Foundation/Local Chapters/United States/Elections/2020
Election to the Board
What is the Board?
OpenStreetMap US is governed by a board of directors made up of five individuals. All five positions are up for election each year. To find out more about board activities, keep an eye out for an upcoming town hall with current board members.
Vacancies
All five board seats are subject to this election. Current board:
- Steven Johnson
- Ian Dees
- Jonah Adkins
- Minh Nguyen
- Alyssa Wright
2020 Election Schedule
- January 1 - Nominations Open
- January 13, 7pm ET - Board Town Hall - an opportunity to ask current board members questions and learn more about OSM US. Candidates encouraged to join.
- January 20, 8:30pm ET - Board Town Hall - an opportunity to ask current board members questions and learn more about OSM US. Candidates encouraged to join.
- January 26 - Nominations Close
- January 29, 1pm ET - Town Hall with Candidates - hear from the OSM US Board Candidates. Join via Hangout or Phone +1 435-574-4558 PIN: 989 522 189#
- January 31 - Deadline to become a member to vote
- February 1, 3pm ET - Town Hall with Candidates - hear from the OSM US Board Candidates. Join via Hangout or Phone +1 717-685-5964 PIN: 750 523 883#
- February 3 - Voting Opens at Noon EST - Members will receive a ballot via email.
- February 9 - Voting Closes at Midnight EST
How do I vote?
At the beginning of the election period all members of OpenStreetMap US will receive a ballot link at their registered email address. You can join OpenStreetMap US prior to the election week and by January 31. If you're not sure about your membership status or your registered email, please get in touch with us at membership@openstreetmap.us.
How do I learn more about candidates?
There will be 2 town hall meetings with the 2019 board to discuss what it's like being on the board and learn more about OpenStreetMap US. Candidates encouraged to join.
There will be 2 town hall meeting with the 2020 board candidates via Google Hangouts/telephone. Join Wednesday January 29th 10 AM PST (1PM EST) OR Saturday February 1, 12 PM PST (3PM EST) and have your questions ready for candidates.
Every candidate is also required to submit a position statement to be linked below and has the option to provide answers to community questions posted below.
Nominations
- Nominations will be open from January 1 until Sunday January 26. This wiki page has been provided for recording nominations.
- Nominees must provide position statements upon nomination via links on this wiki page, or a statement embedded in the table above.
- A Nominee who withdraws should not remove their name from the wiki page, but rather clearly note that they decline by editing the page.
- A current officer of OSM US will verify that nominees are members before the election starts. A nominee may join OSM US at any time before the end of the nomination period to become eligible (note that the nominee must be fully paid up by January 31, 2020).
A valid nomination will include:
- a name posted on this wiki page
- a position statement or link to a position statement on this wiki page
- All of the above by January 26, 2020 (based on the wiki timestamp of the last edit)
- Independent verification of current membership (this can happen at any time before the start of the election and is not the responsibility of the Nominee)
Elections
- Only paid members of OpenStreetMap US can vote. You must be a member or renew your membership by January 31, 2020.
- The election voting period will start on Monday February 3 and end Sunday February 9.
- Members who renew their membership or are members before the end of elections can vote. Voting members will receive links via email to the voting website
- Paid OpenStreetMap US members will receive, via email, a unique link to a voting page. This will be sent to the email address associated with their entry in OSM US membership records.
- Voters may vote for up to 5 nominees to the board.
- One independent monitor will come from the greater OSM community. the monitor shall not be a current board member or candidate for the OSM US board. They will have access to the voting website in order to verify that the vote has been correctly counted and reported.
- Tiebreaker: should there be a tie for the final board seat, those members clearly elected to the new board will decide how to break the tie. The board members selected by this group must be from the nominees who are tied.
Candidates
Here is the full list of all candidates standing for elections. Candidates can nominate themselves or someone else starting January 1, 2020 until the end of the day on January 26, 2020 by adding their name to this list. If a nominee chooses to withdraw, please leave your name on the page and add (Withdrawn) after it. An individual seconding the nomination is not required, but recommended.
