Today, we’re announcing early elections for the Django Software Foundation Steering Council over the 6.x Django release cycle.

Elected members will be on the Steering Council for two years, from the end of those elections in December, until April 2027 with the scheduled start of the Django 7.x release cycle.

Why we have early elections

The DSF Board of Directors previously shared Django’s technical governance challenges, and opportunities. Now that the Board elections are completed, we’re ready to proceed with this other, separate election, following existing processes. We will want a Steering Council who strives  to meet the group’s intended goals:

1. To safeguard big decisions that affect Django projects at a fundamental level.

2. To help shepherd the project’s future direction.

We expect the new Steering Council will take on those known challenges, resolve those questions of technical leadership, and update Django’s technical governance. They will have the full support of the Board of Directors to address this threat to Django’s future. And the Board will also be more decisive in intervening, should similar issues keep arising.

Elections timeline

Here are the important dates of the Steering Council elections, subject to change:

• 2024-11-21: announcement & opening of voter registration
• 2024-11-26 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on Earth): voter registration closes
• 2024-11-27: opening of Steering Council candidates registration
• 2024-12-04 23:59 AoE: candidates registration closes
• (one week gap per defined processes)
• 2024-12-10: voting starts
• 2024–12-17 23:59 AoE: voting ends
• 2024-12-18: results ratification by DSF Board of Directors
• 2024-12-19: results announcement

Voter registration

If you’re an Individual Member of the Django Software Foundation, you’re already registered to vote. There’s nothing further for you to do. If you aren’t, consider nominating yourself for individual membership. Once approved, you will be registered to vote for this election.

Alternatively, for members of our community who want to vote in this election but don’t want to become Individual Members, you can register to vote from now until 2024-11-26 23:59 Anywhere on Earth, use our form: Django 6.x Steering Council Voter Registration.

Candidate registration

If you’re interested, don’t wait until formal candidate registration. You can already fill in our 6.x Steering Council expression of interest form. At the end of the form, select “I would like what my submissions to this form to be used as part of my candidate registration for the elections”.

Django 6.x Steering Council elections - Expression of interest

Voting

Once voting opens, those eligible to vote in this election will receive information on how to vote via email. Please check for an email with the subject line “6.x Steering Council elections voting”. Voting will be open until 23:59 on December 17, 2024 Anywhere on Earth.

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Any questions? Ask on our dedicated forum discussion thread.

And while you’re here – take a moment to fill our Django Developers Survey?