Yes, I agree that the Robert's Rules of Order don't apply to a PMC chair, who might or might not adopt such a practice for personal reasons. I mentioned the conventional chairperson practice by way of contrast.
In accordance with the Apache Way, it appears to me that [P]PMC deliberations are under a "committee of the whole" principle. - Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Nóirín Plunkett [mailto:noi...@apache.org] Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2012 23:16 To: dennis.hamil...@acm.org; dev@community.apache.org Subject: RE: Can the one proposing a vote cast his vote? On Jun 3, 2012 8:50 PM, "Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamil...@acm.org> wrote: > > The only odd case about votes is typically when someone is sitting as a chairperson. In general, chairpersons (having not recused themselves) MAY vote when the vote cast makes a difference in the outcome, but SHALL NOT vote at any other time. The chairperson is expected to remain neutral and only in the particular close case the chairperson may (but need not) cast a decisive vote. I believe that is the rule that governs the conduct of the Vice President of the United States when sitting as the chairperson of the US Senate. > This shouldn't apply in an ASF context - unlike the Vice President of the US sitting as chair of the Senate, a PMC chair does not, as far as I've ever seen, have a tie-breaking vote (if an ASF vote comes to a tie, it's time to go back to the consensus-building drawing board). The PMC chair doesn't have special privileges in a code/release/invite new committer situation, so I see no need for them to abstain or delay their vote. They may have special privileges when it comes to inviting new folk on to the PMC, but in that case as they can technically (I believe) unilaterally invite someone to join (pending board ACK), it seems silly to suggest that they not vote. Noirin
