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Proposed JOS Policy Book

ARTICLE I Definitions

As used in this document:

1.1 "constitution" means the Constitution of "JOS*" and is available from http://jos.sourceforge.net/constitution.html http://www.jos.org/constitution.html

1.2 "member" refers to a member of "JOS*"

1.3 All times and dates referred to in this policy book are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

1.4 "JOS vote information list" or "vote information list" is the JOS email list "vote-info@jos.org" which can be subscribed to at http://jos.org/mailman/listinfo/vote-info

1.5 With respect to voting issues, the terms "approved", "rejected", "failed to pass without prejudice" and their derivitives are rigorously defined in Article 4.11 of the constitution

ARTICLE II General Provisions

2.1 All members agree to recognize the authority of the Constitution and this policy book in relation to "JOS*" business. In case of any conflict between this policy book and the constitution, the constitution prevails in all cases.

2.2 A member of "JOS*" is a "voting member" if they are subscribed to the JOS vote information list. It is not permissable for people to be subscribed more than once to the JOS vote information list, even if a person has more than one email address.

2.3 No vote proposal that has been rejected as described in Article 4.11 of the Constitution shall be resubmitted for a period of 6 months after closure of the vote in which it is rejected.

ARTICLE III Voting Procedures

3.1 Vote advertisements should be placed on a wiki page on the "JOS*" web site. A link to the advertisement should be placed at a prominent location of the main "JOS*" web page ( http://jos.sourceforge.net/html/WebHome.html and http://jos.sourceforge.net/ ). A copy of the advertisement should be sent to the JOS vote information list.

3.2 Requests for withdrawal by the vote proposer shall be advertised by amending the original advertisement on the wiki page and posting a notice of withdrawal containing a copy of the original proposal to the vote information list.

3.3 Objections to the designated administrator for a vote shall be made by e-mail to the proposer of the vote before the expiration of the advertisement period specified in Constitution Article 4.3. Objections received after expiration of this period shall not be considered valid. The proposer shall be responsible for posting to the vote information list the fact of the objection, the identity of the objector, and the proposer's response to the objection as described in Constitution Article 4.4. The proposer shall also be responsible for posting any resulting change of administrator to the original vote advertisement on the appropriate wiki page. Under no circumstances shall the nature of the objection be made public.

3.4 No member shall cast a vote unless they are a voting member as defined in 2.2

3.5 A voting member shall cast a vote by emailing the designated vote administrator. The email should clearly identify the particular issue that the vote relates to. The vote should clearly specify one of the following options: [a] Yes (approve the proposal as stated) [b] No (disapprove the proposal as stated] [c] Neither with explanation (disagree with the phrasing of the question or some other procedural matter) [d] Abstain (no preference either way). Votes from persons who are not voting members as described in Article 2.2 are invalid. Votes received by the vote administrator before the start of the voting period are invalid. Votes received by the vote administrator after the close of the voting period are invalid, even if they were sent before the vote closed.

3.6 A voting member can change their vote by emailing the vote administrator and informing them of their new vote. The email should clearly state that they are changing their vote, and what their previous vote was. If there is any reason to doubt the validity of the vote change, the administrator shall be responsible for making a reasonable effort to confirm it.

3.7 Immediately before the start of the voting period the vote administrator shall obtain a roster of voting members for the vote at hand from the list of subscribers to the JOS vote information list. The adminstrator shall use this roster to calculate the total voting membership of "JOS*", quorum, and to determine that each ballot is from a registered voting member. The quorum level reached for the vote is calculated by dividing the total number of members that voted "a", "b" or "c" as detailed in 3.5 by the total number of people on the JOS vote information list.

3.8 After the close of the vote it is the responsibility of the vote administrator to advertise the result of the vote within 3 days. A vote result advertisement should be placed by updating the wiki page that initially announced the vote, indicating that voting has closed and what the result was. A page should be created by the administrator and all comments received on valid "neither" votes should be posted to it. This may be on the same page as the vote results if space permits. If necessary, the administrator shall establish a link from the results page to the comments page. The result and comments advertisements should remain on the wiki for a period of at least 20 days after the closure of the vote. A copy of the result and comments advertisements shall be sent to the JOS vote information list. This may be done as a single post at the discretion of the administrator.