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44 Debian Constitution</p>
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48 <h1>Debian Constitution</h1>
49 <h1>Constitution for the Debian Project (v1.4)</h1>
50 <p>Version 1.4 ratified on October 7th, 2007. Supersedes
51 <a href="constitution.1.3">Version 1.3</a> ratified on September 24th,
53 <a href="constitution.1.2">Version 1.2</a> ratified on October 29th,
55 <a href="constitution.1.1">Version 1.1</a> ratified on June 21st,
56 2003, which itself supersedes <a href="constitution.1.0">Version 1.0</a>
57 ratified on December 2nd, 1998.</p>
59 <li><a href="#item-1">1. Introduction</a></li>
60 <li><a href="#item-2">2. Decision-making bodies and individuals</a></li>
61 <li><a href="#item-3">3. Individual Developers</a></li>
62 <li><a href="#item-4">4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</a></li>
63 <li><a href="#item-5">5. Project Leader</a></li>
64 <li><a href="#item-6">6. Technical committee</a></li>
65 <li><a href="#item-7">7. The Project Secretary</a></li>
66 <li><a href="#item-8">8. The Project Leader's Delegates</a></li>
67 <li><a href="#item-9">9. Assets held in trust for Debian</a></li>
68 <li><a href="#item-A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</a></li>
69 <li><a href="#item-B">B. Use of language and typography</a></li>
71 <h2><a name="item-1" id="item-1">1. Introduction</a></h2>
72 <p><cite>The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have
73 made common cause to create a free operating system.</cite></p>
74 <p>This document describes the organisational structure for formal
75 decision-making in the Project. It does not describe the goals of the
76 Project or how it achieves them, or contain any policies except those
77 directly related to the decision-making process.</p>
78 <h2><a name="item-2" id="item-2">2. Decision-making bodies and individuals</a></h2>
79 <p>Each decision in the Project is made by one or more of the
82 <li>The Developers, by way of General Resolution or an election;</li>
83 <li>The Project Leader;</li>
84 <li>The Technical Committee and/or its Chairman;</li>
85 <li>The individual Developer working on a particular task;</li>
86 <li>Delegates appointed by the Project Leader for specific
88 <li>The Project Secretary.</li>
90 <p>Most of the remainder of this document will outline the powers of
91 these bodies, their composition and appointment, and the procedure for
92 their decision-making. The powers of a person or body may be subject to
93 review and/or limitation by others; in this case the reviewing body or
94 person's entry will state this. <cite>In the list above, a person or
95 body is usually listed before any people or bodies whose decisions they
96 can overrule or who they (help) appoint - but not everyone listed
97 earlier can overrule everyone listed later.</cite></p>
98 <h3>2.1. General rules</h3>
101 <p>Nothing in this constitution imposes an obligation on anyone to
102 do work for the Project. A person who does not want to do a task
103 which has been delegated or assigned to them does not need to do
104 it. However, they must not actively work against these rules and
105 decisions properly made under them.</p>
108 <p>A person may hold several posts, except that the Project Leader,
109 Project Secretary and the Chairman of the Technical Committee must
110 be distinct, and that the Leader cannot appoint themselves as their
114 <p>A person may leave the Project or resign from a particular post
115 they hold, at any time, by stating so publicly.</p>
118 <h2><a name="item-3" id="item-3">3. Individual Developers</a></h2>
120 <p>An individual Developer may</p>
122 <li>make any technical or nontechnical decision with regard to their
124 <li>propose or sponsor draft General Resolutions;</li>
125 <li>propose themselves as a Project Leader candidate in
127 <li>vote on General Resolutions and in Leadership elections.</li>
129 <h3>3.2. Composition and appointment</h3>
132 <p>Developers are volunteers who agree to further the aims of the
133 Project insofar as they participate in it, and who maintain
134 package(s) for the Project or do other work which the Project
135 Leader's Delegate(s) consider worthwhile.</p>
138 <p>The Project Leader's Delegate(s) may choose not to admit new
