[Wikimedia-l] Info: Election for WCA Chairperson

[Dariusz Jemielniak]

On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 4:07 PM, Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com> wrote:

> The model of voting delegates the casting of votes to members of the
>  council; which are individuals, chosen by chapters. Purely from a
> practical perspective, it may not be possible for chapters to get
> council members in order by the deadline for this vote if they are not
> already members. Additionally, it's important to distinguish in voting
> between chapters abstaining and chapters simply not participating.
> Choosing to be a member, while not exercising a vote, is effectively
> assent to the outcome. This is not the case for those chapters which
> have chosen not to join the WCA.
>

while I agree that in principle WCA should serve the large Wikimedia
community and its impact should definitely not be limited to members only,
I believe it is quite dangerous from the point of view of governance to
separate membership from voting rights. Although  it could make perfect
sense to accept non-member chapter functionaries as candidates for the
board/chair/etc., the very right to vote should be reserved to those who
opt-in. Otherwise the chain of responsibility gets fuzzy, plus what Nathan
wrote.

best,

dariusz