Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-06-23/Board elections

This week, the elections have been completed, with the winner to be announced on Thursday.

The fifth election to the Wikimedia Board of Trustees closed on June 21, with results expected on Thursday, June 26. Fifteen users are vying for one (1) one-year seat. 3,019 valid votes were cast in the election, with 7 votes invalidated by the Committee (although more could be invalidated before the final result is announced).

Overall turnout in the election was about 11.63%, based on eligible voter figures given by the Election Committee. Turnout from the English Wikipedia slightly exceeds that, with 13.22%; voters from the English Wikipedia represent about 41.4% of the voter base.

The top five wikis by turnout (with at least 20 eligible voters) were the English Wikinews (56.76%), Meta-Wiki (49.12%), Hebrew Wikipedia (42.42%), French Wiktionary (32.14%) and the Indonesian Wikipedia (29.41%). The English Wikipedia ranked 22nd, out of 56 wikis with at least 20 eligible voters.

In contrast, the Slovak Wikipedia had the most number of eligible voters (45) without a single vote cast. The controversial Volapük Wikipedia, meanwhile, was the largest Wikipedia by number of articles (116,322) without a vote; neither of the two eligible voters turned out in the election. The Japanese Wikipedia had the worst non-zero turnout of any wiki, with just 26 of its 956 eligible voters (2.72%) turning out.

The results will be reviewed by the Election Committee for irregularities over the next few days, with the naming of a new trustee scheduled for June 26. The new trustee will take over for retiring Board member Florence Devouard; her position as Chair, meanwhile, will be delegated to another member at the Board's July meeting.