SecurePoll/Local elections

The Wikimedia Foundation would like to make the SecurePoll extension more widely available for local communities to use for elections, referendums, and other votes. This is something that aligns with expressed community desires as well as the Foundation's goals of strengthening community self-governance.

To turn this on, a wiki would first need to enable the electionadmin user right. This right is disabled on all Wikimedia wikis except for votewiki, which has historically been used for Board elections. Votewiki is now also used for some local community elections, but this requires input from the Foundation's Trust and Safety team.

Enabling the electionadmin user right would allow communities to create and hold elections using the SecurePoll extension on their local project. However, it allows access to CheckUser-level data. Trust and Safety is therefore encouraging communities to host local discussions about the potential implementation of this right on their wikis.

FAQ

What is SecurePoll?

SecurePoll is a Wikimedia-created MediaWiki extension that allows for votes to be held using a structured ballot. Votes cast with SecurePoll are anonymous and, if desired, encrypted using OpenSSL. You can find more technical information about the SecurePoll extension itself on MediaWiki.org or on Wikitech.

What are the benefits and weaknesses of using SecurePoll?

The primary solution offered by SecurePoll is private voting. Private voting through SecurePoll has a few benefits:

• Others will not know how a user voted
• Voters are less likely to be influenced by votes already cast by others
• Voting is more structured (for example, it is usually not possible to "strongly" support or oppose someone)
• Votes can be set up with a free text "comments" field, allowing voters to express a more detailed opinion
• Votes can make use of more complicated voting methods, like Schulze method or single transferable vote
• Duplicate votes (i.e. votes with sockpuppet accounts) are easier to spot
• Communities can define voter eligibility criteria as needed

There are however also some downsides:

• Voting using a binary system may go against a consensus-first model as it essentially eliminates the nuance of a vote-with-comment
• Creating a voter list is potentially difficult without some technical knowledge
• In encrypted elections, someone must hold the decryption key. Identifying who this should be may be complicated or difficult

What does the electionadmin right do?

electionadmin is a right that allows users to set up elections with SecurePoll. However, crucially, it allows these users to view voter data, which includes CheckUser-level IP and user agent information for all voters. This is to allow detection of duplicate votes. Its sensitive nature means it should be handed out with extreme caution and only to trusted users (for instance, those who already possess the CheckUser right).

What is being asked?

Since this right allows those who hold the right to view sensitive information, we would like to encourage potentially interested communities to hold discussions through Requests for Comment or similar mechanisms. In particular, some things to think about:

1. Is this right something your community could benefit from?
2. If enabled, how would your community distribute the right?
3. Is there anything specific to your community that is not currently considered in this proposal?

Why not hold a global Request for Comment?

All issues are local. Many wikis are unlikely to need something as intensive as SecurePoll for elections. Those that do want to use it may have different reasons for doing so. It is not our intention to force the right onto wikis who may not actually want it.