Chapter-selected Board seats/2010/Process

This process was approved by the WMF board on 5 April 2010

Due to various delays this process has begun late for 2010 requiring an adjustment of the schedule. The new schedule is as follows: The call for candidates went out on 7th May with a deadline of 27th May. The Q&A will then last until 2nd June. Discussion will continue until at least 15th June unless a consensus is reached before then. If there is not a consensus by 15th June either a vote will be held and the result announced on 1st July, or the discussion will be extended and the final result will be delayed. The decision on which option to choose will be made based on the discussions that have happened by the 15th June and whether they suggest it is likely that a consensus will soon be reached.

Every even numbered year the Wikimedia Chapters will select two people to take seats on the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). The chapters and the WMF board acknowledge that all WMF board members, including those selected by the chapters, must act in the interests of the WMF at all times. These selections will be made by 1st July of each year. The following steps will be taken:

1. By 1st March: The chapters will appoint a moderator and deputy moderator to manage the selection. This is intended to be very simple: sometime a few weeks before that date someone should nominate a moderator and deputy moderator and if no-one objects (which they should only do if they have a serious problem with the candidates' ability to do the job in an fair and impartial manner) those people will be the moderator team. The moderators should not be candidates, but they can participate in the process. The moderators are responsible for keeping the wider Wikimedia community updated with the progress through this process and will serve as liaison to the WMF board.
2. By 7th March: The moderators will inform the wider community about the selection process
3. By 7th March: The moderators will issue a public call for candidates
4. By 1st April: All candidates' statements must be in. Candidate statements may be addressed directly to the moderators, or may transit through a chapter. All candidate statements will have to supply the following information:
   1. The name of the nominee
   2. The name of the nominating chapter (if applicable)
   3. A statement from the chapter in support of the nominee (if applicable)
   4. A statement from the nominee in support of themselves, accompanied by a short CV and confirming they are willing and eligible to take a seat on the WMF board. Any candidates with Chapters wiki accounts will have those accounts disabled for the duration of the selection process.

   NB.The moderators have the right to discard any candidate statement obviously non-suitable from the official candidate list, as long as they provide a full account of which candidacy has been discarded and on what grounds.

5. From 1st April to 13th April: Chapters and individual chapter board members will have the opportunity to ask questions of candidates either individually or as a group. Candidates are encouraged, but not obliged, to answer all questions put to them. This Q&A process will take place by any appropriate means devised by the moderators (e.g. by email, other wiki, etc.) and will be reported on the Chapters wiki by the moderators.
6. From 14th April to 15th June: The chapters will discuss the candidates on the chapters wiki and at the Chapters Meeting and will attempt to reach a consensus on which two to select. If, at any time during this period, the moderator feels a consensus has been reached they will clearly state on the chapters wiki who they believe the chapters have selected. If no chapter has objected after a week, those nominees will be selected and the moderator will inform the WMF board. If a chapter objects, the chapters will go back to discussion. This process can be repeated as many times as appropriate during the period.
7. If no consensus has been reached by 15th June the moderator will announce a vote. Each chapter will rank the candidates by posting on the chapters wiki and, on 1st July, the moderator will determine the two candidates selected using the Single transferable vote method and the moderator will inform the WMF board. In the event of a tie at any stage, the moderator will draw lots.

The method(s) used by individual chapters to make any decisions required of them are entirely up to the chapter in question. However, chapters are advised that the names of candidates and any discussion and votes are confidential and should be restricted to the chapters wiki and other places accessible only by members of chapter boards.