some thoughts on the public/private record of voting.. sometimes how someone voted should be public, and sometimes not. if the person is elected, such as a member of the board, how it votes should be a matter of public record so the electors can see how well their interests are being represented (i.e., whether they want to vote for that person again next time, or petition for a recall *right now* ;-).
i believe we (the board) haven't been as careful in recording this information as we ought; i think our records often show simply how many were for/against a resolution. i hope we will change this and be more rigourous in the recording of votes. however, the duty is only to the electors. take pmcs, for example. in the case of a pmc in which all the members of the pmc are elected by the project committers, how the pmc members vote should be available to the committers. in the case of a pmc that chooses its own composition, there is no such obligation. there are also some votes which cannot, should not, or arguably should not be made public, regardless of how the voters came to be granted the franchise. votes on things covered by non-disclosure agreements, or on personnel matters, are good examples. another is the self-selecting form of pmc mentioned above; if someone is being considered for membership in the pmc, details of how individuals vote are not things that are anyone's business except the person who voted, because it isn't representing anyone except itself. consider the analogy of an governmental organisation. as a voter, you want to know how your elected representative is voting on issues that concern you, and are entitled to know that. however, how *you* voted in an election is a matter of closely-guarded confidentiality.