139 Developers, or expel existing Developers. <cite>If the Developers
140 feel that the Delegates are abusing their authority they can of
141 course override the decision by way of General Resolution - see
142 §4.1(3), §4.2.</cite></p>
145 <h3>3.3. Procedure</h3>
146 <p>Developers may make these decisions as they see fit.</p>
147 <h2><a name="item-4" id="item-4">4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election</a></h2>
149 <p>Together, the Developers may:</p>
152 <p>Appoint or recall the Project Leader.</p>
155 <p>Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1
159 <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the Project
160 Leader or a Delegate.</p>
163 <p>Make or override any decision authorised by the powers of the Technical
164 Committee, provided they agree with a 2:1 majority.</p>
167 <p>Issue, supersede and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
169 <p>These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
170 relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
171 policies such as the free software licence terms that Debian
172 software must meet.</p>
173 <p>They may also include position statements about issues of the
175 <ol style="list-style: decimal;">
176 <li>A Foundation Document is a document or statement regarded as
177 critical to the Project's mission and purposes.</li>
178 <li>The Foundation Documents are the works entitled <q>Debian
179 Social Contract</q> and <q>Debian Free Software Guidelines</q>.</li>
180 <li>A Foundation Document requires a 3:1 majority for its
181 supersession. New Foundation Documents are issued and
182 existing ones withdrawn by amending the list of Foundation
183 Documents in this constitution.</li>
187 <p>Make decisions about property held in trust for purposes
188 related to Debian. (See §9.).</p>
191 <p>In case of a disagreement between the project leader and
192 the incumbent secretary, appoint a new secretary.</p>
195 <h3>4.2. Procedure</h3>
198 <p>The Developers follow the Standard Resolution Procedure, below.
199 A resolution or amendment is introduced if proposed by any
200 Developer and sponsored by at least K other Developers, or if
201 proposed by the Project Leader or the Technical Committee.</p>
204 <p>Delaying a decision by the Project Leader or their Delegate:</p>
206 <li>If the Project Leader or their Delegate, or the Technical
207 Committee, has made a decision, then Developers can override them
208 by passing a resolution to do so; see §4.1(3).</li>
209 <li>If such a resolution is sponsored by at least 2K Developers,
210 or if it is proposed by the Technical Committee, the resolution
211 puts the decision immediately on hold (provided that resolution
212 itself says so).</li>
213 <li>If the original decision was to change a discussion period or
214 a voting period, or the resolution is to override the Technical
215 Committee, then only K Developers need to sponsor the resolution
216 to be able to put the decision immediately on hold.</li>
217 <li>If the decision is put on hold, an immediate vote is held to
218 determine whether the decision will stand until the full vote on
219 the decision is made or whether the implementation of the
220 original decision will be delayed until then. There is no
221 quorum for this immediate procedural vote.</li>
222 <li>If the Project Leader (or the Delegate) withdraws the
223 original decision, the vote becomes moot, and is no longer
229 Votes are taken by the Project Secretary. Votes, tallies, and
230 results are not revealed during the voting period; after the
231 vote the Project Secretary lists all the votes cast. The voting
232 period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by up to 1 week by the
237 <p>The minimum discussion period is 2 weeks, but may be varied by
238 up to 1 week by the Project Leader. The Project Leader has a
239 casting vote. There is a quorum of 3Q.</p>
242 <p>Proposals, sponsors, amendments, calls for votes and other
243 formal actions are made by announcement on a publicly-readable
244 electronic mailing list designated by the Project Leader's
245 Delegate(s); any Developer may post there.</p>
248 <p>Votes are cast by email in a manner suitable to the Secretary.
