BAC Election timeline (2026)

The end of the year will be here before we know it and it's time to consider the election for the 2026 BAC. Based on last year, the Foundation would like to propose the following timeline:

Key points:

1. We are going to announce the start of nominations at the OpenSSL Conference. The exact date could be flexible, but at the latest we'll start the nomination process on the last day (Oct. 10).

2. The election ends before the height of year-end vacations for many people. Since we are unlikely to meet at the end of December, it should be fine to announce the results a couple weeks before the new committee starts up.

3. Last year we know it was difficult for people to get employer approval, so we are making the nomination period longer. Hopefully this will mean more people will nominate themselves.

4. This will be the default template for future years. We can make adjustments, of course, but the idea is to get into a regular cadence.

I read through the suggestions for improving the BAC election process. My takeaways in no particular order:

• If we are going to add a sub-community (application developers who use OpenSSL) we would need to announce that at the same time as we announce the election (if not sooner).

• It may take some time to find people to join a new sub-community.

• We probably need some process to decide whether or not to change the number of representatives to the committees.

• Since there is a fair amount of overlap with people representing the 4 committees, I'd lean toward reducing seats rather than expanding.

• Defining the niche of each committee is really important. The election announcement needs to help people understand the purpose of the Foundation BAC.