Steering Committee Election Results
This page provides the final results of the 2026 election to establish the new HL7 Vulcan Steering Committee. The voting period was conducted between February 12, 2026, and February 25, 2026, following a nomination period earlier in the year.
The election utilized the Scottish Single Transferable Vote (STV) method to ensure a fair and representative outcome across the five membership classifications. Separate results are provided for each of the classifications, with detailed breakdowns of the voting rounds provided for each. For further information regarding the steering committee and Vulcan leadership, please visit our Leadership page here.
Voter Participation
A total of 26 out of 42 eligible voters participated in this election, representing a turnout of 61.9%. All ballots were cast anonymously via the OpaVote platform. While aggregate data is presented here to provide community visibility into the STV transfer patterns, individual ballots remain strictly confidential. No HL7 Vulcan staff or leadership can identify how any specific organization or individual voted.
Leadership Selection and Backfill Results
Following the general election of 10 representatives, the newly formed committee convened on the 6th of March 2026 to elect a Chair and Vice-Chair. Because these leadership roles represent the committee as a whole rather than their original membership classifications, their appointments created two vacancies. These vacancies were filled by the “next most preferred” candidates from the original election results within those specific classifications.
Chair Appointment
Jose Galvez (originally representing Implementers) was elected Chair. Steve Heard has been appointed to the committee to fill the resulting vacancy in the Implementers classification.
Vice-Chair Appointment
Chris Decker (originally representing Consortia & SDOs) was elected Vice-Chair. Rob DiCicco has been appointed to the committee to fill the resulting vacancy in the Consortia & SDOs classification.
How to Interpret the Results
The election was processed in rounds. In each round, votes are distributed or transferred based on the preferences indicated by voters. This process is summarised for each membership classification through the bar charts below.
The Election Threshold
To be elected in any category, a candidate must reach a specific number of votes known as the threshold (or quota). This represents the minimum level of support required to guarantee a seat under the STV system. The threshold is determined by dividing the total number of valid ballots cast by the number of available seats plus one, then rounding down to the nearest whole number and adding one.
For this election, with 26 valid ballots cast for 2 seats per category, the threshold was 9.
Once a candidate reaches this threshold, they are declared elected. Any votes they receive beyond this number (surplus votes) are then transferred to the voters’ next stated preferences.
Why Scottish STV?
We utilized the Scottish STV method to ensure proportional representation. This ranked-choice system ensures that if a voter’s first-choice candidate is already elected or is eliminated, their vote is transferred to their next preference rather than being wasted. This ensures the final committee reflects the broadest possible consensus of the HL7 Vulcan membership.
The Results
Colour Key:
- Yellow (Carried Over): Votes the candidate held from the previous round.
- Green (Received): New votes transferred to the candidate in this round.
- Red (Transferred Away): Votes moved from this candidate to others (occurring when a candidate is eliminated or has reached the surplus quota).
Technical Notes:
- A candidate's total votes in any given round is the sum of the Yellow and Green bars.
- The sum of all Green bars equals the sum of all Red bars within a single round, as these represent the movement of existing votes.
- For this election, voters were required to provide a preference for every candidate; therefore, no votes were exhausted in this process.
Round 1
Count of first choices. Candidate Michael Buckley has reached the threshold and is elected. No candidates have surplus votes so candidates will be eliminated and their votes transferred for the next round.
Round 2
Count after eliminating Catherine Diederich and transferring votes. No candidates have surplus votes so candidates will be eliminated and their votes transferred for the next round.
Round 3
Count after eliminating Mohammad Adibuzzaman and transferring votes. No candidates have surplus votes so candidates will be eliminated and their votes transferred for the next round.
Round 4
Count after eliminating Maryam Garza and transferring votes. Candidate Anita Walden has reached the threshold and is elected.
Round 1
Count of first choices. Candidates Stephen Konya and Mitra Rocca have reached the threshold and are elected.
Round 1
Count of first choices. Candidate Beverly Buckta has reached the threshold and is elected. Candidates have surplus votes so surplus votes will be transferred for the next round.
Round 2
Count after transferring surplus votes from Beverly Buckta with a transfer value of 3.0/12.0. No candidates have surplus votes so candidates will be eliminated and their votes transferred for the next round.
Round 3
Count after eliminating Simon Walsh and transferring votes. Candidate Don Jennings has reached the threshold and is elected.
Round 1
Count of first choices. Candidates Chris Decker and Nersey Rastan have reached the threshold and are elected.
Round 1
Count of first choices. Candidates David Champeaux and Jose Galvez have reached the threshold and are elected.
