User:Mz7/Running Arbitration Committee elections

On the English Wikipedia, the members of the Arbitration Committee are appointed by an annual election process organized and run by the community, not by the Committee itself, in accordance with Arbitration/Policy.

The Arbitration Committee was first established in December 2003, and since then there have been elections every year. In each election up until 2017, community members have tried to observe how past elections were conducted, with experienced editors passing down institutional knowledge of how elections were conducted in the past. However, the process was never really written down in a tangible form. The goal of this page is to provide a central location that describes how English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee elections are normally conducted, so that the election process can be smoother for all participants.

Rough timeline

 * 1) September: Pre-election request for comment
 * 2) October: Appointment of the Electoral Commission
 * 3) Mid-November: Self-nomination and questioning period for candidates in the election
 * 4) Late-November to early-December: Voting period – eligible editors may vote in the election through the SecurePoll interface
 * 5) Immediately following the voting period: Scrutineering period – scrutineers, consisting of stewards whose main wikis are not the English Wikipedia, will check the votes (e.g. for duplicate, missing, and ineligible votes), and compile a tally of the results.

Set up the core election pages
When it is time to begin the election cycle (around the end of August), we have to set up the main election pages. For this year (2024), we need to create the following pages.
 * Main election page: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024
 * General discussion page: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024
 * Header: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Header
 * Redirect the shortcut WP:ACE2024 to the main election page.
 * Navbox: Template:ACE2024

This is really all that's needed in early September. Later on, around mid-October, when it comes time to prepare for the self-nomination phase, we also need to create the following pages.
 * Candidate statement page: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Candidates
 * List of candidate question pages: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Questions
 * List of candidate discussion pages: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Candidates/Discussion
 * Candidate guide: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Candidates/Guide
 * Coordinators page: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Coordination
 * Coordinators' noticeboard: Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Coordination
 * Scrutineer instructions: Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Coordination/Instructions for scrutineers

Finally, on Template:ACE candidate page, update the timestamp (e.g. for 2020, it is the line beginning with ) to the date when the nomination phase begins.

Pre-election request for comment
Ideally starting on the first day of September, a month-long request for comment (RfC) is typically held to give the community the opportunity to amend the structure, rules, and procedures of that year's Arbitration Committee election. For this year (2024), the request for comment should be held at Requests for comment/Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024. See Category:Wikipedia Arbitration Committee elections requests for comment for past RfCs.

Examples of pre-election RfC discussion topics

 * Number of arbitrators to appoint in the election
 * Eligibility criteria to stand as a candidate in the election, beyond the ones specified by Arbitration/Policy
 * Eligibility criteria to vote in the election
 * How should the election be advertised to the community
 * The authority of members of the Electoral Commission
 * Other procedural questions affecting the election process

Example navbox code
Create the navbox for this year at Template:ACE2024 using the format below. Fill in the fields as necessary, using the example from 2017 as a guide. There is also documentation for the parameters at Module:Arbcom election banner.

Electoral Commission selection
The Electoral Commission is selected via request for comment with the following timeline: For this year (2024), the selection is held at Requests for comment/Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Electoral Commission.
 * Nominations: 0:00 on the first Saturday in October until 23:59 the following Friday (UTC)
 * Evaluation period: 00:00 Saturday as soon as the nomination period ends until 23:59 the following Friday (UTC)
 * Commission selection: completed by the next Friday at the latest

Scrutineer selection
After the Electoral Commission is selected, the first order of business is for a member of the Electoral Commission to post a message at meta:Stewards' noticeboard, calling for volunteers to scrutinize the election. Examples:. The role and responsibilities of the scrutineers should be documented at Arbitration Committee Elections December 2024/Coordination/Instructions for scrutineers. Any steward who does not edit the English Wikipedia as their primary wiki is eligible to serve. Usually there are three scrutineers. Once the Electoral Commission decides who the scrutineers will be, they will pass the names to the Arbitration Committee, who will pass a motion granting them temporary checkuser rights on the English Wikipedia for the purpose of scrutineering.

Monitoring candidate question pages
In 2020, the community placed restrictions on what content is allowed and not allowed on question pages. Prohibited content may only be removed by the Electoral Commission. Decisions by the Electoral Commissions on content disputes is final.


 * Content explicitly prohibited from questions to candidate pages
 * Statements of policy, philosophy, opinions or other general comments
 * Analysis of candidates, questions or answers
 * Endorsements or disendorsments of candidates
 * Reference to other candidates, except as necessary context for a question, answer or clarification request.
 * Personal attacks or aspersions
 * Adverts for voter guides or similar pages.


 * Content explicitly permitted on questions to candidates pages
 * Questions to the individual candidate
 * Responses to questions by that candidate (including answers, requests for clarification, etc)
 * Reasonable follow-up questions
 * Responses to requests for clarification
 * Short responses to answers by the person asking the question (e.g. thanks)