User:ElectionJune2014

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Revision as of 18:01, 13 June 2014 by imported>John Stephenson (Voting period open until June 20th)
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Please note that this page may only be edited by members of the Election Committee.
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS appear in the last section; election closes June 20th, mdnight UTC.
Election results will be published on this page by midnight UTC on June 27th.

Notice to all Citizens

The Citizendium Council has called an election to fill its seats, the position of Managing Editor, and to allow referenda on how the project is run.

Citizens have nominated candidates and proposed referenda. Voting is now under way and runs until midnight UTC on June 20th, 2014.

The Election Committee members are John Stephenson and Pat Palmer.

Eligibility to nominate candidates, propose referenda and vote in the election

You are eligible to vote in this election if you maintain an unblocked account on this main wiki, as long as it is in your own real name and was created at least 30 days before the election commences (i.e. on or before May 14th, 2014; see the elections procedure).

Citizendium Council election

Any Citizen in good standing is eligible to fill a Citizendium Council seat. The elected officers will commence terms of office which begin on July 1st, 2014, as specified by the Council.

All three Citizendium Council seats are open for election. Two Editor seats have terms ending on June 30th, 2016 and one Author seat has a term ending on June 30th, 2015. In the event of a tie, whatever governing body is in place shall determine who takes the seat(s). Each voter has one vote for each seat and each proposal.

There are two candidates for two Editor seats. These candidates are subject to an approval vote, in which voters specify "Yes" or "No" to support or not support those candidates.

There are two candidates for one Author seat. A vote is cast by entering the name of the preferred Author candidate.

To see the candidate list, click here.

Managing Editor election

Any Editor in good standing is eligible to fill the Managing Editor seat. The term ends on June 30, 2016.

There is one candidate for the position of Managing Editor. This candidate is subject to an approval vote, in which voters specify "Yes" or "No" to support or not support that candidate. For details, click here.

Ombudsman

There were no nominations for the Ombudsman position, so the office will not be elected on this occasion. The Council may later decide to run a special election to fill the seat (but see Referendum 1).

Referenda rules

According to the Charter, referenda are proposed in one of two ways:

1. Any Citizen may petition the Citizendium Council that contested rules or guidelines be submitted to a referendum. The Council must have jurisdiction over the contested matter. The Council may, by simple majority vote, submit the referendum to a vote of the citizenry at the next regular election.
2. A referendum may be initiated by a group of Citizens corresponding in size to 20 percent of the number of voters in the previous election. The Citizendium Council must include a valid citizen-initiated referendum in the next regular election. Failure to do so will automatically pass the referendum which shall then become official policy and enforceable. This charter may not be amended by a failure of the Citizendium Council to submit a referendum to a vote.

As 16 voters participated in the last election, four supporters were required for each referendum proposal. Referenda that seek to modify the Charter must pass with a two-thirds majority.

To view the referenda on the ballot, click here.

Timetable

The timetable for the elections is as follows:

  • Begin accepting nominations and referenda at midnight UTC on May 28th, 2014;
  • Close the period for new nominations and for candidates to accept their nominations and draft their statements at midnight UTC on June 11th, 2014;
  • Close the period for Citizen-initiated referenda to be proposed and supported at midnight UTC on June 11th, 2014;
  • Have the ballot prepared by midnight UTC on June 13th, 2014;
  • Begin accepting ballots from eligible voters from 00:01 UTC on June 14th, 2014;
  • Stop accepting ballots at midnight UTC on June 20th, 2014;
  • Release the results by midnight UTC on June 27th, 2014.

Council Editor candidates and links to their statements

Name of nominee Acceptance of nomination Statement
Gareth Leng accept Gareth Leng 09:20, 4 June 2014 (UTC) Statement
Peter Schmitt accept Peter Schmitt 20:56, 11 June 2014 (UTC) Statement

Council Author candidates and links to their statements

Name of nominee Acceptance of nomination Statement
Christine Bush accept Christine Bush 18:59, 8 June 2014 (UTC) Statement
Meg Ireland accept Meg Ireland 16:01, 11 June 2014 (UTC) Statement

Managing Editor candidate and link to their statement

Name of nominee Acceptance of nomination Statement
Anthony Sebastian accept - Anthony Sebastian 00:47, 11 June 2014 (UTC) Statement

Referenda

The election will include voting on the following referenda. Citizens can support or oppose the question by indicating 'Yes' or 'No'. For referenda that propose to modify the Citizendium Charter, a two-thirds majority of valid votes is required under Article 37. Non-Charter referenda require a simple majority of valid votes to pass.

