Re: Digital Bazaar corporate position on upcoming election

Again, speaking only as myself, given the problems of the electoral college
in addressing elections at scale, I'd have severe reservations about
jumping to this, and I think we would only consider this if the group
makeup changed dramatically.

But also again, chairs will have the flexibility to decide as-needed in
future elections.

On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 11:09 AM Brent Shambaugh <brent.shambaugh@gmail.com>
wrote:

> My 2 cents. Would it be possible to do an electoral college like election?
>
> Each individual in the company votes, and the one who gets the majority
> becomes the company vote.
>
> This does have the problem of one individual who is not part of a company
> gets the same vote as an entire company (both big and small).
>
> I have not been participating as much as I hoped, so I am unsure whether I
> will show up to vote.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> -Brent
>
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 12:57 PM Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear W3C Credentials Community Group,
>>
>> I'm sending this email as a representative of Digital Bazaar based on
>> our concerns related to allowing multiple individuals per company to
>> vote. As some of you know, W3C Member voting polls (a different process)
>> limit voting to one vote per company. This ensures that organizations
>> cannot pack a room with employees and skew the outcome of a vote. The
>> CCG has chosen to do individual votes, which we believe is a fitting way
>> for a community group to pick its leaders.
>>
>> This triggered an internal ethics discussion at our company, which we
>> are sharing in the spirit of being transparent about the guidance that
>> we've given our employees.
>>
>> The question raised in the company was whether or not we were voting on
>> our personal behalf or on behalf of the needs of our company. We
>> explored voluntarily restricting our organization to one vote, which
>> almost immediately led to concerns around vote suppression among
>> employees. We explored voluntarily restricting our organization to only
>> the people that are actively involved in the work here, which led to
>> concerns around inclusion.
>>
>> Ultimately, we decided that the only choice aligned with the morals of
>> our corporate culture is to publicly state that Digital Bazaar (the
>> corporation) will not be participating in casting a vote in this
>> election. Our employees and contractors, however, are urged to make
>> their own decision on whether or not to vote and, if they choose to
>> vote, to do so according to their personal conscience, with no direction
>> from Digital Bazaar.
>>
>> We are stating this on this mailing list to ensure that it is in the
>> public record. I realize that this may come across as being overly
>> concerned about a simple community vote. Nevertheless, this vote is
>> setting a precedent and we want to make sure that we are being
>> upstanding citizens in all communities in which we are involved. We also
>> recognize that other corporations in this group may not choose to do
>> this, and that is their choice.
>>
>> On behalf of Digital Bazaar in my capacity as CEO,
>>
>> -- manu
>>
>>