249 The Secretary determines for each poll whether voters can change
253 <p>Q is half of the square root of the number of current
254 Developers. K is Q or 5, whichever is the smaller. Q and K need not
255 be integers and are not rounded.</p>
258 <h2><a name="item-5" id="item-5">5. Project Leader</a></h2>
260 <p>The <a href="leader">Project Leader</a> may:</p>
263 <p>Appoint Delegates or delegate decisions to the Technical
265 <p>The Leader may define an area of ongoing responsibility or a
266 specific decision and hand it over to another Developer or to the
267 Technical Committee.</p>
268 <p>Once a particular decision has been delegated and made the
269 Project Leader may not withdraw that delegation; however, they may
270 withdraw an ongoing delegation of particular area of
274 <p>Lend authority to other Developers.</p>
275 <p>The Project Leader may make statements of support for points of
276 view or for other members of the project, when asked or otherwise;
277 these statements have force if and only if the Leader would be
278 empowered to make the decision in question.</p>
281 <p>Make any decision which requires urgent action.</p>
282 <p>This does not apply to decisions which have only become
283 gradually urgent through lack of relevant action, unless there is a
287 <p>Make any decision for whom noone else has responsibility.</p>
290 <p>Propose draft General Resolutions and amendments.</p>
293 <p>Together with the Technical Committee, appoint new members to
294 the Committee. (See §6.2.)</p>
297 <p>Use a casting vote when Developers vote.</p>
298 <p>The Project Leader also has a normal vote in such ballots.</p>
301 <p>Vary the discussion period for Developers' votes (as above).</p>
304 <p>Lead discussions amongst Developers.</p>
305 <p>The Project Leader should attempt to participate in discussions
306 amongst the Developers in a helpful way which seeks to bring the
307 discussion to bear on the key issues at hand. The Project Leader
308 should not use the Leadership position to promote their own
312 <p>In consultation with the developers, make decisions affecting
313 property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
314 §9.). Such decisions are communicated to the members by the
315 Project Leader or their Delegate(s). Major expenditures
316 should be proposed and debated on the mailing list before
317 funds are disbursed.</p>
320 <p>Add or remove organizations from the list of trusted
321 organizations (see §9.3) that are authorized to accept and
322 hold assets for Debian. The evaluation and discussion leading
323 up to such a decision occurs on an electronic mailing list
324 designated by the Project Leader or their Delegate(s), on
325 which any developer may post. There is a minimum discussion
326 period of two weeks before an organization may be added to
327 the list of trusted organizations.</p>
330 <h3>5.2. Appointment</h3>
332 <li>The Project Leader is elected by the Developers.</li>
333 <li>The election begins six weeks before the leadership post becomes
334 vacant, or (if it is too late already) immediately.</li>
335 <li>For the first week any Developer may nominate
336 themselves as a candidate Project Leader, and summarize their plans for their term.</li>
337 <li>For three weeks after that no more candidates may be nominated;
338 candidates should use this time for campaigning and discussion. If
339 there are no candidates at the end of the nomination period then the
340 nomination period is extended for an additional week, repeatedly if
342 <li>The next two weeks are the polling period during which
343 Developers may cast their votes. Votes in leadership elections are
344 kept secret, even after the election is finished.</li>
345 <li>The options on the ballot will be those candidates who have
346 nominated themselves and have not yet withdrawn, plus None Of The
347 Above. If None Of The Above wins the election then the election
348 procedure is repeated, many times if necessary.</li>
350 The decision will be made using the method specified in section
351 §A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure. The quorum is the
352 same as for a General Resolution (§4.2) and the default
353 option is <q>None Of The Above</q>.
