Local elections

A local election on a wiki is the process of undergoing a vote in which local users vote in favor or against a specific user to hold a position on a wiki such as administrator or bureaucrat. Local elections are governed by local policies (if they exist) or global policy if running for a restricted local group. Otherwise, Steward discretion and global best practices are applied.

Wikis may choose to institute their own local election procedures, as ratified by the community.

Certain restricted local groups such as CheckUser, Interwiki administrator and Oversight require certain requirements to be fulfilled in order to call an election as successful. Please review their respective pages along with the dedicated section for that on this page for more information.

Elections on wikis with inactive bureaucrats
Sometimes, a user may wish to be elected for local administrator or bureaucrat on a wiki where there are no active administrators or bureaucrats. In this case, a user must setup a local election first. Note that this only applies to public wikis, see the "Private wikis" section for information on those wikis.

Generally, prospective candidates for administrator should be active contributors on the wiki they are requesting rights on. Voters in the election should also generally only be local contributors to the wiki too. While votes made by non-local contributors won't be discarded, they are outweighed entirely by the vote of local contributors. Votes made by IP contributors are ignored. Please remember too that sockpuppetry (using multiple accounts to vote) and meatpuppetry (asking others to vote for you) is frowned upon and may lead to your local election being invalidated along with possible global locks for sockpuppets if found breaching the User accounts policy.

Process
A local election page should be setup in a highly transited area on the wiki that is likely to be viewed by local users (if any). For example, many users choose the talk page of the main page for their election. If the election is hosted on a secluded or hard to find page, the election may be invalidated and a new election may need to be held.

After that's done, you must inform the local community that an election is in progress. The best way to do this is by placing a notice on the main page and by setting a sitenotice in order to get maximum visibility for your election. If you lack the needed rights to do this, please request this be done on the Stewards' noticeboard.

It is recommended that you let the election run for at least 7 days though depending on the local circumstances, 4 days is acceptable and should be considered the bare minimum. Once the election has concluded, please request that a Steward closes and assesses the election by making a request on the Stewards' noticeboard. Stewards, using discretion, will assess the election and if no one opposed you (including if no one else voted) and no other issues arise, a Steward will promote you to the requested role.

Private/niche wikis
Private or niche (personal, tight-knit community) wikis follow this process in a modified manner. Only users who can view a private wiki can run for a position. External users who cannot view the wiki cannot run for any position within the wiki. Wikis that focus on niche topics, including personal wikis, generally do not follow this process and a local election is only ratified by Stewards in very limited circumstances.

Minor local rights
On wikis with inactive bureaucrats, Stewards may grant small local groups to users upon request and valid need without needing a local election. This includes and is not limited to: Autopatrolled, Confirmed, and Rollbacker. To request these, please make a request on the Stewards' noticeboard and make sure to state why you need the rights.

Elections for restricted local groups (CheckUser, Interwiki administrator, Oversight)
Some local groups are only granted to users by Stewards following a successful election. These include CheckUser, local Interwiki administrator and Oversight. Each has their own requirements and minimum vote/support ratio. This local election must be carried out on a highly viewed venue on the wiki and should be advertised in a prominent place on the wiki (preferably, via a sitenotice).

CheckUser and Oversight: Policy requires that in order for a user to be granted these permissions locally on a wiki, the user must undergo a local election that satisfies the requirements for Stewardship. This includes a minimum of 20 unique votes, an 80% support ratio, and a signed NDA with Miraheze. It is also required by Stewards that there be a minimum of 2 local Checkusers or Oversighters so that one can help balance the other out. Stewards have ultimate discretion over elections of these two rights and closely supervise all local CheckUsers and Oversighters to ensure compliance with global policy.

Local interwiki administrator: Policy requires that in order for a user to be granted the local interwiki administrator permission, the user must undergo a local election that satisfies the requirements laid out on the Interwiki administrators policy page. By precedent, users who are the lone contributor of a wiki or the only user on a private wiki can forego this and be promoted by Stewards immediately, to prevent unnecessary bureaucracy. Otherwise, a local election that lasts from 4-7 days (depending on local circumstances) must take place. This local election must be carried out on a highly transited venue on the wiki and should be advertised in a prominent place on the wiki (preferably, via a sitenotice).

Once these elections conclude, you may request that a Steward assess and close the election by posting a request on the Stewards' noticeboard. If in doubt, please ask on the Stewards' noticeboard.

Ballot results where the result is to remove a bureaucrat
By default, bureaucrats cannot remove other bureaucrats, only Stewards may. This is to prevent wiki takeovers. If the result of a vote is to remove a local bureaucrat, a Steward must do that. To request this, please make a request on the Stewards' noticeboard. A Steward will assess consensus and if the result is to remove a bureaucrat, they will do so.

Removing a bureaucrat without community consensus is highly frowned upon and Stewards have the ability to revert this action if requested. It is always recommendable to have local community backing to execute an action. Remember, wikis are governed by their local community, they have no owners.