October 26, 2009, 3:40 am
The time has come again for openSUSE Members to vote for new members to the Board.
Stephen Shaw (decriptor) and Bryen Yunashko (suseROCKS) have completed their tenure on the Board, and their seats are up for election.  There is also a new seat available to be occupied by a non-Novell member.  Henne Vogelsang (henne) and Pascal Bleser (yaloki) have another year to complete and will remain, Michael Löffler (michl) as chairman will remain as well.  This means that as of this year’s election the openSUSE Board will be made up of equal numbers of Novell and non-Novell employees, 2 seats+Chairperson and 3 seats respectively.  Candidates for this election will be voted in for a two (2) year term, ensuring that there is continuity within the Board.
The election is broken into three phases similar to last year:
October 26th, 2009 (Phase 0)
- Start of 4 week period for non-members to apply for an openSUSE membership (in order to vote).
- Start of 4 week phase for members to stand for a position in the openSUSE Board.
November 23rd, 2009 (End of Phase 0)
- Notification of intent to run, and application for an openSUSE membership close .
November 24th, 2009 (Phase 1)
- Start of 2 week campaign for the Board Candidates before the ballots open.  Candidates may campaign until the final bell when ballots close, should they wish.
December 8th, 2009 (Phase 2)
- Ballots open
December 22nd, 2009 (End of Phase 1 & 2)
- Ballots close
Should anyone have any questions, you can contact the Election Committee by emailing
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or speaking to one of the members on IRC.  It is best to always email the committee even if you speak to someone on IRC.  Full details of the election can be found on the wiki here.  Prospective candidates are highly encouraged to read this lwn.net article on some of the tasks required of Board members.
