Resolution 2001-11-26.iwj.1: Email Voting

November 26th, 2001

This resolution was adopted by the Board of Directors of SPI at their meeting of November 26, 2001.

This resolution is superseded by 2004-10-15.dbg.1

I. Since the board is now larger, the email voting scheme previously agreed in Resolution 1998-09-24.iwj.5 has become unworkable. We therefore resolve:

II. Resolution 1998-09-24.iwj.5 on email voting is revoked.

III. In order to further the efficient working of Software in the Public Interest, Inc., it is hereby agreed that in future, until resolved otherwise by the Board, resolutions of the Board may be made by unanimous agreement by electronic mail according to the following procedure:

  1. A board member sends an electronic mail message to the Board mailing list, giving the title and text of a draft resolution.

  2. The resolution will then be discussed if necessary.

  3. When the discussion is complete the Proposer shall send a mail to the Board mailing list containing the final version of the resolution for voting.

The Proposer should state in their message "I hereby propose the following Resolution:".

The resolution number should be in the form YYYY-MM-DD.PROP.UNIQ where PROP is an indication of the proposer (such as their initials), who allocates the number, and UNIQ is a number added for uniqueness. The same resolution number may not be given to two different resolutions or texts.

The message should be digitally signed by a key recognised by the other board members.

  1. Sufficient board members each send signed electronic mail quoting the resolution's number, title, and text, and state "I hereby vote in favour of the resolution below" in the message body, and no board members send such mail stating the facts and "I hereby veto the resolution below" (or similar).

  2. Sufficient board members are four, or 50% of the board membership eligible to vote, whichever is greater. The Proposer is counted as voting in favour.

  3. At least one week has passed since the proposal in (3).

Such an exchange shall constitute notice of and the business of a meeting of the board for the purpose of acting in the name of the organisation according to article 7 of the bylaws. A resolution which has been agreed to by, and to which consent has been indicated by, the participating members of the Board, as described above, shall have equivalent force to a resolution passed by proper procedure during a physical or other electronic meeting of the Board.