355 <li>The Project Leader serves for one year from their election.</li>
357 <h3>5.3. Procedure</h3>
358 <p>The Project Leader should attempt to make decisions which are
359 consistent with the consensus of the opinions of the Developers.</p>
360 <p>Where practical the Project Leader should informally solicit the
361 views of the Developers.</p>
362 <p>The Project Leader should avoid overemphasizing their own point of
363 view when making decisions in their capacity as Leader.</p>
364 <h2><a name="item-6" id="item-6">6. Technical committee</a></h2>
366 <p>The <a href="tech-ctte">Technical Committee</a> may:</p>
369 <p>Decide on any matter of technical policy.</p>
370 <p>This includes the contents of the technical policy manuals,
371 developers' reference materials, example packages and the behaviour
372 of non-experimental package building tools. (In each case the usual
373 maintainer of the relevant software or documentation makes
374 decisions initially, however; see 6.3(5).)</p>
377 <p>Decide any technical matter where Developers' jurisdictions
379 <p>In cases where Developers need to implement compatible
380 technical policies or stances (for example, if they disagree about
381 the priorities of conflicting packages, or about ownership of a
382 command name, or about which package is responsible for a bug that
383 both maintainers agree is a bug, or about who should be the
384 maintainer for a package) the technical committee may decide the
388 <p>Make a decision when asked to do so.</p>
389 <p>Any person or body may delegate a decision of their own to the
390 Technical Committee, or seek advice from it.</p>
393 <p>Overrule a Developer (requires a 3:1 majority).</p>
394 <p>The Technical Committee may ask a Developer to take a
395 particular technical course of action even if the Developer does
396 not wish to; this requires a 3:1 majority. For example, the
397 Committee may determine that a complaint made by the submitter of a
398 bug is justified and that the submitter's proposed solution should
403 <p>The Technical Committee may make formal announcements about its
404 views on any matter. <cite>Individual members may of course make
405 informal statements about their views and about the likely views of
406 the committee.</cite></p>
409 <p>Together with the Project Leader, appoint new members to itself
410 or remove existing members. (See §6.2.)</p>
413 <p>Appoint the Chairman of the Technical Committee.</p>
415 The Chairman is elected by the Committee from its members. All
416 members of the committee are automatically nominated; the
417 committee votes starting one week before the post will become
418 vacant (or immediately, if it is already too late). The members
419 may vote by public acclamation for any fellow committee member,
420 including themselves; there is no default option. The vote
421 finishes when all the members have voted, or when the voting
422 period has ended. The result is determined using the method
423 specified in section A.6 of the Standard Resolution Procedure.
427 <p>The Chairman can stand in for the Leader, together with the
429 <p>As detailed in §7.1(2), the Chairman of the Technical
430 Committee and the Project Secretary may together stand in for the
431 Leader if there is no Leader.</p>
434 <h3>6.2. Composition</h3>
437 <p>The Technical Committee consists of up to 8 Developers, and
438 should usually have at least 4 members.</p>
441 <p>When there are fewer than 8 members the Technical Committee may
442 recommend new member(s) to the Project Leader, who may choose
443 (individually) to appoint them or not.</p>
446 <p>When there are 5 members or fewer the Technical Committee may
447 appoint new member(s) until the number of members reaches 6.</p>
450 <p>When there have been 5 members or fewer for at least one week
451 the Project Leader may appoint new member(s) until the number of
452 members reaches 6, at intervals of at least one week per
456 <p>If the Technical Committee and the Project Leader agree they
457 may remove or replace an existing member of the Technical
461 <h3>6.3. Procedure</h3>
464 <p>The Technical Committee uses the Standard Resolution
466 <p>A draft resolution or amendment may be proposed by any member
467 of the Technical Committee. There is no minimum discussion period;
468 the voting period lasts for up to one week, or until the outcome is
469 no longer in doubt. Members may change their votes. There is a
473 <p>Details regarding voting</p>
474 <p>The Chairman has a casting vote. When the Technical Committee
475 votes whether to override a Developer who also happens to be a
476 member of the Committee, that member may not vote (unless they are
477 the Chairman, in which case they may use only their casting
481 <p>Public discussion and decision-making.</p>
482 <p>Discussion, draft resolutions and amendments, and votes by
