Talk:Wikimedia LGBT+/Elections

Comments welcome

Anyone with comments or questions about Wikimedia LGBT+ elections is welcome to post them here. Bluerasberry (talk) 17:36, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Discussion at Wikimedia LGBT+ governance committee meeting

See notes

• Wikimedia LGBT+/Governance/2023-08-03

Bluerasberry (talk) 20:34, 6 August 2023 (UTC)

Relationship of the governance committee to elected representatives

Will any (or all) of the seven existing members of the governance committee be standing for election? Peltarion (talk) 02:49, 29 September 2023 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry you invited comments and questions above… when can an answer or response to my question be expected? Peltarion (talk) 03:05, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

@Peltarion: I am up-to-date in posting meeting notes at Category:Wikimedia LGBT+ meetings. I have been attending these, and I believe that only one person has expressed interest in standing for board.

Because this first 2023 election only elects a partial board, the governance committee will persist in a power-sharing executive role for at least another year after the establishment of the board of trustees. The intent is to eventually have Wiki LGBT+ governed in the conventional way only by its board, but based on the precedent of organizational disestablishment being a common outcome among Wikimedia movement affiliates after this kind of formalization, we are trying to take it slow. You may be aware that the biggest change in all of this is Wikimedia LGBT+ hiring its first permanent staff, so now a board will actually have a conventional resource to oversee.

More broadly beyond Wiki LGBT+, there are conversations at the Movement Charter/Drafting Committee about improving democracy at the level of Wikimedia Foundation / Wikimedia community level, and Movement Strategy/Recommendations/Invest in Skills and Leadership Development and Movement Strategy/Recommendations/Ensure Equity in Decision-making are also strategic priorities to both encourage community governance and also equip community participants with the resources needed to govern in a way that people can accept.

Thanks for asking. Keep the questions coming. Bluerasberry (talk) 14:46, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

Membership registration closed for this election

Anyone can still register to be a Wikimedia LGBT+ member. However, for eligibility to vote or stand as candidate in this 2023 election, the deadline is passed.

I am the organizer for this election. I am writing to share some membership updates.

• 95 registration forms received
• All seem to have valid names
• All appear to have provided an email address to which a ballot can be sent
• All applicants claimed to be of sufficient age, except for some applicants who declined to report their age but have Wikimedia accounts more than the required 13 years old
• Everyone agreed to support the mission of Wikimedia LGBT+

More things to check:

• duplicates
• sufficient evidence of engagement in LGBT+ activities either on or off-wiki
• We still have to check that applicants are in sufficiently acceptable Wikimedia standing with regards to bans, blocks, or restrictions, but have no current expectation of prohibiting anyone on this basis

Bluerasberry (talk) 14:37, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Upcoming processes

1. Calling for candidate nominations
2. Confirming membership
3. Sending out ballots to members in two weeks
4. Counting the votes in about 4 weeks
5. Reporting election results to Wikimedia LGBT+ governance committee, who then should appoint the selected trustees

Bluerasberry (talk) 14:38, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Election notice going out today

I looked at the applications. Of the 95 received, 84 of them were unique, with the other 11 being obvious duplicates from applicants who already applied using the same name and email. I have email addresses for almost everyone, but some applicants requested that I send them notices by wiki mail, which I can do manually.

I expect to accept all applicants as Wikimedia LGBT+ members, but I may not grant voting rights to all applicants. There is LGBT+ participation criteria where someone either must have edited the wiki, or they provide evidence or a claim to LGBT+ cultural activity. Some applicants provided neither of these. While we want to be inclusive and accept people who can engage, Wikimedia LGBT+ does have an expectation of some prior LGBT+ experience among voting members. I am discussing some cases with the governance committee, typically involving applicants about whom we can find little information. These people might not get a ballot for this election.

More soon - thanks. Bluerasberry (talk) 15:51, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

@Bluerasberry rather then not getting a ballot for this election at all, I would offer them to be in a separate election pool or proxy vote via self-selected but for WM LGBT+ UG trusted proxy user, so that their voices can be discussed and/or maybe approved later? Zblace (talk) 09:07, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

This seems like a bit of a weird step. You either are a member or not. Having half members is weird.--Jetam2 (talk) 07:04, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

text of email
Thanks for applying for membership to Wikimedia LGBT+! Here is what comes next: Wikimedia LGBT+ is now organizing an election to seat its first board of trustees. We are seeking candidates to stand for this election! Please consider nominating yourself, or encouraging anyone else to nominate themselves, on the election page at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+/Elections/2023 For general election rules, see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+/Elections The actual voting will be from 15-30 November. Elected candidates are expected to regularly attend online governance meetings, which have been happening monthly as documented at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_LGBT+_meetings For now, note these things: If you wish to stand for election, then nominate yourself as a candidate by 15 November Eligible voters will receive ballots by email on 16 November, and can vote by the end of the month If you have questions, then post them to https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_LGBT+/Elections or contact me, user:bluerasberry, your election coordinator.

I sent out the above email. Some emails were problematic, and for example, one bounced email was from an applicant who provided no wiki account name. Bluerasberry (talk) 16:23, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Upon further scrutiny of applications, there were 67 unique registrations. We started with 95, and the ones I excluded were duplicates. When there were duplicates, the applicants returned later to re-apply. I am not sure why this happened so often, but it was not typically a case of someone applying, then immediately submitting twice or applying again in that same session. Whatever the case, I had 67 unique applications, and I confirmed them all. There are 67 registered members eligible to vote. Bluerasberry (talk) 21:34, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Shift in dates

I started the election late, so I shifted some dates. special:diff/25886404/25889398 To prevent this in the future, have some preparation days between the phases of the election.

I regret changing anything but I made the decision that this shift in days should not change the election result. Bluerasberry (talk) 21:31, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Ballot out today

sample ballot

I sent the ballot out today. See the sample ballot here.

Note that this is not a competitive election. There were two candidates and two available seats, and the options are to choose candidates or abstain from voting. At the end of this election I will report the result and the existing Wikimedia LGBT+ governance committee will interpret it.

Thanks to the candidates for putting themselves out there for consideration in this first election, and to establish more formal democracy in Wikimedia LGBT+.

If anyone has questions then ask. Bluerasberry (talk) 21:40, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Feedback from voters

We are a day into the election.

• A complaint that I found really important and correctable in the future was failure to give people notice of their membership. Everyone who applied got membership, but I did not send any email saying "congratulations you are a member, here is what to expect..."
• One person reported not receiving a ballot. I found the problem - it had to do with them registering twice, and me operating the "duplicate removal" function of the system incorrectly.
• Another person did not receive their ballot. The system showed that it was sent. I re-sent it. They received it then.
• One person requested that the ballot itself contain a link to more information. I had only sent additional information through the email containing the ballot.
• One person hoped to stand for election as a candidate, but the ballot was already out. I told them try next time.

Bluerasberry (talk) 21:30, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

I agree that next time we need to send an email recognizing a membership candidate as a member.--Jetam2 (talk) 07:07, 28 November 2023 (UTC)