As a start is there a general need to raise the awareness of the election and voting process we are using? Can we generate general interest material covering topics like: Why vote? How do you qualify for voting? What's this range voting stuff?
From out in the field I hear several reasons people don't vote. One
common reason is that they are new to the project and don't feel they know enough about who everyone is and what the various committees do to feel competent to participate.
That's exactly the reason why I didn't vote for the first election I was allowed to : the latest Fedora Board election.
So one thing that I think would help new contributors get their bearings, and not just with respect to elections, is something like an organization chart that explains the structure of the Fedora project generally. What are all these committees? What purpose do they serve? What problems do the solve? Knowing that much will suggest a reason to care to many people I think.
That would not really have helped me (and people in my case). My issue was that I knew absolutely nothing about the candidates. How could I vote for one or another ?
The answer came from Yaakov Neemoy after some beers: if I don't know who to vote for, I should just give the same score to everyone. That will have the exact same result, except it will show that I care enough about Fedora to actually take the time to do it.
This possibility, as evident as it might seem, was totally unclear to me, and I don't think I'm the only one. It might be worth adding that in the voting page I guess.
Regards,
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Mathieu Bridon (bochecha) French Fedora Ambassador
---------- "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." ~Benjamin Franklin