It’s GV board elections time once more!

Our current GV Volunteers’ and Staff representatives to the Global Voices board, Aparna Ray, Jillian York and Mohamed ElGohary, end their three-year term of office at the end of March 2017, so we need to elect three new people to replace them.

After the last election in 2014, several of you offered ideas and feedback about the process, including requests for a longer voting period and relaxing the criteria for voter eligibility. We’ve taken that feedback into consideration in designing this year’s process.

It’s always easier to explain the details in the form of an FAQ, so here goes:

ELECTIONS TIMELINE AND OFFICERS

WHEN WILL THE NEXT ELECTION BE HELD?

Voting will take place on March 16-20, 2017. Here’s a timeline of all activities leading up to the voting days:

February 28 – Deadline for nominations

March 2 – Slate of candidates announced

March 3-15 – Campaign period

March 16-20 – Voting!

March 21 – Results announced

March 25 – Runoff (if necessary)

WHO’S IN CHARGE OF RUNNING THE ELECTION AND COUNTING THE VOTES?

The board appointed Ivan Sigal and Georgia Popplewell as the elections officers. This also means that Ivan and Georgia will not be eligible to vote.

HOW WILL THE WINNERS BE DETERMINED?

In the Staff election, the candidate gaining the largest number of votes will be considered the winner. In the Volunteers’ election, the top two candidates receiving the largest number of votes will be considered the winners.

ABOUT THE BOARD

WHAT’S THIS GLOBAL VOICES BOARD THING ALL ABOUT?

Like all nonprofit foundations, Global Voices is governed by a board of directors. You can see the members of the current board at https://globalvoices.org/about/board-of-directors/.

WHAT’S THE STRUCTURE OF THE GV BOARD?

The current Global Voices board of directors comprises nine seats. Two of these seats are reserved for the founders of GV (Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca MacKinnon), three for members of the GV community and four for other individuals of the board’s choosing.

HOW OFTEN DOES THE GV BOARD MEET?

The GV board meets once each quarter, i.e. four times a year. Most meetings take place by conference call.

HOW DO PEOPLE GET ON THE BOARD OF GV?

The four external board members are nominated and selected by the current board. The GV community board representatives are elected by the GV community.

WHO ARE THE CURRENT GV COMMUNITY BOARD MEMBERS?

The GV community seats are currently occupied by Mohamed ElGohary (staff representative), Aparna Ray and Jillian C. York (volunteer representatives). They were elected to the GV board in March 2014.

FOR HOW LONG DO GV BOARD MEMBERS SERVE?

Except for the co-founders, the term of office for all GV board members is three years.

WHAT ARE THE OBLIGATIONS OF GV COMMUNITY BOARD MEMBERS?

The GV community board representatives exist to ensure that the interests of GV community members are served by the organization. They’re basically the community’s spokespeople at board level. As such, they should be in regular touch with the GV community to listen to and familiarize themselves with your opinions and concerns.

CAN GV COMMUNITY BOARD MEMBERS BE RE-ELECTED FOR A SECOND TERM?

Yes.

NOMINATION PROCESS

WHAT ARE THE ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR CANDIDATES?

The Staff Representative position may be contested by any GV community member who:

1) heads a Global Voices’ department (i.e. Newsroom, Rising Voices, Advox, Lingua) or an editorial or translation team (i.e. regional editors, language editors, Translation Managers)

and

2) has published on a GV website at least four times in the last calendar year (i.e. since February 16, 2016).

The Volunteers’ Representative position may be contested by any GV community member who:

1) does NOT head a Global Voices’ department (i.e. Newsroom, Rising Voices, Lingua) or an editorial or translation team (i.e. regional editors, language editors, Translation Managers)

and

2) has posted to a GV website at least four times in the last calendar year (i.e. since February 16, 2016).

WHO CAN NOMINATE CANDIDATES?

Any person who has ever published on a GV website can nominate a candidate.

HOW DO I NOMINATE SOMEONE?

You can nominate someone using the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y5KhQFvb1Gjp2l0yr0AId8dAs7UQT7ZOsi_qTEJYgUs/edit

Before nominating someone, please make sure to ask their consent!

CAN A CANDIDATE NOMINATE HIM/HERSELF?

Sure!

CAMPAIGNING

HOW WILL CANDIDATES CONDUCT THEIR CAMPAIGNS?

Candidates will initially be asked a provide responses to a series of set questions on the Community Blog (see 2014 responses from Staff Candidates and Volunteer Candidates), along with any reasonable supporting materials, including videos, images, audio messages, etc. Community members will then be invited to ask questions of the candidates using our community forum or in the comments section on the Community Blog. If you don't have an account, ask your editor or the Lingua Manager.

CAN CANDIDATES USE GV MAILING LISTS TO CONDUCT THEIR CAMPAIGNS?

Yes, candidates may use the GV-Community Google Group for campaign purposes, once the communications are clearly labeled “GV Election Campaign Message.”

CAN A CANDIDATE BE DISQUALIFIED?

Any candidate who removes, defaces or in any other way interferes with another candidate’s campaign materials, or who orders another to do such on his/her behalf, will face immediate disqualification from the election. We’re pretty sure, however, that no GVer would ever behave in that manner. :-)

VOTING

WHO’S ELIGIBLE TO VOTE?

Any member of the Global Voices community who 1) has been a member of the community for at least three months, and 2) who has posted to a GV website within the last five years (i.e. since January 1, 2012), can vote in the election. We’ll be circulating a list of eligible voters very soon.

HOW WILL PEOPLE CAST THEIR VOTES?

You’ll cast your votes through an online platform. We’ll send you more information and detailed instructions for voting closer to the voting date.

WILL EVERYBODY VOTE FOR BOTH THE STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS’ REPRESENTATIVES?

Yes. Basically, we’ll be running two elections, one to determine the Staff Representative and one to determine the Volunteers’ Representative. Every eligible voter will have three votes: one to cast in the Staff election, and two in the Volunteers’ election.