483 members of the committee, are made public on the Technical
484 Committee public discussion list. There is no separate secretary
485 for the Committee.</p>
488 <p>Confidentiality of appointments.</p>
489 <p>The Technical Committee may hold confidential discussions via
490 private email or a private mailing list or other means to discuss
491 appointments to the Committee. However, votes on appointments must
495 <p>No detailed design work.</p>
496 <p>The Technical Committee does not engage in design of new
497 proposals and policies. Such design work should be carried out by
498 individuals privately or together and discussed in ordinary
499 technical policy and design forums.</p>
500 <p>The Technical Committee restricts itself to choosing from or
501 adopting compromises between solutions and decisions which have
502 been proposed and reasonably thoroughly discussed elsewhere.</p>
503 <p><cite>Individual members of the technical committee may of
504 course participate on their own behalf in any aspect of design and
505 policy work.</cite></p>
508 <p>Technical Committee makes decisions only as last resort.</p>
509 <p>The Technical Committee does not make a technical decision
510 until efforts to resolve it via consensus have been tried and
511 failed, unless it has been asked to make a decision by the person
512 or body who would normally be responsible for it.</p>
515 <h2><a name="item-7" id="item-7">7. The Project Secretary</a></h2>
517 <p>The <a href="secretary">Secretary</a>:</p>
520 <p>Takes votes amongst the Developers, and determines the number
521 and identity of Developers, whenever this is required by the
525 <p>Can stand in for the Leader, together with the Chairman of the
526 Technical Committee.</p>
527 <p>If there is no Project Leader then the Chairman of the
528 Technical Committee and the Project Secretary may by joint
529 agreement make decisions if they consider it imperative to do
533 <p>Adjudicates any disputes about interpretation of the
537 <p>May delegate part or all of their authority to someone else, or
538 withdraw such a delegation at any time.</p>
541 <h3>7.2. Appointment</h3>
542 <p>The Project Secretary is appointed by the Project Leader and the
543 current Project Secretary.</p>
544 <p>If the Project Leader and the current Project Secretary cannot agree
545 on a new appointment, they must ask the Developers by way of
546 General Resolution to appoint a Secretary.</p>
547 <p>If there is no Project Secretary or the current Secretary is
548 unavailable and has not delegated authority for a decision then the
549 decision may be made or delegated by the Chairman of the Technical
550 Committee, as Acting Secretary.</p>
551 <p>The Project Secretary's term of office is 1 year, at which point
552 they or another Secretary must be (re)appointed.</p>
553 <h3>7.3. Procedure</h3>
554 <p>The Project Secretary should make decisions which are fair and
555 reasonable, and preferably consistent with the consensus of the
557 <p>When acting together to stand in for an absent Project Leader the
558 Chairman of the Technical Committee and the Project Secretary should
559 make decisions only when absolutely necessary and only when consistent
560 with the consensus of the Developers.</p>
561 <h2><a name="item-8" id="item-8">8. The Project Leader's Delegates</a></h2>
563 <p>The Project Leader's Delegates:</p>
565 <li>have powers delegated to them by the Project Leader;</li>
566 <li>may make certain decisions which the Leader may not make
567 directly, including approving or expelling Developers or designating
568 people as Developers who do not maintain packages. <cite>This is to
569 avoid concentration of power, particularly over membership as a
570 Developer, in the hands of the Project Leader.</cite></li>
572 <h3>8.2. Appointment</h3>
573 <p>The Delegates are appointed by the Project Leader and may be
574 replaced by the Leader at the Leader's discretion. The Project Leader
575 may not make the position as a Delegate conditional on particular
576 decisions by the Delegate, nor may they override a decision made by a
577 Delegate once made.</p>
578 <h3>8.3. Procedure</h3>
579 <p>Delegates may make decisions as they see fit, but should attempt to
580 implement good technical decisions and/or follow consensus opinion.</p>
581 <h2><a name="item-9" id="item-9">9. Assets held in trust for Debian</a></h2>
582 <p>In most jurisdictions around the world, the Debian project is not
583 in a position to directly hold funds or other property. Therefore,
584 property has to be owned by any of a number of organisations as
585 detailed in §9.2.</p>
586 <p>Traditionally, SPI was the sole organisation authorized to hold
587 property and monies for the Debian Project. SPI was created in
588 the U.S. to hold money in trust there.</p>
589 <p><a href="http://www.spi-inc.org/">SPI</a> and Debian are separate
590 organisations who share some goals.
