DSF Proposes New Voting Membership Status to Address Election Quorum Issues

Proposed Membership Change

The Django Software Foundation (DSF) has introduced a proposal to modify its voting membership structure. The core of the change is to differentiate between active and inactive members for the purpose of Board election quorum. Under the new proposal, a member will be considered active if they have voted in a Board election within the last two years. Members who have not voted recently will still retain their membership but will not count towards quorum unless they explicitly indicate their intent to vote.

Addressing Quorum Challenges

The primary motivation for this change is the increasing difficulty in reaching quorum for Board elections. Currently, quorum is calculated against the entire membership roll, which includes many members who no longer participate in elections. As the DSF's membership grows, this makes meeting quorum requirements challenging and could potentially jeopardize the validity of election results. The DSF notes that defining quorum based on active members is a standard practice among nonprofit organizations, with the Python Software Foundation employing a similar approach.

Impact on Members

The proposed change does not result in any member losing their membership status or being removed from the website's member list. The active status solely affects how quorum is counted. To ensure no member is inadvertently excluded, the DSF plans to send reminders before each election and post announcements on its blog and forum. Members wishing to vote who are not automatically designated as active can contact the DSF before an election to be added to the active roll.

Community Feedback and Next Steps

The DSF has already discussed this proposal on the Django Forum and at DjangoCon US, and the corresponding bylaw change has been proposed on GitHub. The organization is now soliciting public comments on the proposal until October 7, 2026. Feedback can be submitted via the pull request on GitHub or, for DSF members, through the members-only Forum thread. Following the comment period, the Board will review the input and, if no major objections are raised, will vote on the change at its October 8th Board of Directors meeting.