2024 GOSH Community Council Election

Photo of the GOSH Council table at the 2022 Gathering in Panamá. Source: Gathering for Open Science Hardware

2024 Election Schedule

The 2023-2024 GOSH Community Council has drafted this potential timeline moving forward for 2024: 

  • 7 June – Announce Council election process and Constitution timeline, and plan for managing and communicating election results [i.e., final governance plan published]
  • 7 June – Share the 2024 governance plan on the GOSH forum 
  • 7 June – Open independent observer nominations 
  • 20 June – Close independent observer nominations
  • 20 June – Complete set-up of election infrastructure (platform, etc.) 
  • 20 June – Appoint an independent observer 
  • 20 June – Open voter registration 
  • 20 June – Announce the complete draft of GOSH Community Constitution and ratification process
  • 24 June – Open nominations 
  • 25 June – 4 July – Community meeting on draft text of Constitution and ratification process
  • 8 July – Close nominations, open consideration of candidates 
  • 8 – 18 July – Community discussion of draft Constitution on forum (asynchronous), consider patches
  • 15 – 18 July – Community meetings for candidates, as well as a meeting to discuss the GOSH Community Constitution
  • 18 July – Freeze the text of the Constitution
  • 22 July – Voter registration closes 
  • 25 July – Voting starts for Community Council and Constitution
  • 6 August 23:59 AoE – Voting closes 
  • 9 August – 2024-2025 Community Council election result and Constitution ratification results announced

This timeline will be revisited and updated as each milestone is reached in order to make sure the election is executed in an inclusive, effective, and successful fashion. The timezone for this timeline is Anywhere on Earth (AoE).

How do I register to vote?

Voter registration is now open and will close on July 22nd. Register to vote here!

How do I vote?

Voting will take place on the STAR Voting platform, which uses a combination of score voting to pick two highest-scoring candidates and a “runoff” in which the finalist who is preferred on more ballots wins. You can read more about the STAR Voting platform and its methodology here.  

Voting starts on July 25 and closes on August 9th.

What is the Community Council?

The Community Council oversees or delegates all subsequent tasks, questions, and issues related to governance of the GOSH community. 

Those elected to the Community Council will be referred to as Community Council Members. It is proposed that Community Council membership will persist for 2-year terms, with several 1-year terms seated in the first election to enable staggering of terms year over year.

For the first election, and only for the first election, candidates will run for a mix of 2-year and 1-year to start in order to establish staggered terms. This will enable balanced annual turnover moving forward, with, e.g., 3 or 4 new members being elected each year. After the first election, all open seats will be for 2-year terms in subsequent elections.

Vacancies

3 seats are subject to this election.

How do I learn more about candidates?

More to come soon!

Nominations

Individuals can nominate others or self-nominate for inclusion in the candidate pool. Nominations are now open and will close on July 8th.

Nominate someone as a candidate here!

Candidates

More to come soon!

Non-candidacy items to be voted on

The GOSH Constitution will be up for ratification during this election. Learn more about the Constitution here.

Administration

Independent Observer: TBA

Election Secretary: Bri Johns, GOSH Community Coordinator.