UKVoting Guidelines

General

• Votetakers must remain in regular contact with the other votetakers via the "ukvotetakers" mailing list. If they are going to be off-net for a significant period of time (longer than three weeks), they should notify the other votetakers, via the list, in advance.
• Votetakers must ensure that their contact information (including email address and telephone number) is kept up to date on the UKVoting website.
• A Coordinator is selected from among the votetakers by an internal poll. The selected Coordinator appoints two Deputy Coordinators.
• All votetakers must be subscribed to the "ukvotetakers" mailing list. The Coordinator and Deputy Coordinators must be subscribed to the "ukvoting" mailing list.
• Votetakers (including the Coordinator) may be expelled from UKVoting by an internal poll. The votetaker whose membership is in question does not vote.
• Proposed new votetakers must be accepted by an internal poll.
• Official UKVoting statements may be ratified by an internal poll. Official statements should be posted to uk.net.news.announce if appropriate.
• These rules may be amended by an internal poll.
• Internal polls are carried out on the "ukvotetakers" list by the votetakers mailing their vote to the list. Five working days must be allowed for votetakers to respond, unless they all respond, in which case the poll is immediately complete.
• If it is necessary to take an action that normally requires an internal poll in a shorter timescale than five working days, the Coordinator, or in the Coordinator's absence a Deputy Coordinator, may take the action unilaterally. This action must be subsequently approved by an internal poll. If the poll does not approve the action, the action must be undone if possible.

Votes

• When a request for a votetaker is received, the Coordinator or a Deputy Coordinator should request a votetaker from the "ukvotetakers" list as soon as possible. The assignment of a votetaker is at the discretion of the Coordinator, or in the absence of the Coordinator, a Deputy Coordinator, but usually the first votetaker to respond will be assigned.
• Votetakers must not take a vote if they took a partial position in the discussion which resulted in the CFV.
• The assigned votetaker for a vote must keep the database entry for the vote on the www.ukvoting.org.uk web site updated at all times.
• All email addresses used for receiving votes must go through the UKVoting central mail server.
• The votetaker must conduct the vote in good faith. No other party outside of UKVoting may instruct the votetaker in how to operate the vote; however the votetaker must take into consideration any comments made, including the origin of the comments. The votetaker must bear in mind at all times that the vote is being taken on behalf of, and for the benefit of, the external organisation.
• If the votetaker is considered not to be conducting the vote according to best current practice, is not following the UKVoting guidelines or the guidelines of the requesting organisation, or is in any other way not conducting the vote in an appropriate manner, the votetaker may be removed by an internal poll. If the votetaker is removed, a new votetaker shall be assigned as soon as possible by the Coordinator or a Deputy Coordinator.
• Votetakers may not vote in votes they are operating.
• If the smooth progress of any vote is threatened by circumstances outside the votetaker's control, they must inform the "ukvotetakers" mailing list as soon as possible, and consider whether or not the vote should be handed to another votetaker.
• If there is no contact for an extended period of time (such period to be not less than 5 working days) with a votetaker currently assigned to a vote then the votetaker may be declared absent by an internal poll. In this situation a new votetaker should then be appointed by the Coordinator or a Deputy Coordinator. If there is already a secondary votetaker assigned to the vote then they should be promoted to primary.

Two-votetaker votes

• If a vote is considered particularly important or sensitive - for example, UK Usenet Committee elections, uk.* Guidelines changes, or where the proponent of a vote is a UKVoting member - a secondary votetaker should also be called for in the same way as and at the same time as the call for the primary votetaker.
• The secondary votetaker should keep a copy of all ballot requests and votes received, but will not normally perform any other actions unless they are promoted to primary votetaker.
• All the restrictions on absence, public comment, etc that apply to the primary votetaker apply equally to the secondary votetaker at all times.
• If the primary votetaker indicates that they cannot continue the vote, or is declared absent, then the secondary votetaker should immediately take over the vote and attempt to bring the vote back on track.

Preparing a vote

• After having agreed to undertake a vote, the votetaker must contact the proponent by email within 48 hours of having the vote allocated to them. While the time taken to prepare the CFV will depend on the proponent's responses, the aim should be to have a draft CFV ready within one week.
• All CFVs and voting procedures must conform to the rules laid down by the organisation on whose behalf the vote is being taken (for example, "Voting Procedures within the UK hierarchy" for uk.* hierarchy votes).
• The draft CFV and ballot paper for all votes must be emailed to the "ukvotetakers" mailing list as soon as it is ready, and a minimum of three working days allowed for any comment before the CFV is implemented. Any significant or unusual changes to any of the standard parts of the CFV or ballot paper must be explicitly pointed out. If any changes are subsequently made (other than trivial corrections to spelling or grammar), the new version must again be emailed to the list, with a list of the changes, and a further three working days allowed. The votetaker must consider comments received, but is not compelled to act on them.

During the voting period

• During the voting period, the votetaker should not be off-net for greater than 48 hours consecutively. Votes must be acknowledged votes within five days of receiving them. Even if acknowledgements are automated, votes must be manually inspected within five days of receipt to check validity.
• Votetakers must not make any public comment on the subject of a vote they are undertaking until the vote is complete, except to clarify procedural issues. In particular, any information regarding the progress of the vote (for example, how many people have voted, or how well different options are doing) must never be disclosed during the vote.
• A vote is not "complete" until the results are issued, and any complaints have been ruled on by the committee, and the deadline for any further complaints has expired.
• After a vote is complete, there are no further restrictions on public comments by the votetaker for that vote in their capacity as a private individual, except that any information received by the votetaker in confidence in their capacity as votetaker must be kept confidential.

After the voting period

• Votetakers should aim to produce the draft results within one week of the close of the vote. If, for whatever reason, this is not possible, a summary of progress and the expected timetable must be posted to the "ukvotetakers" list within one week of the close of the vote, and updates provided thereafter at least once a week. Progress reports should also be made to the external organisation (for uk.* hierarchy votes these reports should be posted to appropriate newsgroups).
• The results posting for all votes must be emailed to the "ukvotetakers" mailing list as soon as it is ready, and a minimum of three working days allowed for any comment before the result is made public. Any significant or unusual changes to any of the standard parts of the results must be explicitly pointed out. If any changes are subsequently made (other than trivial corrections to spelling or grammar), the new version must again be emailed to the list, with a list of the changes, and a further three working days allowed. The votetaker must consider comments received, but is not compelled to act on them.