591 Debian is grateful for the legal support framework offered by SPI.</p>
592 <h3>9.1. Relationship with Associated Organizations</h3>
595 <p>Debian Developers do not become agents or employees of
596 organisations holding assets in trust for Debian, or of
597 each other, or of persons in authority in the Debian Project,
598 solely by the virtue of being Debian Developers. A person
599 acting as a Developer does so as an individual, on their own
600 behalf. Such organisations may, of their own accord,
601 establish relationships with individuals who are also Debian
605 <h3>9.2. Authority</h3>
608 <p>An organisation holding assets for Debian has no authority
609 regarding Debian's technical or nontechnical decisions, except
610 that no decision by Debian with respect to any property held
611 by the organisation shall require it to act outside its legal
615 <p>Debian claims no authority over an organisation that holds
616 assets for Debian other than that over the use of property
617 held in trust for Debian.</p>
620 <h3>9.3. Trusted organisations</h3>
621 <p>Any donations for the Debian Project must be made to any one of a
622 set of organisations designated by the Project leader (or a
623 delegate) to be authorized to handle assets to be used for the
625 <p>Organisations holding assets in trust for Debian should
626 undertake reasonable obligations for the handling of such
628 <p>Debian maintains a public List of Trusted Organisations that
629 accept donations and hold assets in trust for Debian
630 (including both tangible property and intellectual property)
631 that includes the commitments those organisations have made as
632 to how those assets will be handled.</p>
633 <h2><a name="item-A" id="item-A">A. Standard Resolution Procedure</a></h2>
634 <p>These rules apply to communal decision-making by committees and
635 plebiscites, where stated above.</p>
636 <h3>A.1. Proposal</h3>
637 <p>The formal procedure begins when a draft resolution is proposed and
638 sponsored, as required.</p>
639 <h3>A.1. Discussion and Amendment</h3>
641 <li>Following the proposal, the resolution may be discussed.
642 Amendments may be made formal by being proposed and sponsored
643 according to the requirements for a new resolution, or directly by
644 the proposer of the original resolution.</li>
645 <li>A formal amendment may be accepted by the resolution's proposer,
646 in which case the formal resolution draft is immediately changed to
648 <li>If a formal amendment is not accepted, or one of the sponsors of
649 the resolution does not agree with the acceptance by the proposer of
650 a formal amendment, the amendment remains as an amendment and will be
652 <li>If an amendment accepted by the original proposer is not to the
653 liking of others, they may propose another amendment to reverse the
654 earlier change (again, they must meet the requirements for proposer
655 and sponsor(s).)</li>
656 <li>The proposer of a resolution may suggest changes to the wordings
657 of amendments; these take effect if the proposer of the amendment
658 agrees and none of the sponsors object. In this case the changed
659 amendments will be voted on instead of the originals.</li>
660 <li>The proposer of a resolution may make changes to correct minor
661 errors (for example, typographical errors or inconsistencies) or
662 changes which do not alter the meaning, providing noone objects
663 within 24 hours. In this case the minimum discussion period is not
666 <h3>A.2. Calling for a vote</h3>
668 <li>The proposer or a sponsor of a motion or an amendment may call
669 for a vote, providing that the minimum discussion period (if any) has
672 The proposer or any sponsor of a resolution may call for a vote on that
673 resolution and all related amendments.
675 <li>The person who calls for a vote states what they believe the
676 wordings of the resolution and any relevant amendments are, and
677 consequently what form the ballot should take. However, the final
678 decision on the form of ballot(s) is the Secretary's - see 7.1(1),
679 7.1(3) and A.3(4).</li>
681 The minimum discussion period is counted from the time the last
682 formal amendment was accepted, or since the whole resolution
683 was proposed if no amendments have been proposed and accepted.
686 <h3>A.3. Voting procedure</h3>
689 Each resolution and its related amendments is voted on in a
690 single ballot that includes an option for the original
691 resolution, each amendment, and the default option (where
695 The default option must not have any supermajority requirements.
696 Options which do not have an explicit supermajority requirement
697 have a 1:1 majority requirement.
