Affiliate-selected Board seats/Resolution 2019

Translate this page

The Election Facilitators froze this version of the resolution in their meeting of April 5, 2019. A message was sent to all-affiliates and wikimedia-l about this step. The Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation has approved this resolution on April 12, 2019. While there's a list of priority languages, other languages are welcome as well.

Resolution

The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is a non-profit organization with an annual budget of approximately one hundred million US dollars. The Wikimedia Foundation employs over three hundred people and engages with thousands of volunteers across the globe in its role as part of the Wikimedia Movement. The Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation governs this organization. Whereas the Foundation's bylaws require that two trustees be selected through a process determined by a majority of the Wikimedia affiliate organizations, and approved by the Board of Trustees,

Whereas the Board of Trustees have determined that as of this year all recognized affiliates will take part in the selection process, focusing on diversity and inclusion,

Whereas the Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups (collectively, "the affiliate organizations") are responsible for selecting two proposed candidates for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees,

Whereas it is necessary for the affiliate organizations to agree on a process by which such proposed Board candidates are selected for appointment by the Board,

Whereas the Foundation has committed to support the selection by providing resources in areas that advance the focus of diversity and inclusion that this selection shall have, and whereas Erica Litrenta from the Community Engagement department has been appointed to coordinate the Wikimedia Foundation's support to the process as needed and to coordinate with Election Facilitators,

We, the affiliate organizations, resolve that:

There shall be an election among the affiliate organizations to determine the two proposed Board members selected by the affiliate organizations.
There shall be at least three Election Facilitators who are jointly responsible for overseeing and carrying out the election. One facilitator will be the liaison for the Board of Trustees. The elected liaison will also have a deputy to assist in case of need. Election Facilitators shall not be candidates in the election and shall not endorse any candidate nor shall they participate in any public discussions of candidates' merits. Facilitators can steps down from their role and nominate themselves no later than April 6. Election facilitators are expected to recuse themselves from any decision about how an affiliate organization's vote is cast. Any complaints about the Facilitators' conduct should be submitted to the Trust and Safety team at Wikimedia Foundation: ca wikimedia.org. If, after an investigation, there is clear evidence of misconduct, the Facilitator will be removed from their role.
The Election Facilitators shall be selected by the consensus of the affiliate organizations no later than April 6th, 2019. Those who wish to serve as Election Facilitators have indicated (and shall indicate) their interest on a designated Meta-Wiki page. So far volunteered: Abhinav Srivastava, Lane Rasberry, Jeffrey Keefer, Ad Huikeshoven, Neal McBurnett and Alessandro Marchetti, while Shani Evenstein stepped down. No objections were raised on the Meta page on these candidatures.
The Election Facilitators determined the dates of this election.
- Nominations from 15 to 30 April.
- Reviewing and screening by the community from 1 to 7 May.
- Voting for nominees by Affiliates from 8 to 31 May.
- Results by the end of June.
The Election Facilitators were asked to produce non-binding guidelines about experience and characteristics for nominees that can be used by the community. These guidelines will be published on Meta (and linked to this Resolution) by April 6 for the community to review, discuss, and add to.
Candidates shall post their names and nomination statements on a designated Meta-Wiki page. For a candidate to be listed on the ballot, they must submit a nomination statement during the nomination period. Each nominee must have two (and only two) endorsements from any type of Affiliate in order to be a valid~~ate~~ candidate. Endorsements may be posted until the time that nominations are finalized and the ballot is prepared, April 30th. Each affiliate can endorse no more than two candidates.
Affiliates will be eligible to vote if they have been approved by AffCom by March 31st and are in good standing, meaning having a current affiliation agreement and up-to-date reporting, as of May 7. All Affiliates' votes will have the same weight. If the Election Facilitators are made aware of two (or more) Affiliates that have the same members and the same activities, but use different names, the Facilitators will investigate by requesting these Affiliates to privately submit membership lists. In case of 70% overlap in membership, the older Affiliate will be allowed to vote, but not the newer one. In case these Affiliates do not submit membership lists, their votes will not be eligible. If such cases are found by the Facilitators, they will be reported to the community.
The Election Facilitators shall conduct voting through Qualtrics. Each affiliate organization is responsible for selecting one person as its voting delegate and the process by which that person casts their affiliate's vote. By default, this voting system designates the primary contact of the affiliate organization as the voting delegate. The voting delegate per affiliate will be sent a link for voting. If any affiliate organization wishes to change the voting delegate, then they should contact the Wikimedia Foundation election assistant to register a different voting delegate. No individual may be a voting delegate for more than one affiliate, or in other words, no individual may cast more than one vote in this election. A third of eligible affiliates voting during the election period shall constitute a quorum, and if a quorum is not met, then the results will still be handed over to the Board of Trustees with voting data for their consideration. Votes will be accepted during May 2019. Votes cast following the conclusion of the election period (May 31, 2019) will be considered invalid.
The methodology for voting and calculating the votes during this election will be comprised of the single transferable vote, using the Droop quota to determine the number of votes needed to be elected (link to an explanation video about STV). Each affiliate shall rank candidates in order of preference, with a vote of "1" indicating the strongest preference. If the same number is used to rank more than one candidate, it shall be deemed a statement of equal preference, with the organization's vote split equally among the candidates selected. An organization leaving a candidate unranked shall not count as a vote for or against such candidate.
By June 30, the Election Facilitators shall calculate the outcome of the election and provide the results to both the Board of Trustees and to the Wikimedia community. The calculations and each Affiliate vote will be published to allow the community to check the results. The Wikimedia Board of Trustees will make the final decision about approving the results of the election.