2015 Arbitration Committee Elections
Status
During the 2012 Arbitration Committee Election Request for comment, it was decided by consensus that a three-member Electoral Commission would be created to address issues arising during the Arbitration Committee elections. This decision was reaffirmed in subsequent years and the existence of the Commission is now part of the standard procedure for the annual elections. The Electoral Commission is reconstituted each year for purposes of that year's election.
Editors wishing to volunteer as a Commissioner for 2015 should create a section on this RfC. All editors are encouraged to comment on the suitability of the volunteers for this role. Three volunteers with the strongest support, determined by consensus based upon comments posted until one week after the close of nominations, will be chosen as Commissioners. Any remaining applicants who have consensus support but are not in the top three will be designated as reserve Commissioners, to be called upon if one of the Commissioners is unable to serve. If the consensus is not readily apparent, one or more bureaucrats will help close the discussion.
The mandate of the Electoral Commission is to deal with any unforeseen problems that may arise in the 2015 Arbitration Committee election process, and to adjudicate any disputes during the election. However, members of the Election Commission should intervene only when there is a problem that needs resolving, and either discussion is not working, the rules are unclear, or there isn't time for a lengthy discussion.
In addition, while the Electoral Commission is not responsible for logistics of the election, the Commissioners should also help ensure that preparations for the election—such as setting up the relevant pages, posting notices of the election in the appropriate places, and asking the Office to configure the SecurePoll voting interface—move forward in a timely fashion.
Commissioners and reserve members are not eligible for election to the Arbitration Committee during this year's election. Commissioners must be able and willing to satisfy the requirements of the access to nonpublic information policy.
The timeline for the appointment of the 2015 Electoral Commission is as follows:
- Nominations: Friday 00:01, 9 October – Friday 23:59, 16 October (8 days)
- Evaluation period: Saturday 00:01, 17 October – Friday 23:59, 23 October (7 days)
- Commission selection: completed by Friday 23:59, 30 October