The Charter Electoral Commission will consist of 5 election commissioners drawing from at least 3 different home projects to oversee the ratification vote.
The MCDC welcomes community input on how to recruit the candidates and who will make the final selection of the 5 commissioners.
The Charter Electoral Commission (CEC) will decide on unclear or unexpected circumstances. Along with the rules contained in this document, the remaining rules of the vote will be decided by the MCDC in consultation with the CEC prior to the statement of the ratification. The CEC can override these agreed upon rules only when significant harm would happen otherwise. This decision must also not negatively impact the overall ratification process. Once made, the decisions must be made public alongside the justification.
The Charter Electoral Commission candidates must demonstrate experience that would be beneficial in their role on the Commission.
The MCDC welcomes community input on what those experiences should be and if there are any formal minimum criteria for eligibility.
To avoid potential conflicts of interest, as well as to mitigate against excessive work obligations, neither scrutineers nor commissioners should be selected from the current Elections Committee.
Scrutineers
There will be 3 scrutineers (who must not also be commissioners), selected from volunteer stewards. The Stewards mailing list will be notified of the request well in advance, and either Stewards will pick 3 amongst themselves, or we will follow a “first come, first serve” selection process.
Instructions and purpose of scrutineers will be based on this process from the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee.
Support
One member of the MCDC will be selected by a majority vote within the MCDC prior to the commencement of the election to be responsible for unlocking the voting results when the election is closed.
Technical, Legal, and other relevant teams from the Wikimedia Foundation must give full support to both the Charter Electoral Commission and scrutineers. The MCDC, WMF, and Charter Electoral Commission will endeavor to name the most likely teams needed for ratification process support at least 4 months prior to the ratification vote, but it is noted that unexpected requests may be made.
In particular, during the ratification vote(s), WMF teams must share the names of the responsible staff members available to answer urgent queries and requirements. Teams should ensure that the work schedules of the named staff members permit this prioritization.
The Charter Electoral Commission, scrutineers, support teams, and interested voters can engage in a post-election review and lessons-learnt process. Issues (and utilized resolutions) should be documented on an ongoing basis throughout the process.