Hey,
Don't worry, we indeed have a lot of time till the next elections, but as this issue had been raised during the last elections - and we decided that we can't change the rules few weeks before the elections, now I want to raise the discussion enough time before.
According to the current rules [1], in order to influence and vote in the elections, you need to be active editor, developer or WMF staff/contractor.
Last year this issue concern some of us. The foundation is not small organizations as it been before, and by comparison, the number of people participating in the elections every year is not high.
For example, last elections there were 1809 valid votes. By comparison, the number of WMF staff this days is 218, what makes there voting power 12% of the total voters last year. This consider to be a great amount of power when we are talking about elections (In the last election you would have around 650 votes in order to be elected...)
Wikimedia thematic organizations staff and contractors for example don't have the same privilege to vote only because they are employees of the movement, only if they are editors as well. The question - what make the WMF staff different, and if this is not a little bit problematic that the staff have such power to decide on their direct board, but in general - the board of the whole movement.
Do we need to give the same privilege also to all the staff in our movement? Should we limited the elections to staff (both WMF and chapters) that are active editors or developers as additional to their work in the movement?
I'll be happy to hear yours input.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2013/Vote_Que...
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2013/Results
*Regards,Itzik Edri* Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel +972-(0)-54-5878078 | http://www.wikimedia.org.il Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment!