Committee's status is unclear

[spencerwilson]

Hello,

I'm a member of the public who discovered the Election Commission's open source voting efforts about a year ago. I've kept up to date since then by watching the relevant bits of Commission meeting recordings. I'm very appreciative of the effort folks have put into this project, with special nod to @cjerdonek.

Issue

I'm seeking clarification on the status of the OSVTAC. The TAC appears to still exist (i.e., the Commission has not voted to dissolve it) but it has no members. This means it can't fulfill its responsibilities specified in its bylaws. Background:

• OSVTAC is not listed on the Election Commission's Discontinued Committees page
• The bylaws linked from the Election Commission's OSVTAC page state:
  • "The TAC shall exist until such time as the Commission votes to dissolve it."
  • "The TAC shall meet at least once every two months."
  • "The TAC shall provide the Commission with at least three written reports per year (at least one in every four-month period), but preferably one written report every two months."
  • "One of the members shall be a San Francisco Elections Commissioner (“Commissioner”), who shall be the Chair of the TAC. The Chair shall be selected by the Commission to serve a term of one calendar year that begins from the date of selection."
  • "The tenure of a member of the TAC, including the Chair, shall terminate no later than 90 days after the expiration of the member’s term, unless the member is re-appointed. A member may not hold-over for more than 90 days after the expiration of his or her term."
• The last meeting referenced anywhere on https://osvtac.github.io was the one on February 28, 2020.
• The last meeting that I could find evidence of having occurred was March 12, 2020 (files, recording).
• On March 16, 2020, the SF Department of Health issued a shelter in place order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• According to the site's "Members" page, all committee members' terms ended on June 20, 2020.

Requests

The following requests are directed at @cjerdonek , the most recent committee Chair and current Commission President:

1. If the TAC has actually continued to exist in a bylaws-compliant form, could the site be updated to reflect that? This likely means updating "Members", "Past Meetings", etc., with more resources.
2. If the TAC lapsed in upholding its bylaws (totally understandable given the circumstances!), could the site be updated to reflect that + speak to the TAC's future? Something like adding to "Announcements":

10/25/2022. The most recent TAC meeting was March 12, 2020. Our operation was subsequently disrupted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: the TAC has not conducted any business since March 2020. All members' terms expired on June 20, 2020, and in the time since the Election Commission has neither selected new committee members nor voted to dissolve the committee. Work has continued on the Open Source Voting project outside of the committee, though; see OSV Project for updates.

3. Could the Commission formally comment on the status of the OSVTAC? Even a "It's on hiatus and we will decide no later than January 1, 2023, whether to repopulate it, dissolve it, or maintain its present state." would be clarifying. Or if such a comment has already been made, could the site be updated to refer to it? (Cite the date of the Commission meeting or document where the decision was made.)

I'm unsure if GitHub issues or Commission meetings are the more appropriate vehicle for this communication, or if the requests above warrant discussion at a Commission meeting (perhaps at the next one, on November 16, 2022?). I'll send a copy of this message to elections.commission@sfgov.org in case this repository is not actively monitored.

Thank you!