TSC Voting Process

🗳️ Upcoming Hiero TSC Elections - How Does Voting Work?

In the earlier LF/DT blog post, we announced the upcoming elections for the End User and Contributor seats on the Hiero Technical Steering Committee (TSC), set to take place from May 7 to May 31, 2025. These elections are a pivotal moment for the Hiero community, offering a chance to directly influence the project’s technical direction and governance.

Now, as the election period approaches, it’s time to dive into how the voting process will unfold. In this follow-up post, we’ll walk you through the steps to cast your vote, the criteria for eligibility, and the tools you’ll use to participate. Whether you’re an experienced contributor or a first-time voter, understanding this process (and our commitment to offer transparency) is key to making your voice heard.

📅 TSC Election Timeline for May 2025

The following timeline borrows its process from the sample in the LF Decentralized Trust documentation.

📝 Nomination Timeline

• Mar 17 2025 - Nominations are open for TSC End User and Contributor Chair.
• Apr 29 2025 - The community architects will gather the GitHub IDs of the active contributors to approve them as voters.
• Apr 30 2025 - All nominees must have created their nomination statement as a GitHub Pull Request.
• Apr 30 2025 - Nominations close EOD Pacific.
• May 01 2025 - Update the eligibility check site.
• May 06 2025 - Update the TSC on upcoming elections starting next day.

🗳️ Voting Timeline

• May 07 2025 - Formally announce the slate of candidates.
• May 07 2025 - Open the vote using https://vote.heliosvoting.org/. A GitHub notification will be sent to eligible voters with information about casting their ballot. GitHub IDs will be used for the voters.
• May 13 2025 - TSC first reminder of voting for candidates.
• May 20 2025 - TSC second reminder of voting for candidates.
• May 27 2025 - TSC third and final reminder of voting for candidates.
• May 31 2025 - Voting closes at 23:59 UTC.
• Jun 01 2025 - The vote results will determine the two elected TSC members. An announcement will be made to the winning candidates.
• Jun 03 2025 - The TSC will be formally updated with the results of the vote.

🧭 How does the nomination process start?

Earlier, we announced that our nomination process starts by reviewing the elections documentation and submitting your application.

As of today, this process is still open, and we continue to welcome more nominations!

Additional information on how to submit a nomination is provided in the following video.

🛠️ What tools are used during the nomination process?

While the nomination process is open, the LFDT Community Architects will work in parallel to build the election template using Helios Voting. This template contains general information including the name of the election, description, type (election or referendum), privacy options and voting details.

The GitHub IDs of active voting members are collected and verified to confirm their eligibility. These members will be registered in the election form to invite them to cast their vote when the time comes.

The GitHub IDs of the voters is kept private. However the number of voters is kept visible and participants can check eligibility using a tool similar to the one used in the LFDT TAC. Once this tool is available for Hiero, we will make it public to the team.

New voters can always be added as the vote remains open.

The content of the election consists of one or more questions (depending on the open positions in the election) where the registered voters will cast their vote in favor of the nominees. Since our current election is open for an End User and Contributor seats, this template will contain two questions.

The template is then published and is open for registering the nominations. Behind the scenes, the nominations collected during the election process are accounted for in the Helios Voting template.

This template will remain accessible throughout the nomination phase to allow for the continued collection of candidate submissions.

📣 What happens once the vote begins?

Once the vote starts, the registered voters are notified via (GitHub Notifications)[https://docs.github.com/en/account-and-profile/managing-subscriptions-and-notifications-on-github/setting-up-notifications/configuring-notifications] welcoming them to make their selection. The LFDT Community Architects will configure this notification via Helios Voting.

The notification includes detailed instructions guiding voters through the voting process. Voters are directed to the Helios Voting platform via a provided link and are required to log in using their GitHub credentials.

As the voting deadline approaches, a reminder will be sent to all eligible voters to inform them that the voting period is nearing its close.

✅ How are votes counted?

Once voting has concluded, the results for the End User and Contributor seats will be reviewed by the LFDT Community Architects and formally announced during the next TSC meeting.

For a comprehensive overview of the voting process, we encourage community members to attend the upcoming Hiero Community Call, where additional details will be shared and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions.

Additionally, members are encouraged to explore the Helios Voting platform to become familiar with its features and functionality.