My spontaneous reaction, like others in the Election Committee, when informed of Dennys resignation was to think a byelection, soon in time, would be the "natural" way to fill the empty seat. This is how it has been done earlier (even if now some years back) and while the appointment of Maria after James had support of existing (informal?) thinking ("if the Board reject any of the elected three, as they are entitled to do, they should appoint at No 4") , no such thinking has existed to support appoint no 5 in case of a resignation.
But the more I think the more hesitant I become, and also taking into account the (excellent) feedback in the thread "what can we learn" that at least to me give a feeling the election process for community election can be adjusted (without need making it more complicated) so that a situation like this in the future would be resolved without any need of byelection.
A Bylection *Draws a lot a resources from WMF *Draws a lot of resources from the Election Committee. While almost all in out internal discussion is willing to support a byelection (even among the ones not interested to stay on in a standing EC) , we are fewer then for last election. Greg has resigned as some others. *Draws a lot on energy from the community. Think of all banners that was put up and even at some time dedicated e-mails being sent out, just the translation was a huge effort as such
I also want to highlight that that I can see risks in running a byelection *what if we are not able to live up to the demands of process quality and the elections legitimacy will become disputed? *what if we wear out the community motivation to participate in community election, could it make next ordinary election in less the a year less successful? *what if the process as such reopens earlier traumas in the movement (like James re the Board issue)?
So while not "ruling out" a byelection, I believe we should not go for that option without thoroughly considering other option for filling the seat. There can be other alternative then look for no 5 in last election and we should remember it is only to fill a seat for less then a year, is a bylection an overkill for what it can resolve?
Anders