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Re: Secret ballot and RMS Resolution



On Thu, Apr 01, 2021 at 12:42:01PM +0000, Jean Duprat (Avignon) wrote:
> Votes in leadership elections are kept secret even after the end of
> the voting period for obvious reasons: by knowing that the ballot is
> secret, voters can feel free to express their opinion as they see
> fit. This constitutional guarantee sadly does not apply to General
> Resolutions.

I think we're at opposite ends of the voting spectrum here on this
matter, but I share your concern.

In fact, I think that *any* position taken in this vote could result in
targeted harassment of the voters.

As this is a vote on a person (even if an indirect one, in the sense
that is not an election), most democratic systems will treat it as a
vote where ballots should be secret. But I fear that the Debian
Constitution ties the hands of the secretary here, or am I missing
something here Kurt?

This is probably something that should be fixed in the Constitution, by
mandating secret voting for elections whereas living to the judgment of
the secretary whether other GR votes should be secret or not. But that
cannot be fixed in a timely manner. I'm not sure what other options we
have here.

Cheers
-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli . zack@upsilon.cc . upsilon.cc/zack . . o . . . o . o
Computer Science Professor . CTO Software Heritage . . . . . o . . . o o
Former Debian Project Leader & OSI Board Director  . . . o o o . . . o .
« the first rule of tautology club is the first rule of tautology club »

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