To learn more about candidates, review their position statement below.
| Result | Nominee | Nomination
Seconded |
Manifesto (Position Statement) | OSMUS
Member Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected | Jubal Harpster | Clifford Snow | Position Statement | 2014 (confirmed) |
| Elected | Daniela Waltersdorfer J | Jonah Adkins | Position Statement | 2018 (confirmed) |
| Jonah Adkins | Matthew Gibb | Position Statement | 2015 (confirmed) | |
| Elected | Alyssa Wright | Malcolm Smith | Position Statement | 2013 (confirmed) |
| Steven Johnson | Martijn van Exel | Position Statement | 2010 (confirmed) | |
| Elected | Martijn van Exel | Chris Beddow | about me, position statement | 2011 (confirmed) |
| Elected | Minh Nguyen | Steven Johnson | Position statement | 2015 (confirmed) |
Independent Observer
This year's election was overseen by independent observer Alan McConchie.
Community Questions for Candidates
This year (based on popularity from the OSMF elections) we will gather questions from the community for candidates. We invite members to post their questions here up to Thursday, January 30 midnight ET and kindly ask that you maintain a respectful tone. Thank you for participating in the 2020 election process!
Questions to Candidates
- Do you think OSM-US should pursue becoming a Local Chapter officially recognized by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF)? --Mds08011 (talk) 21:38, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
- Do you support the proposed amendment to the OpenStreetMap-US Bylaws (extending board terms)? --Mds08011 (talk) 21:50, 17 January 2020 (UTC)
- If elected, would you be willing to serve as Treasurer? MaggieMaps (talk)
- What will you do on the board that you couldn't do as a regular member of the OSM community? Martijn van Exel (talk) 22:15, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
- For current board members seeking re-election, list the top 3 things you have helped achieve on the board and your role in these achievements. Please be specific. Martijn van Exel (talk) 22:15, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
- For current board members seeking re-election, looking back at the stated goals in your previous position statement / manifesto, how would you judge your own success? Martijn van Exel (talk) 22:15, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
- In the last year, how active have you been in the OSM community? What efforts have you made to support and/or grow OpenStreetMap in the US? MaggieMaps (talk) 24 Jan 2020
- The OSM US website could use some refreshing, show our mission and goals and list our sponsors. Even incorporate a vector tile slippy map. Who wants to step up with a plan? Glassman (talk) 20:25, 27 January 2020 (UTC)
- What is your "elevator pitch" (short, quick description) when someone asks: "What is Open Street Map? Why would I use it while Google/Bing/Apple Maps exists?" --Mds08011 (talk) 21:00, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
Candidate Responses to Questions
If you are a candidate, thank you for standing for election! Candidates will have the opportunity to post answers to the questions starting Friday January 31. It will be up to the candidates to answer all the questions or just a few of them. Please answer them on this page.
Changes to the OpenStreetMap US Bylaws
This year, in addition to the elections, members will vote on an amendment to the OpenStreetMap US Bylaws. This amendment would extend the board term to 2 years instead of 1 and introduce the ability to staggered terms of service. This change is being proposed for the following reasons:
- Establishing term limits and staggered terms provides a better balance and continuity of board members
- Term limits also give boards the chance to give those hard working board members a mandatory 'vacation'
- Two-year terms give board members more time to grow into their roles, leading to longer institutional memory and continuity of leadership
Amendments to the Bylaws require approval by two-thirds (⅔) majority vote of a minimum of fifty percent (50%) of all members in good standing having voted, so please vote!
Results
The new board members as selected by the membership are: Jubal Harpster, Daniela Waltersdorfer J, Alyssa Wright, Martijn van Exel, and Minh Nguyen.
The two proposals to modify the bylaws had well over the ⅔ majority support that was required, but they did not achieve the 50% turnout of the OSM US membership in order to pass. Only 37% of our members voted in this election, making it impossible to change the bylaws in this election.
The exported/archived Opavote results can be found below:
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