[Foundation-l] Will the Board accept the election result?

[Florence Devouard]

The board has no plan to repudiate elections, nor to repudiate one person.
The board is made of different people with different opinions, which 
some chose to share and some chose not to share (perhaps some do not 
care at all as well).

Here is my position

There are two separate things.

Point 1: not accepting a candidate amongst others (which is legally 
possible). The bylaws make it possible to remove someone from the board
Point 2: cancelling the entire elections because there are some doubts 
in the legitimacy of the process

Regarding point 2: As of today, I see no reason why the elections should 
be considered void and cancelled. Now, I am not part of the election 
committee. If the election committee has any argument to show there was 
a problem that might cause the elections to be cancelled, they are fully 
entitled to. But from the board perspective, there are none that I am 
aware of and there are no plans for any cancellation.

Regarding point 1: I see no reason for not accepting a candidate chosen 
by the community without a serious argument.
The bylaws give us the right to remove a board member, by majority of 
voting. But I believe there is an assumption that removal should have a 
CAUSE. And the cause must be justifiable. Refusing someone because he 
smells bad, or because of his religion, or because he is very 
provocative... are not valid reason to remove a board member in my sense.
Examples of valid reasons to remove a board member: a board member 
totally inactive. a board member stealing the organization. a board 
member guilty of assaulting another board member. a board member 
repeateadly making publicly derogatory and non justifiable comments to a 
staff member. A board member not respecting a confidentiality agreement. 
Etc... These are all arguments to remove a board member. Some of these 
reasons deserve IMMEDIATE removal, others probably first go by with a 
simple warning. But essentially, a board member should be removed if he 
does not respect the law, if he does not fullfill his role as board 
member, and if he acts in ways which may be damageable to the organization.

However, to be able to give an argument to remove someone, one first 
need to actually be on the board ! So, in my perspective, I see no way 
we can plain refuse to accept a candidate chosen by the community on the 
spot. There is no plan to do so. The people chosen by the community will 
get on the board. However, a person chosen by the community might be 
removed later, for one of the causes above listed.

I do not really see how this position might be shocking. All of you vote 
for some elections from time to time. Maybe for the president, maybe for 
the mayor etc... you would not understand if the election was cancelled 
because an authority did not like the guy.
However, I am sure you would be relieved, if after 6 months, an 
authority stepped in to remove a mayor stealing money of the city, 
raping an office manager or libelling his staff.

The situation at the Foundation is just the same.

Just let it be. Go voting if you have not done so. An hour left or so. 
Please, trust.

Anthere