700 The votes are counted according to the rules in A.6. The
701 default option is <q>Further Discussion</q>, unless specified
704 <li>In cases of doubt the Project Secretary shall decide on matters
707 <h3>A.4. Withdrawing resolutions or unaccepted amendments</h3>
708 <p>The proposer of a resolution or unaccepted amendment may withdraw
709 it. In this case new proposers may come forward keep it alive, in which
710 case the first person to do so becomes the new proposer and any others
711 become sponsors if they aren't sponsors already.</p>
712 <p>A sponsor of a resolution or amendment (unless it has been
713 accepted) may withdraw.</p>
714 <p>If the withdrawal of the proposer and/or sponsors means that a
715 resolution has no proposer or not enough sponsors it will not be voted
716 on unless this is rectified before the resolution expires.</p>
719 If a proposed resolution has not been discussed, amended, voted on or
720 otherwise dealt with for 4 weeks the secretary may issue a statement
721 that the issue is being withdrawn. If none of the sponsors of any
722 of the proposals object within a week, the issue is withdrawn.
725 The secretary may also include suggestions on how to proceed,
728 <h3>A.6. Vote Counting</h3>
730 <li> Each voter's ballot ranks the options being voted on. Not all
731 options need be ranked. Ranked options are considered
732 preferred to all unranked options. Voters may rank options
733 equally. Unranked options are considered to be ranked equally
734 with one another. Details of how ballots may be filled out
735 will be included in the Call For Votes.
737 <li> If the ballot has a quorum requirement R any options other
738 than the default option which do not receive at least R votes
739 ranking that option above the default option are dropped from
742 <li> Any (non-default) option which does not defeat the default option
743 by its required majority ratio is dropped from consideration.
746 Given two options A and B, V(A,B) is the number of voters
747 who prefer option A over option B.
750 An option A defeats the default option D by a majority
751 ratio N, if V(A,D) is strictly greater than N * V(D,A).
754 If a supermajority of S:1 is required for A, its majority ratio
755 is S; otherwise, its majority ratio is 1.
759 <li> From the list of undropped options, we generate a list of
763 An option A defeats an option B, if V(A,B) is strictly greater
768 <li> From the list of [undropped] pairwise defeats, we generate a
769 set of transitive defeats.
772 An option A transitively defeats an option C if A defeats
773 C or if there is some other option B where A defeats B AND
774 B transitively defeats C.
778 <li> We construct the Schwartz set from the set of transitive defeats.
781 An option A is in the Schwartz set if for all options B,
782 either A transitively defeats B, or B does not transitively
787 <li> If there are defeats between options in the Schwartz set,
788 we drop the weakest such defeats from the list of pairwise
789 defeats, and return to step 5.
792 A defeat (A,X) is weaker than a defeat (B,Y) if V(A,X)
793 is less than V(B,Y). Also, (A,X) is weaker than (B,Y) if
794 V(A,X) is equal to V(B,Y) and V(X,A) is greater than V(Y,B).
797 A weakest defeat is a defeat that has no other defeat weaker
798 than it. There may be more than one such defeat.
802 <li> If there are no defeats within the Schwartz set, then the winner
803 is chosen from the options in the Schwartz set. If there is
804 only one such option, it is the winner. If there are multiple
805 options, the elector with the casting vote chooses which of those
810 <strong>Note:</strong> Options which the voters rank above the default option
811 are options they find acceptable. Options ranked below the default
812 options are options they find unacceptable.
814 <p><cite>When the Standard Resolution Procedure is to be used, the text
815 which refers to it must specify what is sufficient to have a draft
816 resolution proposed and/or sponsored, what the minimum discussion
817 period is, and what the voting period is. It must also specify any
818 supermajority and/or the quorum (and default option) to be
820 <h2><a name="item-B" id="item-B">B. Use of language and typography</a></h2>
821 <p>The present indicative (<q>is</q>, for example) means that the statement
822 is a rule in this constitution. <q>May</q> or <q>can</q> indicates that the
823 person or body has discretion. <q>Should</q> means that it would be
824 considered a good thing if the sentence were obeyed, but it is not
825 binding. <cite>Text marked as a citation, such as this, is rationale
826 and does not form part of the constitution. It may be used only to aid
827 interpretation in cases of doubt.</cite></p>
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