Wikimedia Foundation elections committee/Roles

The Board Elections is a time consuming process, involving coordination of the Board (depending on the level of decisions it may be Governance Committee or Board Selection Task Force), Elections Committee, and supporting staff. The table below is illustrating the most usual tasks, and establishes accountable groups, and roles of each involved party in the process organisation.

The table was created using RACI Model (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed). The legend to the roles is below.

RACI: Description of Roles
ROLES DESCRIPTION
Responsible The person or group who actually carries out the process or task and is responsible for getting the job done.
Accountable The person or group who is ultimately accountable for the process or task, the decision-maker.
Consulted People who are not directly involved in carrying out the task but are consulted beforehand or after (stakeholder or subject matter expert).
Informed Those who receive output from the process or task, or who need to stay informed along the way.

Roles & Responsibilities

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Category Task Roles Notes
Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed
Timeline Set target date for the end of the election Staff Board of Trustees Elections Committee
Timeline Determine election timeline specifics (including if changes are necessary/requested) Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Timeline Publish communications about timeline updates and changes Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Candidacy Design candidacy process Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Candidacy Draft call for candidates Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Candidacy Post call for candidates Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Candidacy Determine candidacy eligibility criteria Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Just legal requirements.
Candidacy Verify candidate identities Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Candidacy Verify candidate eligibility Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff
Candidacy Create information form for candidates to fill out Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Outreach Draft CentralNotice banners Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Outreach Publish CentralNotice banners Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Outreach Draft emails to voters Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Outreach Send emails to voters Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Outreach Determine list of communities to send targeted communications Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Outreach Send targeted communications to individual communities Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Volunteers Recruit election volunteers Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Dependent on decision by EC if and what additional volunteers to recruit
Volunteers Coordinate with election volunteers Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Elections Committee is the group that designs the facilitation plan
Communications Draft communications Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Communications Review and approve communications Elections Committee Elections Committee Staff Board of Trustees
Communications Translate election messages Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Communications Keep Meta-Wiki up-to-date with election information Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Communications Monitor Meta-Wiki for questions and feedback Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees By monitoring, we mean keeping track of whether a response have been given, how long someone been waiting etc.
Communications Monitor wikimedia-l for questions and feedback Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Communications Monitor Elections Committee mailing list for questions and feedback Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Communications Moderation of the Elections Committee mailing list Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Consulted means Committee also have technical capability to do so if they wish.
Communications Respond to questions about the Board of Trustees of Trustees Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff -> Elections Committee -> Board of Trustees of Trustee escalation
Staff
Communications Respond to questions about the election process Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Simple questions staff can answer, Accountable is who to escalate to
Communications Respond to questions by the candidates Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Communications Create a service-level agreement Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff Include standard response time and protocols
Evaluation Determine minimum criteria for candidates Board of Trustees Board of Trustees Elections Committee Staff Like knowing English
Evaluation Determine candidate expected qualification Board of Trustees Board of Trustees Staff Elections Committee Like product experience
Evaluation Check candidacy eligibility criteria Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Minimum eligibility criteria (e.g. no criminal history)
Evaluation Check minimum criteria for candidates Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff e.g. English knowledge
Evaluation Managing the process to shortlist canditates Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Evaluation Choosing the shortlisted candidates Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff The affiliates should probably be responsible.
Campaigning Determine campaigning rules Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff
Campaigning Enforce campaigning rules Elections Committee Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff can help with drafting messages to candidates, but the Elections Committee should send the messages
Campaigning Determine questions for candidates to answer Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff
Campaigning Schedule official campaign events (e.g., conversations with candidates) Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Voting Determine voter eligibility criteria Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff Board of Trustees should be consulted if there are any proposed changes from past criteria
Voting Generate the voter list Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Voting Review voter eligibility requests Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Voting Determine voting platform Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Voting Implement SecurePoll updates Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees SecurePoll is a stand-in for the technical voting platform.
Voting Manage votewiki accounts and rights Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Voting Set up the election on votewiki Staff Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees
Voting Determine voting method (STV, etc.) Elections Committee Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff
Results Scrutinize votes Elections Committee Elections Committee Staff Board of Trustees Ideally, staff would just be consulted—in practice, staff has been responsible. Changing that would depend on the platform and skill training of the committee members.
Results Tally vote results Elections Committee Elections Committee Staff Board of Trustees Ideally, staff would just be consulted—in practice, staff has been responsible. Changing that would depend on the platform and skill training of the committee members.
Results Verify vote results Elections Committee Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees Staff is responsible for independently verifying the results
Results Announce vote results Elections Committee Staff Elections Committee Board of Trustees