FAmSCo election rules

= Fedora Ambassadors Steering Committee Election Rules =

Schedule
FAmSCo members are elected for a term of two (2) major releases of Fedora, unless an election is called early by the Chairperson of the committee, an absolute majority vote of FAmSCo, or by the Fedora Project Board.

FAmSCo was chartered in between Fedora Core 6 and Fedora 7. Therefore, the first set of terms expired after Fedora 8 was released, and future terms expire after every subsequent even numbered Fedora release.

The scheduling of the election will be set by the Fedora Election Coordinator after consultation with the Chairperson. Full details of the schedule will be announced widely prior to the beginning of the nomination period. In conjunction with other Fedora elections, reminder emails will be sent to those who are eligible to vote several times during the course of the election.

The election results will be announced in the ambassadors@lists.fedoraproject.org and other public lists.

Seats on FAmSCo
There are 7 seats on FAmSCo, of which 5 must be filled at all times. A supplementary election must be called immediately if number of active committee members drops below 5 in order to fill the committee's size back up to 7.

Candidates
Candidates may be any member of the Ambassadors group in the Fedora Accounts System. This helps ensure FAmSCo members have some experience with the processes of Fedora Ambassadors, but still allows relatively new contributors to sit on FAmSCo and bring fresh ideas to the table.

Candidates must self-nominate before the close of the announced nomination period by appending (in the order the nomination was made) their information to the appropriate page in the Fedora wiki. Nominations without candidate statements will not be accepted.

Candidates must not be a citizen of an export-restricted country (see Legal/Export#Embargoed_Destinations for the list of export restricted countries).

In order to hold an election, a minimum number of candidates are necessary. This will be the number of open seats + 25%. If there are 7 seats available, there will need to be at least 9 candidates. If not enough candidates have signed up by the deadline, the election will be held back by one week for more candidates to be nominated. If there are still not enough candidates, the candidates who are present will be voted upon (or merely confirmed if there are less candidates than open seats).

If a candidate no longer wishes to be on FAmSCo, they have to withdraw their name from the list of nominations at least 24 hours before the voting period opens, to avoid having their name being added to the ballot.

Members
Members of FAmSCo will keep their seats until the next election.

Members can step down at any time for any reason by notifying the rest of the committee as well as the Fedora Ambassadors community of their decision.

Members can be removed from the committee for misconduct by the Fedora Project Board or by an absolute majority vote of the FAmSCo. If an election becomes necessary upon member removal, the member cannot run for this election, but the removed member CAN run for the next orderly election.

Election of the Chairperson
Once an election is completed, the committee must elect a Chairperson. This will be done by the end of the first FAmSCo meeting that is held after the election. Until a new Chairperson is elected, the current chair will continue in that role. The FAmSCo Chairperson can be removed by the Fedora Project Board or by an absolute majority vote of the FAmSCo. If this happens, a new Chairperson must be elected within one week.

Appointment of Vice-Chairperson
No later than one week after election, the FAmSCo chairperson will appoint the Vice-Chairperson. The FAmSCo Vice-Chairperson can be removed by the Fedora Project Board or by an absolute majority vote of the FAmSCo. If this happens, a new Vice-Chairperson must be appointed within one week.

Voters
Any member of the Ambassadors group in the Fedora Accounts System is eligible to vote in the FAmSCo elections.

Voting System
The Fedora Elections Guide provides information about the voting system for all Fedora elections.