[Foundation-l] Election Committee announces Endorsements Procedure

[Philippe Beaudette]

Posted on behalf of the election committee,
Philippe

This page can be found at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Endorsements/en


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==Endorsements==

===Introduction===
The purpose of the endorsement requirement is to try to make sure that the election only includes serious candidates.  We need to do this because this election is being conducted for Wikimedia which includes many languages, and therefore we are trying to have every candidate's statement translated into as many languages as we can.  This work is done by volunteer translators and can only be done only if the number of candidates is limited to a reasonable number.   
 
The requirements for time-on-wiki and edit-count requirements help to make sure that only serious candidates participate, but the Elections Committee did not wish to raise these requirements too high because then some genuine candidates might be excluded, so we have added the requirement for endorsements.  Because the Elections Committee believes that the endorsement requirement is important to the Board election process, we urge that reasonable requests and discussion concerning endorsements should '''not be considered a violation of any local anti-canvassing guidelines or norms.'''

===Criteria for Endorsement===
All candidates standing for election are required to obtain 12 endorsements for their candidacy.  Criteria for endorsement are the same as criteria to vote: users endorsing must have 400 edits in any namespace or combination of namespaces on a single Wikimedia project and at least 3 months edit history prior to June 1, 2007.  Candidates who have not received the required number of endorsements will not be allowed to stand for the election.

===Qualified candidates only===
Only qualified candidates may be submitted for endorsements.  If you are not willing to be confirmed through the candidacy process (including verifying your identity to the Foundation, and meeting the minimum qualifications for candidacy), your name will not be submitted for endorsements.

===How to endorse===
In order to endorse a candidate, locate their endorsement section on the endorsements page [NOT YET AVAILABLE, ENDORSEMENTS HAVE NOT OPENED YET], and "sign" it using four tildes <nowiki>(~~~~)</nowiki>.  You may also leave a very brief (up to '''100 characters''', roughly equivalent to 25 word in many languages) statement for the reason of your endorsement.  Statements longer than 100 characters '''may be removed''' at the discretion of the [[Board elections/2007/Committee/en|Election Committee]], though the endorsement will remain valid.  Endorsements will open 0:00 June 17, 2007 (UTC) and can only be withdrawn during the endorsement period, which closes 23:59 June 23, 2007 (UTC).  After 23:59 June 23, 2007 (UTC)  you may not submit or withdraw any endorsements. Endorsements may be removed '''by members of the election committee only''', and ''only if the endorser is found to not be a qualified voter in this election'' or the endorser has endorsed too many candidates in the election.  In that case, all endorsements by that endorser will be withdrawn by the committee and the endorser notified so that they can re-submit endorsements up to the maximum number allowed.

===How many candidates may I endorse?  I'm a candidate, how many others may I endorse?===
Each qualified voter may endorse up to 3 candidates for election.  Candidates may only endorse two others (their endorsement of themselves is implied by virtue of their self-nomination).  Candidates should not "sign" their own endorsement section, and their own endorsement will not count toward their required number of endorsements. 

===When may I endorse a candidate?===
The endorsement period will begin 7 days after we begin accepting candidates for office.  On the current timeline, you may begin endorsing on June 17, 2007, at 0:00UTC.

===A candidate received an invalid endorsement!  What do I do?===
Please contact a member of the [[Board elections/2007/Committee/en|Election Committee]] who will investigate the claim.`