Election procedures for the first WE Council

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Policy for Community Governance First Community Council Elections

Overview
In the absence of a formally elected Council and election policy, these procedures will direct the first WikiEducator Council elections. The WikiEducator community is invited to provide feedback on these procedures by the close of business on 7 July 2008, Pacific Standard Time.

In the event that the WikiEducator community is unable to achieve consensus on these procedures by 7 July 2008, the Interim International Advisory Board will take a final decision on the processes taking into account submissions posted on the corresponding talk pages.

Election Schedule

 * 1) The draft Policy for Community Governance and voting procedures posted to community for comment on 23 June 2008
 * 2) Community consensus on the Governance Policy and voting procedures to be achieved by 7 July 2008.
 * 3) Final resolution and announcement of the first WikiEducator elections by 10 July 2008.
 * 4) Nominations for candidature to contest the election close at 17:00 PST on 24 July 2008;
 * 5) Candidates to complete their campaign pages by 31 July 2008.
 * 6) Campaigning begins 1 August 9:00 PST till 31 August, 17:00 PST, 2008
 * 7) Voting commences 1 September 9:00 till 15 September, 17:00 PST, 2008.
 * 8) Results of the election to be announced on or before 30 September 2008.

Electoral method
The first WikiEducator elections will be based on a derivation of the approval voting method.

Refinements to the approval method are required as we need to take the following considerations into account:


 * We are not seeking a single-winner -- 15 seats will be contested in the first Council elections.
 * We will endeavour to elect the top 15 candidates with the understanding that wiki elections typically have a very low voter turnout at the polls.

Election procedures

 * 1) The Interim International Advisory Board shall appoint a Chief Electoral Officer from the WikiEducator Community and will not contest the election.
 * 2) COL will provide the technology required for an online election.
 * 3) The Chief Electoral Officer will:
 * 4) * Announce the election on the WikiEducator list and other relevant communication channels;
 * 5) * Nominate two independent electoral assistants;
 * 6) * Confirm that every vote cast is from a registered WikiEducator;
 * 7) * Prepare a short report confirming a free and fair election process
 * 8) * Announce the final outcome.

Election rules

 * 1) Every voter must have a registered account on WikiEducator to qualify.
 * 2) Voters will be required to provide their full name and user account on the confidential ballot (i.e. to confirm that the voter is a registered WikiEducator).
 * 3) Voting will be conducted online.
 * 4) Access to voter information will be restricted to the Chief Electoral Officer, the nominated electoral assistants and one nominated official at the Commonwealth of Learning.
 * 5) Each voter may vote for any combination of candidates and may give each candidate at most one vote, that is approved (or "not approved") by casting a vote for their preferred candidates. Voters will be encouraged to vote for 15 preferred candidates.
 * 6) The campaign page of each candidate shall be linked from the online voting page.
 * 7) The Chief Electoral Officer shall determine the top 15 candidates after counting the votes in consultation with the two election officers.
 * 8) Spoiled votes, that is where voters are not qualified to vote because they do not hold a valid WikiEducator account will not be counted.
 * 9) In the event that more than 15 candidates attain equal votes so that they would be ranked within the top 15 scores, the final decision for those candidates to be tied for the 15th ranking shall be determined by the Exhaustive ballot system.
 * 10) Any candidate duly nominated and contesting the election must receive at least 2 votes to be considered for election to the council. (This is to allow each candidate to vote for themselves ).
 * 11) In the event that less than 15 candidates qualify for appointment to Council, then the number achieved will be duly elected to council. The vacant seats will then be added to the number of permissible nominated positions for Council.
 * 12) In the event that less than seven (7) candidates qualify for election to Council, the election will be declared null and void and rescheduled for a future date.
 * 13) The Chief Electoral Officer shall prepare a report on the election listing the successful candidates duly elected and their corresponding number of votes. This report must be published on WikiEducator.

Nomination requirements

 * 1) Any registered WikiEducator may contest the election.
 * 2) Nominations must be confirmed by two WikiEducators other than the candidate. The candidate is responsible for seeking the confirmations.
 * 3) * At least one confirmation for nomination must be from one of the top 50 active contributors on WikiEducator as of 8 June 2008
 * 4) * The second confirmation must be from a WikiEducator who has completed their user page before the commencement of the election. The respective user page must contain their full names and contact details.
 * 5) The two confirmations must be placed on the candidate's campaign page and must contain: their full names, link to their respective user page and be duly signed and dated.