Wikinews:Arbitration Committee/2011 election

The Arbitration Committee is a community-elected group of users who may hold hearings in serious disputes that cannot otherwise be resolved by the community (through discussions or quick, generally temporary actions by administrators).

In general, ArbCom hearings are intended to be about whether core policies like NPOV and Wikiquette are followed. The members of ArbCom can decide whether or not they want to hear a particular case brought before them through Requests for arbitration. Be aware that arbitration duty can still be rather time-intensive in complex cases, and that you will be required to recuse yourself from cases you are involved in.

The community must agree on nomination procedures by July 1, and election committee members by July 10. Nominations will be accepted until July 17. Questions and comments may be made during that time period, but no voting shall take place. Voting will take place from 2000 UTC July 18 to 2000 UTC July 30. Since the incumbent members' seats expire on August 3, the election committee must declare the winners by that date, and the new term begins on August 4.

Candidacy

 * All candidates must have an established, contributory, account on this project.
 * Members of the election committee are ineligible to run.

Voter eligibility

 * You must have at least 250 edits before July 1, 2011, 00:00 UTC to cast an eligible vote.
 * Your first main namespace edit must be prior to June 1, 2011, 00:00 UTC.
 * All Wikimedia Foundation board members, full-time staff, and paid developers are deemed eligible to vote, provided they have edited a Wikimedia wiki prior to June 1, 2011, 00:00 UTC in that capacity.
 * Administrators on this project are eligible to vote, even where they do not meet the above criteria.
 * Members of the election committee may only vote in exceptional cases (enumerated below).
 * Candidates may not vote for themselves.

How to vote

 * Eligible voters, per above criteria, should indicate support for the candidates they favor by using the support template in the relevant sub-section below.
 * The election is support-voting only. Any administrator, or election committee member, may strike oppose votes, abstentions, or comments not placed in the appropriate section.
 * Specific sections are provided for comments on, and questions to, candidates; such should be strictly limited to these sections.
 * Unsigned, ineligible, or IP votes may be struck by any administrator or election committee member.

Election results

 * Following the closure of voting, the six candidates with the highest number of eligible votes will form the new Arbitration Committee.
 * In the event of a tie, it is the responsibility of the election committee to schedule a run-off election, which should last not less than seven days. An interim Arbitration Committee will be formed with the clearly elected members.
 * Primary responsibility for the validation of votes, and their legitimacy, lies with the election committee.
 * The election committee is tasked with declaring the new members of the Arbitration Committee following the election, and any required run-off election(s).
 * All motions considered by the election committee must be approved by a simple majority of its members. All election committee members must be given clear notice and opportunity to comment, and vote, on a motion before the decision is finalized. Those not on the election committee may comment on any motion being considered by the committee.
 * If the incumbent Arbitration Committee is conducting business on August 3, then it will continue to serve as arbitrators until such business is concluded. The new Arbitration Committee will consider requests that are filed on or after August 4.

Nominations and voting

 * /Nominations and voting