TSC Voting Process
Voting in the Zephyr Project is defined under Section 8 of the Project Charter.
Additional points of clarity / TSC interpretation have been added below.
The Governing Board may opt to update the Charter to include the below refinements. Until then, additional clarifications (if/where needed) will be discussed in the Process Working Group, and approved in the TSC.
For items requesting an in-meeting vote of the Zephyr Technical Steering Committee (TSC), assuming quorum requirements have been met, the default voting mechanism will be a verbal motion to determine if there is general consensus. If there are no objections to a motion being brought forward, general consensus is assumed and the motion passes. Should there be any objections raised, the vote will move to email, and be executed using the Voting Guidelines outlined in Section 8 of the Project Charter.
Should a motion be deemed urgent by the TSC Chair, and assuming quorum requirements have been met, the Chair may call for a roll call vote in-meeting.
Voting Options: "Yes", "No" or "Abstain"
Abstention: Abstentions do not count in tallying the vote negatively or positively; when members abstain, they are in effect attending only to contribute to a quorum.
- Abstentions count toward Quorum (// see present or participating electronically below).
- Abstentions do not impact the number of votes needed to decide a vote
Quorum: Quorum for […] TSC […] meetings shall require 60% of the voting representatives... (ref 8b of the Charter)
Decisions: Decisions by vote shall be based on a majority vote, provided that at least sixty percent (60%) of the […]TSC […] representatives […] must be either present or participating electronically or by written action in order to conduct a valid vote. (ref 8c of the Charter)
Example A: 40 eligible TSC voters. 3 abstain from a vote on a motion. 12 vote Yes. 11 vote No.
- Quorum reached? 26 votes cast (quorum = 60% of 40 = 24) ✅
- Majority vote: 12 Yes vs. 11 No. Yes wins.
Example: B: 40 eligible TSC voters. 5 abstain from a vote on a motion. 12 vote Yes. 6 vote No.
- Quorum reached? 23 votes cast (quorum = 60% of 40 = 24) ❌
- Vote is not valid. Quorum not reached.
Example C: 40 eligible TSC voters. 21 abstain from a vote on a motion. 2 vote Yes. 1 votes No.
- Quorum reached? 24 votes cast (quorum = 60% of 40 = 24) ✅
- Majority vote: 2 Yes vs. 1 No. Yes wins.
As noted under Section 8b of the Project Charter, Voting rights for a representative who misses three consecutive meetings are subject to suspension and suspended representatives do not count towards the quorum requirement. A representative’s suspension will end and voting rights restored at the start of the next attended meeting.
The TSC enforces the suspension policy for voting members who miss three consecutive TSC weekly meetings. Multi-day meetings (F2F events) are counted as "one" meeting.
- The TSC voted on February 16, 2022 to discontinue default enforcement of the suspension policy.
- The TSC voted on January 18, 2023 to re-enact default enforcement of the suspension policy.
Notice of suspension will be sent to representatives who miss three consecutive meetings, noting that rights will be restored upon next attendance of a TSC meeting.
Note: As per Section 4b of the Project Charter, Platinum and Silver Members may choose to opt out of a voting seat on the TSC. Members who opt out and then wish to reclaim their seat later will have their voting rights restored at the start of the second consecutive meeting attended following notification to the TSC Chair.
Votes are considered immutable once cast. A voter may not change their vote, once cast, between the time a Motion is brought forth and the time at which Results are announced.
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