P&P: Fw: Fw: SUO: MSO ballot canceled due to new IEEE voting rules

[jim.s3@juno.com]

SUO P&P,

        Here are my ideas on the new IEEE email voting rule.

1. SUO may be in only IEEE standards WG that meets only via email.  Other
WGs probably don't care about the tougher email rule, since they can
simply wait until their next meeting a take a simple majority vote.  I
don't agree with the new rule, but I also don't think it's worth the
effort to try to get it changed.

2. As a minimum, we need to educate all voting members.  I suggest we
draft a brief explanation, send it out, and ask everyone to report back
that they read.  Any volunteers to write a draft? 

3. I don't think we can require people to cast votes, but I do suggest we
express the importance of everyone taking the time to take a postion and
cast a vote on every ballot.

4. In the long run, I don't this rule will matter much.  The final WG
step is to send a 'Committee Draft' to IEEE for formal balloting, which
to pass there usually requires far more than a slim majority in the WG. 
I hope we all understand the IEEE formal balloting group will be a
different set of people from our WG.  One must be a member of the IEEE
Standards Association, so many SUO WG members will likely not join. 
Also, new standards professionals with a stake or interest in the
document will join. 

Jim



--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jim.s3@juno.com
To: suo-policies@ieee.org
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:49:11 -0500
Subject: Fw: SUO: MSO ballot canceled due to new IEEE voting rules
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Matthew (Chair) and SUO P&P Group,

        Given this new IEEE rule for email votes, request you review the
current SUO rule for retaining voting rights.  

Jim Schoening







--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: jim.s3@juno.com
To: standard-upper-ontology@ieee.org
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 14:06:53 GMT
Subject: SUO: MSO ballot canceled due to new IEEE voting rules

SUO Voting Members,

        Below is an IEEE announcement of how email votes should now be
counted.  

        The rule is 'Majority of all voting members,' which equates to
Yes > (No + ABSTAIN + Non-votes). 

        The rule applies immediately to new votes, but not prior votes. 
I asked an IEEE rep who said it even applies to a vote in process.   

        As such, I feel I must cancel the current MSO vote until we can
sort this out and educate all voters to the new rules.   

        I believe this new rule will work fine, but only if all voting
members take the time to determine their position and cast a vote.  As
such, I will ask the SUO P&P group to take another look at the SUO rules
for retaining voting rights.  If anyone wants to join this group, 
                send the message:   subscribe  suo-policies  
                to the address majordomo@ieee.org

        Incidently, for in-person meetings, IEEE clarified the voting
rule to be Yes > No, given a quorum.  

Jim  Schoening



-----Original Message-----
From: d.ringle@IEEE.ORG [mailto:d.ringle@IEEE.ORG]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 2:03 PM
To: STDS-WG-CHAIRS@listserv.ieee.org
Subject: Message from IEEE-SA Standards Board Chair on Voting Rules


IEEE Sponsors:

I would like to inform you of two IEEE Bylaw changes that were approved
by
the IEEE Board of Directors in November 2003. Those changes, which are at
the highest level of IEEE procedures and therefore supercede IEEE
Standards
Sponsor and Working Group  procedures, affect the IEEE-SA Standards Board
and all other IEEE Standards-developing groups (such as sponsors and
working groups).

The first change concerns how abstentions are considered in any vote held
at a face-to-face meeting or during a teleconference. The rules now state
that abstentions no longer count toward the total number needed to
approve
or disapprove an action. What is needed is a majority of the votes cast,
either approve or disapprove, to determine a decision. This change is
given
in IEEE Bylaw I-300.4 (1).

The second change covers votes taken via email. Any email ballot needs to
receive approval from a majority of voting members (all official members
of
your group) to allow an action to be taken. It should be noted that
unofficial actions, such as straw polls, do not need to follow this rule.
This change is contained in IEEE Bylaw I-300.4 (4).

You can read these two bylaw changes here:
http://www.ieee.org/portal/index.jsp?pageID=corp_level1&path=about/whatis
/by
laws&file=i-300.xml&xsl=generic.xsl


These changes are now the official rules, and you should begin to follow
them immediately. Any previous actions taken are not affected by these
rules. Please ensure that your Sponsor or Working Group procedures are
not
in conflict with these revised Bylaws. Remember that you can default to
the
IEEE Bylaws as well.

If you have any questions concerning these new rules, please contact Mary
Lynne Nielsen (m.nielsen@ieee.org) or Dave Ringle (d.ringle@ieee.org.)

Sincerely,
Don
**********************************************
Don Wright                 don@lexmark.com

Chair,  IEEE SA Standards Board
Member, IEEE-ISTO Board of Directors
f.wright@ieee.org / f.wright@computer.org

Director, Alliances & Standards
Lexmark International
740 New Circle Rd
Lexington, Ky 40550
859-825-4808 (phone) 603-963-8352 (fax)
**********************************************


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