Wikimedia Foundation elections/2021
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| 2021 Board Elections |
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The 2021 Board of Trustees election has been rescheduled to 18 - 31 August 2021 due to technical issues with SecurePoll. Read more.
The 2021 Board of Trustees elections are from 18 August 2021 to 31 August 2021. Members of the Wikimedia community have the opportunity to elect four candidates to a three-year term. The Call for Candidates closed on 29 June 2021.
Join the Board selection chat on Telegram.
Voting[edit]
Voting is from 18 August 2021 to 31 August 2021. Voting information and instructions are on the Voting information page.
Before voting, please read the Candidate Presentations and skills assessment done by the existing Board.
Timeline[edit]
- 15 April: Board of Trustees resolution about the upcoming elections
- 29 April: Call for Election Volunteers
- 9 June – 29 June: Call for Candidates
- 30 June – 2 July: Announcement of confirmed candidates
- 7 July – 3 August: Candidates campaign period
- 18 August: Voting period opens
- 31 August: Voting period closes
- 1 September – 7 September: Vote counting and processing
- 7 September: Announcement of vote results
- September: Board of Trustees appoints selected candidates
The Board election facilitators created a graphic of the timeline. This can be used to share information about the election. The graphic is available in more languages.
Campaign Activities[edit]
This is a list of campaign activities planned during the campaign period. Further activities are in the making, the list will be updated continuously. Community members are welcome to add additional activities to the list below. If you add activities, please link to the page where community members can find more information.
- 3 July at : Candidates meet with the facilitation team for a Campaign Briefing.
- During this conversation the facilitation team will answer questions candidates may have.
- 04 July at : Candidates meet with Middle East and North Africa (MENA) communities
- 7 July: Candidates begin answering questions submitted from the community : list posted on 2 July.
- 10 July: Candidates meet with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) communities
- 23 July at : Candidates meet with the African & MENA communities
- 28 July at : Candidates meet with European communities July 28
- 31 July at : Candidates meet with the South, East, Southeast Asian and Pacific communities
Voting information[edit]
Single transferrable vote will be used as the voting method.
Eligibility requirements for voters[edit]
Editors[edit]
You may vote from any one registered account you own on a Wikimedia wiki. You may only vote once, regardless of how many accounts you own. To qualify, this one account must:
- blocked in no more than one project;
- and not be a bot;
- and have made at least 300 edits before 5 July 2021 across Wikimedia wikis;
- and have made at least 20 edits between 5 January 2021 and 5 July 2021.
The AccountEligibility tool can be used to quickly verify basic editor voting eligibility.
Developers[edit]
Developers qualify to vote if they:
- Main criteria
-
- are Wikimedia server administrators with shell access
- or have made at least one merged commit to any Wikimedia repos on Gerrit, between 5 January 2021 and 5 July 2021.
- Additional criteria
| Additional criteria for developers and contributors to Wikimedia technical spaces. |
|---|
|
- Note: If you meet the main criteria, you will be able to vote immediately. Due to the technical limitations of SecurePoll, people who meet the additional criteria may not be able to directly vote, unless they meet any of the other criteria. If you think you meet the additional criteria, please email board-elections
wikimedia.org with the reasoning at least four days before the last date for voting i.e. on or before August 27, 2021. If you meet the criteria, we will add you to a manual list, to be able to vote.
Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors[edit]
Current Wikimedia Foundation staff and contractors qualify to vote if they have been employed by the Foundation as of 5 July 2021.
Wikimedia movement affiliates’ staff and contractors[edit]
Current Wikimedia Chapter, thematic organization or user group staff and contractors qualify to vote if they have been employed by their organization as of 5 July 2021.
Wikimedia Foundation board members, Advisory board members, FDC committee members[edit]
Current and former members of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, the Wikimedia Foundation Advisory Board and the Funds Dissemination Committee are qualified to vote.
Information for candidates[edit]
The 2021 Board of Trustees elections are held 18 August 2021 to 31 August 2021. Members of the Wikimedia community have the opportunity to elect four candidates to a three-year term. The Call for Candidates closed on 29 June 2021.
Outreach[edit]
Voter turnout in prior elections was about 10% globally. It was better in communities with volunteer election support. Some of those communities reached over 20% voter turnout.
Election Volunteers[edit]
Do you want to help improve voter numbers in your community? You don’t need to have experience in elections. Election Volunteers can help promote the Board election in their community. Volunteers from all Wiki Projects are welcome! The aim is to have at least one Election Volunteer for Wiki Projects in the top 30 for eligible voters. Help form a more diverse and better performing Board of Trustees by getting your community involved in the election!
Conversations[edit]
There are many conversations happening around the world about the Board of Trustees selection. Come join the conversations!
- Telegram Board Selection chat
- The Board election facilitation team will share announcements and updates here.
- Election Volunteers from South Asia
- Add link here so others may join the conversation
Team[edit]
- Elections Committee
- AbhiSuryawanshi
- Carlojoseph14
- HakanIST
- KTC
- Mardetanha
- Masssly
- Matanya
- Ruslik0
- Facilitation team (Movement Strategy & Governance)
- Quim Gil: coordination
- Xeno: English communities and Meta-Wiki
- Jackie Koerner: English communities and Meta-Wiki
- Civvi: Italian communities
- Maciej Nadzikiewicz: Polish communities
- Mahuton Possoupe: French communities
- Oscar Costero: Spanish communities and the Latin America region
- Denis Barthel: German communities and North-Western European region
- Mehman Ibragimov: Russian communities and Central and Eastern Europe region
- Ravan Al-Taie: Arabic communities and Middle East region
- Mervat Salman: Arabic communities and Middle East region
- Zita Zage: Sub-Saharan African region
- Sam Oyeyele: Yoruban communities and West Africa region
- Krishna C. Velaga: South Asian region
- Youngjin Ko: Korean communities and East Asia region
- Ramzy Muliawan: Indonesian communities and Southeast Asia and the Pacific region
Background[edit]
The Board of Trustees elections were due in 2020 to elect three of the Community trustees seats. In April 2020, the Board announced that the voting process was being postponed. The Board of Trustees announced in April 2021 the plan for the 2021 Board elections. The Board is seeking to increase diversity and participation in Board elections.
The Board is expanding to 16 seats to better cover the increasing work and areas of expertise required to steer the Wikimedia Foundation. This expansion was based in part on recommendations from an external governance review.
- 3 new Community- and Affiliate-selected seats
- 3 new Board-selected seats
Four seats will be up for selection in 2021, the three due for renewal and a fourth from the approved Board expansion. The two other new community-and-affiliate seats approved will be selected during 2022, together with the two affiliate seats that will be due (four in total).