Bylaws Proposal: Member-Called Special Elections

[Moheeb Zara]

Hey all, I'd like to propose we add something to the bylaws: letting a group of members (thinking somewhere around 8 to 12 people) call for a special election if they feel it's needed. 

Here's why I think this could be good for us:

If a board member steps down, the membership would have the option to vote on who fills that seat instead of leaving it entirely to the board to decide. Not that the board would make a bad call, but having the choice feels right.

It also gives us a path forward if folks are feeling uneasy about how things are going with a particular seat. This isn't about kicking anyone out on the spot. It's more like a check-in. If enough members want to revisit a position, we can. And honestly, if someone gets voted back in, that's a pretty solid vote of confidence.

Looking through our current bylaws, I noticed we don't really have any long-term safeguards like this. I think having one could actually make things easier on everyone. If someone wants to step down but feels bad about leaving the rest of the board hanging, this gives us a smoother way to find their replacement. And if there's ever tension around a seat, we have a clear, fair process instead of things getting weird and awkward.

Mostly I just want us to have good tools for taking care of ourselves as an organization.

If you would like to discuss this proposal and help me shape it more, you can message me privately on discord (username virgilvox) or we can discuss on slack in a new channel #proposal-discussion-be-nice-or-i-will-throw-hands 

I don't often check the mailing list

[Moheeb Zara]

Calrification. it would take 8-12 members to call for a special election and then basic election rules would apply. Not that the 8-12 would decide the outcome. 

[David Lang]

do you mean that 8-12 people could call for someone to be thrown out of office
rather than the current 1/2 of membership?

David Lang

On Tue, 20 Jan 2026, Moheeb Zara wrote:

> Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 16:16:51 -0800 (PST)
> From: Moheeb Zara <mohee...@gmail.com>
> Reply-To: heatsy...@googlegroups.com
> To: HeatSync Labs <heatsy...@googlegroups.com>
> Subject: [HSL] Re: Bylaws Proposal: Member-Called Special Elections

[Brett Neese]

I think the idea is that 8-12 members can sign a petition to call for a special election. The candidate would then re-run at the next HYH, presumably against an opponent.

Personally, I do think it’s a problem that it takes such a high bar that will functionally never be met for the community to replace a board member mid-term. It’s also problematic in my eyes that the board can (and is in fact compelled to as I understand it) fill an empty seat without community consult. But, the details matter here, and this is fairly light on them. 

As the proposal currently stands, it could take as few as 8 members to craft a petition for a special election and even fewer, 4 or even in some scenarios less (because of the weird way our abstains work) to vote to replace any board member at an HYH, because presumably said special election would follow the same quorum/voting requirements as a normal election. That seems far too low.

Brett

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