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Election report

ArbCom election in full swing

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By Tony1 and Hiding

The Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) is the peak body for resolving behavioural disputes on the English Wikipedia. Every December, the project holds elections to top up the ranks of the arbitrators, who are among the most experienced and respected Wikipedians. By the time of this publication, the annual ArbCom elections are at the halfway point, with another seven days to run until the close of voting at 23:59 UTC on 14 December. More than 670 Wikipedians have already cast their vote. An alphabetically sorted list of editors who have voted is maintained at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2009/Voter log. The 2009 election will select as many as nine new arbitrators, who will begin their terms on 1 January 2010.

Requests for comment examining aspects of the overall ArbCom election process were closed on 25 November by UltraExactZZ, who posted this closing summary of the outcomes:

  • The Arbitration Committee shall consist of 18 Members elected to 2 Year Terms.
  • Arbitrators will be elected by Secret Ballot using the Securepoll extension.
  • Ballots will invite editors to Support or Oppose candidates.
  • Voters must have 150 mainspace edits before the election cycle to vote (Status Quo).

Election personnel

The election is a community-run event. Most of the on-wiki running of the election has been conducted by self-appointed coordinators. three WMF-identified election administrators – Mr.Z-man, Happy-melon and Tznkai – have been responsible for editing the voting interface and are ensuring the smooth running of the election. Six scrutineers – Mardetanha, Effeietsanders, Laaknor, Thogo, Millosh and Erwin – are monitoring the integrity of the election and will certify and announce the results. The scrutineers have been drawn from the ranks of stewards not active on the English Wikipedia.

Secret ballot

This is the first time the election has used SecurePoll, based on consensus at this RfC, and positive feedback on the use of the system in the October 2009 Audit Subcommittee election. SecurePoll allows voters to participate by accessing their personal ballot page and clicking on radio buttons for each candidate to indicate "Support", "Neutral" or "Oppose". Voters can link back and forth between their ballot page and each candidate's statement, responses to questions, and discussion pages. Voting needs to be done in a single sitting, and auto-acceptance can be verified at a real-time voting log. Voters can change their choices any time up to the close of voting, although this will require the completion of a fresh ballot page.

Withdrawal issues

Although Secret has withdrawn from the election on December 7, stating "[i]t's clear I don't have the support (nor the time) for this election", technical limitations have made it impossible to remove Secret's name from the ballot. Election administrator Mr.Z-man has struck Secret's name on the form and added a link to the withdrawal statement, although votes for the withdrawn candidate are still recorded. It is hoped that the technical limitations can be overcome to prevent a repeat if the same circumstances occur in next year's elections.

Meet the candidates

Candidate nomination page.

This year, 22 candidates are running (with the recent withdrawal of User:Secret), a smaller number than usual. A comprehensive overview of each candidate is set out at the General summary page.

Voting

To vote, you must have an account registered with at least 150 mainspace edits before 23:59 UTC on 1 November 2009. This total includes deleted edits. You may use this utility to check your eligibility. If you have questions about the voting process, or to have an administrator verify your deleted edits, please ask.

Your personal ballot page is here. Voting is open until 23:59 UTC on 14 December 2009.

Feedback page

A page for users to provide feedback on the election has been launched, inviting comment and discussion of ways to improve the 2010 ArbCom election. The topics thus far include "election personnel", "the SecurePoll system", "improving instructions to voters", "voting rules", "supplementary voting", and "questions to candidates".

Timeline

Here are the important dates for the 2009 ArbCom elections:

  • 10 November – Candidate nominations opened and the question period commenced
  • 17 November – Call for general questions closed
  • 24 November – Nominations closed
  • 1 December – Voting began
  • 14 December – Voting ends; scrutineers soon after certify and announce the results on the ACE talk page, and formally communicate them to Jimbo Wales
  • By 21 December – results announced by Jimbo Wales (expected date), after community consultation if necessary
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