The following referenda are authorised to appear on the ballot:

Referendum 1: Abolition of the office of Ombudsman

Proposed by John Stephenson

This referendum proposes to modify the Charter.

The details of this referendum appear here; comments appear on the Talk page and the forum discussion.

Referendum 4: Emergency procedure to resolve lack of functioning governance

Proposed by the Citizendium Council

This referendum proposes to modify the Charter.

The details of this referendum appear here; comments appear on the Talk page and the forum discussion.

Referendum 5: Open all Council seats to all Citizens

Proposed by the John Stephenson

This referendum proposes to modify the Charter.

The details of this referendum appear here; comments appear on the Talk page and the forum discussion.



Voting

Voting in the Elections and Referenda runs until midnight UTC on June 20th, 2014.

Your votes will go to an email account which is used solely for this election and is accessible only by election officials. Your ballot paper will be deleted after 90 days and the account closed. You will receive a copy of your ballot paper once it is processed.

Quick notes

  1. You have as many votes in each section as there are seats or proposals. Voting for more will invalidate that section of your ballot paper (copy and paste it into an email).
  2. Where there are as many candidates as there are seats (i.e. the two Editor seats), the names of those candidates are given on the ballot paper and you should write Yes or No underneath to approve or not approve each.
  3. For the one Author seat, you should type the full name of one candidate in the appropriate place on the ballot paper.
  4. For referenda, write Yes or No underneath each one to approve or not approve the proposals.
  5. You may abstain on any or all seats and referenda by leaving the appropriate spaces blank. Writing anything else will invalidate that section of your ballot paper.
  6. You may only vote for candidates and referenda that appear on the ballot paper. Any others will invalidate that section of your ballot paper.
  7. You may only vote by typing the names of candidates or writing yes or no as appropriate. Writing anything else will invalidate that section of your ballot paper.

Full voting instructions

First, make sure you are logged in to Citizendium, then:

  1. Copy the text of the 'Ballot paper' from the next section. Just scroll down from here (don't copy the original source code of this page).
  2. On the menu on the far left of this page, under Toolbox, you will see a menu item, E-mail this user. Click on that link or the link here. This will take you to a page where you can enter the text of your email.
  3. Paste in the text of the ballot paper that you previously copied. You may leave the 'Subject' field alone.
  4. Under the heading Council Editor candidate - Gareth Leng, type "Yes" if you approve that candidate and "No" if you do not approve that candidate. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  5. Under the heading Council Editor candidate - Peter Schmitt, type "Yes" if you approve that candidate and "No" if you do not approve that candidate. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  6. Under the heading Council Author candidate, type the name of your preferred candidate. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  7. Under the heading Managing Editor candidate - Anthony Sebastian, type "Yes" if you approve that candidate and "No" if you do not approve that candidate. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  8. Under the heading Referendum 1, type "Yes" if you wish to vote in favour of the referendum, or type "No" if you wish to vote against the referendum. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  9. Under the heading Referendum 4, type "Yes" if you wish to vote in favour of the referendum, or type "No" if you wish to vote against the referendum. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  10. Under the heading Referendum 5, type "Yes" if you wish to vote in favour of the referendum, or type "No" if you wish to vote against the referendum. (You may also abstain by not filling in anything in this section).
  11. Check what you've entered to make sure it accurately reflects your preferences.
  12. Click on the Send button.

That's it - you've just cast your ballot. Thank you for participating!

Ballot paper

Council Editor candidate - Gareth Leng



Council Editor candidate - Peter Schmitt



Council Author candidate



Managing Editor candidate - Anthony Sebastian



Referendum 1



Referendum 4



Referendum 5