Wikimedia Foundation Board noticeboard/April 2022 Board Election process in 2022
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees 2022 election - updates
[edit]The Board of Trustees wants to improve the set of skills and the diversity contributed by newly selected trustees. For this reason, the Board has approved a new process to select two community-and-affiliate trustees this year. The objective is to have two trustees confirmed by October 1st. Affiliates will vote to pre-select 6 candidates. A community vote will decide who from these 6 candidates will be recommended for the two seats.
These two seats were selected in 2019 through the Affiliate-Selected Board Seats process. The new process takes into account the recent Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees election and further discussions by the Board Selection Task Force.
These are the main factors of the new process. For more details, please refer to the full recommendation.
- The Call for Candidates includes skills and diversity factors sought by the Board. Affiliates are encouraged to help find potential candidates.
- Candidates submit a statement to position themselves in relation to these skills and diversity factors.
- The affiliates constitute a newly created Analysis Committee (AC) to review candidate statements and to rate them.
- Through a Single Transferable Vote (STV), one vote per affiliate, affiliates shortlist 6 candidates. Affiliates vote informed by the candidate statements and the ratings provided by the Analysis Committee.
- A community vote follows to decide the two most voted candidates to be recommended to the Board. This will be an STV election like the one conducted in 2021, just limited to the 6 pre-selected candidates.
- For the first time, affiliate members involved in affiliate activities will be eligible to vote in the community election even if they do not meet the voter eligibility criteria.
- The voting advice tool that was successfully tested in the Movement Charter Drafting Committee process will be offered here as well.
These are the main planned dates:
- April 18 - May 9: Call for candidates.
- July 1 - 15: Affiliates vote.
- August 15 - 29: Community vote.
- October 1: Trustees confirmed.
The Elections Committee will oversee this process, supported by the Movement Strategy and Governance team. The Board invites the Wikimedia affiliates and the movement at large to get involved in this process and contribute to the selection of candidates.