Petition to the Open Source Initiative: Publish the Full 2025 Election Results

Summary

Petition to the Open Source Initiative: Publish the Full 2025 Election Results We, the undersigned, petition the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to release the complete, unaltered results of its 2025 Board of Directors elections. We believe that by removing candidates and votes after voting concluded, OSI has damaged its credibility. We call for transparency as a first step toward repairing OSI's integrity and reputation. Background context OSI relies entirely on community deference and respect for its authority in promoting Open Source and the consistent use of the term "Open Source." In 2012, OSI shifted toward operating as a member-driven organization. Every year since 2013, OSI has held elections where Individual and Affiliate members vote on directors to represent them. Although OSI is not legally bound to accept the results, the elections have been a key part of community and membership engagement, and OSI has always worked to follow best practices for public elections. Until 2025, OSI has published the full results of elections. 2025 election In 2025, OSI excluded all votes for three candidates before publishing results. The announcement of the altered voting results did not name the removed candidates, but they were Bentley Hensel, Bradley Kuhn, and Richard Fontana (incidentally, a former OSI director). Notably, Kuhn and Fontana campaigned on a joint OSI Reform platform which included four proposals, the most significant being a call to repeal the newly-adopted Open Source AI Definition (OSAID). They also advocated for revising the OSI Board Member Agreement, because they interpreted the clause requiring members to "support publicly all Board decisions" as being overly expansive and stifling. They proposed clarifying or limiting the clause to achieve a better balance. Normally, as in prior years, as with other organizations, and as stated during candidate orientation, signing of the Board Agreement would happen only with the election winners as part of getting ...