Debian GR on init systems - Ballot paper format

[diziet]

This can get a bit confusing. The ballot options have letters (eg, "E"). They also have numbers, which show up on the vote page as "Choice 6" or whatever. Separately, there are the ranks you have to assign when voting, where 1 is your first preference, etc.

On the ballot paper, the choices are numbered from 1 to 8. The letters appear too along with the Secretary's summaries. Your preferences also have to be numbered. It is important not to get confused.

Reorder the ballot paper!

You are allowed to reorder the choices on your ballot paper, and this is effective.

That is, you can take the ballot paper in the CFV and edit the lines in it into your preferred order with cut and paste. You can look at the letters, or the Secretary's summary lines, when you do that.

It's important to use a proper text editor and not linewrap things while you do this.

After, that you can simply write numbers 1 to 8 into the boxes down the left hand side.

Rank all the options. That way when you get your vote ack back, any parse failure will show up as a blank space in the ack.

Worked example

If after reading my voting guide you answer "maintainers MUST support non-systemd" to Q1, and "Accepting contributions is more important" to Q2, and "I like the vision" to Q3, you fall into the top left corner of my voting table. Then you would vote like this:

> - - -=-=-=-=-=- Don't Delete Anything Between These Lines =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> 7b77e0f2-4ff9-4adb-85e4-af249191f27a
> [ 1  ] Choice 6: E: Support for multiple init systems is Required
> [ 2  ] Choice 5: H: Support portability, without blocking progress
> [ 3  ] Choice 4: D: Support non-systemd systems, without blocking progress
> [ 4  ] Choice 7: G: Support portability and multiple implementations
> [ 5  ] Choice 3: A: Support for multiple init systems is Important
> [ 6  ] Choice 8: Further Discussion
> [ 7  ] Choice 2: B: Systemd but we support exploring alternatives
> [ 8  ] Choice 1: F: Focus on systemd
> - - -=-=-=-=-=- Don't Delete Anything Between These Lines =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When you get your ack back from the vote system, it lists, from left to right, the preferences numbers for each vote.

In the case above, that's

Your vote has been recorded as follows
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
V: 87532146
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Understanding the devotee ack

The V: list in the ack is listed in the order of the "Choice" numbers on the ballot, not in your preference order:

       Your vote has been recorded as follows
       -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
       V: 87532146
 [ 6 ]    ||||||| `-- Choice 8: Further Discussion
 [ 4 ]    |||||| `--- Choice 7: G: Support portability
 [ 1 ]    ||||| `---- Choice 6: E: Support for multipl
 [ 2 ]    |||| `----- Choice 5: H: Support portability
 [ 3 ]    ||| `------ Choice 4: D: Support non-systemd
 [ 5 ]    || `------- Choice 3: A: Support for multipl
 [ 7 ]    | `-------- Choice 2: B: Systemd but we supp
 [ 8 ]     `--------- Choice 1: F: Focus on systemd’

Edited 2019-12-11 15:35 to add the "Understanding the devotee ack" section. Thanks to my correspondent for the confusion-report and review.