SecurePoll is a tool used in Wikimedia projects for managing elections. Since 2009 it has been the election tool of choice for major Wikimedia community elections which appoint influential positions related to the management of the Wikimedia Foundation, including seats on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and the Funds Dissemination Committee.

Screenshot of SecurePoll interface

Background information

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Overview of the MediaWiki extension SecurePoll and the voting methods it supports as of July 2023.

SecurePoll as software is a MediaWiki extension with technical documentation at SecurePoll.

There exists additional documentation on how to use the software for Board elections on Wikitech.

Using SecurePoll for Wikimedia elections

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Wikimedia Foundation staff oversee the use of SecurePoll for elections related to the Wikimedia Foundation.

SecurePoll is currently not available for general use. It is not currently available for anyone to use on request.

If it were available for use on request, then any Wikimedia community group which was holding an election might use it for their election. For example, any Wikimedia movement affiliates might use SecurePoll as a trusted way to manage their own Wikimedia election such as their own board election.

Elections for which SecurePoll is used

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The following elections have made use of SecurePoll in the past. Some of these are regularly held for legacy reasons.

Election Community Timing Frequency Next scheduled election
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Global July–August Every ~2 years August 2024
English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee elections English Wikipedia December Every year December 2024
Farsi Wikipedia Supervisory Board elections Farsi Wikipedia October Every year August 2024
Wikimedia Ukraine Board and Audit Committee elections Wikimedia Ukraine February Every year[note 1] none
Movement Charter Drafting Committee Global October 2022 One-off none
U4C Charter Global October 2023 One-off none
Chinese Wikipedia admin elections Chinese Wikipedia Various Twice yearly[note 2] July 2024
Movement Charter ratification vote Global Various Ad-hoc Unknown date 6
  1. Wikimedia Ukraine requested the use of SecurePoll in 2021 as a temporary replacement for their traditional, in-person vote.
  2. This election was originally held as a trial in 2021. See phab:T295518 for more information. Since then, elections have been held on an ad-hoc basis.

See also

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