A quick way to fill a gap of <n> arbitrators, might be to ask the <n+2> runners-up at the last Arbcom election whether they'd be willing to serve, then present these names publicly and ask if there is any new and substantive objection to any of them, within the community.
The rationale being (if 2006 is anything to go by) that Arbcom runners-up are editors who have already fairly recently (within the last year) gained around 80-85% approval by the community for the job, so their communal support for the role is fairly likely - we probably don't need to retest this. The main question to ask is whether any strong reason * not * to appoint them has emerged since that time.
That could be a lot quicker and simpler than another election, if Arbcom needs topping up during the year.
</thought>
FT2
-----Original Message----- On Behalf Of Jimmy Wales Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:31 AM Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Arbcom
The normal time period for ArbCom elections is December. Perhaps it would be sensible to accelerate that a bit, or to have a quick snap election to expand/fill idle seats.
--Jimbo