may not be members of the Membership Committee and vice versa.

There is one more notable limitation: Per § 8 IV of the statutes, a maximum of
1/3 members of the Membership Committee is allowed to work on an employment
basis for the same company, organisation, entity or one of its affiliate
organisations.

Nomination of candidates fulfilling the above requirements, as well as self
nomination is welcome. In total, at least five members of the Membership
Committee are required, and given there are enough candidates, up to four
substitute members can be elected based on the last board decision on this
matter.

Re-election of current members of the Membership Committee is permitted (§ 12
II).

Please send nominations and self-nominations via e-mail to
elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Board of Directors in
private) and *at the same time (!)* to board-discuss@documentfoundation.org
(which is a public mailing list).

We kindly ask nominees who would like to stand for elections to provide a
statement of up to 75 words - longer statements will be cut off at the maximum
- on their candidacy as continuous text (so no bullet lists or multiple
paragraphs). In addition, you have to provide and keep up to date your full
name, e-mail address and your corporate affiliation, if any, or state the lack
of an affiliation, and please announce that you will provide information on
all future changes as soon as possible. Specifically, it is necessary to
indicate all information regarding § 8 IV of the statutes.

Discussions with the candidates and questions to them as well as questions
about the elections should take place on the public
board-discuss@documentfoundation.org mailing list. For details on how to use
the mailing list, see https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

Eligible voters will receive further details via e-mail prior to the start of
elections, including a summary of the candidates, details on how to access the
voting system, and instructions on how to independently verify the vote count.
Please ensure we have your recent and correct e-mail address on file. For
questions, you can reach the Board of Directors in private at
elections@documentfoundation.org

Following the time line set forth in § 12 II, requiring a 45 day advance
notice, we hereby announce the following time line for the elections:

(00:00 is beginning of the day, 24:00 is end of the day)
All times in CEST/UTC+2

1. (no later than) Friday, 2022-07-15: announcement of the election; and start
   of the nomination phase

2. Wednesday, 2022-08-24, 24:00: end of the nomination phase (one week before
   the election starts, as per § 12 II)

3. Thursday, 2022-09-01, 00:00: official start of the elections (at least 45
   days after announcement of the election, as per § 12 II)

4. Wednesday, 2022-09-07, 24:00: end of the election

5. Thursday, 2022-09-08: announcement of the preliminary results and
   acknowledgement of role

6. Friday, 2022-09-09, 00:00: start of the challenging phase

7. Thursday, 2022-09-15, 24:00: end of the challenging phase

8. afterwards: official announcement of the final results

9. Monday, 2022-09-19: new Membership Committee officially in charge, and
   election of a Chairperson from among its members

Be advised that the newly elected Membership Committee will only be in charge
from September 19, 2022 on.

Challenges to this election announcement with respect to the deadlines
outlined have to happen no later than seven (7) days after this announcement,
via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Board of
Directors in private).

Challenges to the preliminary results of the election have to happen until the
deadline set forth above, via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org
(which reaches the Board of Directors in private).

On behalf of the Board of Directors, Thorsten

###

[1] https://www.documentfoundation.org/satzung.pdf (binding version) and
    https://www.documentfoundation.org/statutes.pdf (non-binding translation)