Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections January 2006
In December 2005, the second annual election for the Arbitration Committee may be held to advise Jimbo as to how to appoint to the Committee.
At least nine of the twelve seats will be up for change, as the terms of Fred Bauder and David Gerard will expire on December 31, 2005, as will the temporary placements of James F., Fennec, JayJG, Mindspillage and Kelly Martin. Finally, Sannse has resigned from the Committee.
When the Arbitration Committee were first appointed, Jimbo intended that Arbitrators serve staggered three-year terms to provide continuity. In any such election, Arbitrators are entitled to run for re-appointment. The remaining appointed seats will be up for election when their terms expire.
Election procedure
The exact procedure is yet to be determined, but will be radically different from last year's, reflecting our learning about what did and didn't work.
The most likely process will be that the appointments made by Jimbo will be based on nominations and volunteerings, with the appointments made in consultation with the existing and former Committee members and the community at large, possibly followed by confirmation votes from the community, perhaps requiring some supermajority.
A current Arbitrator has stated that Jimbo might select a set of approved would-be appointees. The community then has an approval vote on them. Would-be appointees receiving greater than, for example, 50% approval will be appointed. It is as yet unclear whether the community votes on the group or on the individuals, and what will happen if candidates fail to get sufficient support.
The election, if it takes place at all, is currently not scheduled; any vote will, as usual, use the Special:ArbComVote software, which currently uses approval voting.
An independent election organizing committee is normally appointed. In this capacity, the committee's members would make procedural decisions about how the election would be run, and announce the election results. They would not be entitled to promote candidates, nor vote in the election themselves.
Candidate statements
Candidate statements for the December 2005 elections can be found here.
Proposed changes
- A set of proposed modifications to rules made by jguk.
- A proposed overhaul of elections and the dispute resolution system generally, made by Michael Snow.
- Quadell's proposal - It can all be very simple, if we want.
- Wikipedia:Dispute resolution reform (WP:DRR) - for general and organized overview of proposed changes to DR system and process.