Talk:Wikibase Community User Group/2021 contact election

Some comments

Thank you for setting up the page! Some comments:

• Timeline:
  • Nomination and campaign periods could be merged (it's probably not an issue that a candidate is nominated late).
  • The times (UTC, like Meta) of votes opening and closing should be specified.
• Eligibility:
  • Great section :) I hope we will not need it, but how would it be enforced in practice?
• Duration and succession:
  • There should be more discussions about it (why three years and not another duration or as long as the contact is active, why automatic replacement in case of vacancy, ...). The immediate need is to have group contacts and to submit the 2020 report. Maybe we should just drop this section from the current vote, and discuss it separately?

Cheers, — Envlh (talk) 12:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

• True, it's probably not an issue if we have people submit campaign statements early; certainly less so than not having all candidates ready before voting opens (when we would have missing votes on ballots). I guess my main concern is that people might make their minds up before others have even entered, let alone had the chance to write something up. But I have no real objection with having people post candidacy statements at the same time as their actual nomination.
• I started thinking about time and then got distracted with whether they were even the right dates... I've seen midnight UTC, but perhaps 17:00 UTC would be better if we end up starting today. I guess it doesn't matter much as long as it is clear, and that time is just after the meetings we've had so far, so it is a natural point.
• It's an open question as to who should enforce eligibility. My theory was that if people object, and there is consensus, a vote or candidate could simply be struck, perhaps subject to the confirmation of the Affiliation Committee - but we'd only bother them if it would make a difference to the vote. This is on the grounds that essentially they and we both have to agree on who the valid contacts are.
• I thought three years would be reasonable because it would mean that each set of contacts is responsible for conveying one vote for affiliate-selected Board seats (assuming both we and they stick to the same schedule). I've also seen two years and one for positions elsewhere, although they were for positions of more general responsibility (affiliate boards/steering committees). I'm not sure if we can have an indefinite period, since it is an office rather than a privilege - and it seemed odd starting to electing someone without knowing for how long the election was valid. What if someone else comes into the community who might be more suitable? I put the succession bit in as an idea so as to decrease the chance of us getting into this situation again, because people can get busy or drift away for various reasons. In any case, I'm fine with reserving that for discussion:

Election is for a nominal three-year term, notwithstanding decisions by the group or a request from the Affiliations Committee to call a new election before then.

In the event that one or both of the positions become vacant during the period of office (e.g. through resignation or persistent absence), successively lower-scored candidates may be offered and accept the role for the remainder of the period without a separate election, subject to consensus, as long as they achieved a mean score of 3 or above ( Weak support) in the prior election.

GreenReaper (talk) 15:59, 24 June 2021 (UTC)