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In Wikipedia projects, some things are decided by asking the community what they think about it. This is usually called voting. This page tries to explain how voting is done. Most editors are allowed to vote, but some users are not (see below).

Definitions

• Named users are those editors who log into Wikipedia using their username and password, before they edit.
• Anonymous users are users who do not log in to edit. They are known by their IP Address numbers.

Who can vote

Each named editor can vote, but there are some restrictions, listed below.

• Anonymous users cannot vote.
• Named editors cannot vote in requests that were already running when they created their account.
• An editor cannot vote in the request that proposes him or her to become an Administrator.
• People who use multiple accounts to vote ("sockpuppets") will be blocked. None of their votes will be counted.
• Users who could not edit articles when a vote was started, cannot vote in that request. Votes of users who were blocked from editing after they voted may or may not be counted.
• Votes made by users with very few edits may or may not be counted.

(Note: All users, either anonymous or named, are welcome to comment on requests.)

Vote by the community

• The vote ends after a given time. Most of the time, the vote runs for one week.
• The date when the vote ends will usually be specified somewhere. It will read like Vote possible until ... or Voting ends .... On the day that is specified there, voting is still possible.
• In requests for permission, the one week period is counted beginning from the time the request is submitted, whether a self-nomination or nomination by another editor.
• While the voting is open, editors can say what they think about the request. A qualifying editor can either support or oppose a request. When voting, people often give a reason why they voted the way they did. Some pages, such as the request for deletions page, may give voters more choices that are explained there.
• Each qualifying editor has one vote.
• Sometimes it is hard to decide whether to support or oppose a request. If you do not feel strongly one way or another, you can express your feelings in the comments section. Comments are not votes. Some editors may want to show how they feel by voting neutral, but this should not be done. Neutral votes will be treated as comments, and moved to that section.
• While the vote is still running, editors can change their vote. The original vote should not be deleted, but marked with strikethrough^[1]. Votes marked that way will not be counted.

Counting votes

• At the end of the voting period, votes will be counted.
• Some votes may be illegal. Illegal votes are not counted. A vote can be illegal because the editor who gave it was not qualified to do so. Votes can also be illegal because they were the old opinion of an editor who changed his or her mind. That same editor should have marked them with strikethrough^[2].
• The legal oppose votes and legal support votes make up all votes that are counted.

A successful vote

• Depending on what the vote is for, different percentages are needed. Most votes will want a simple majority. That means that there are more voting editors who support an idea, than those against it. Some requests can need a higher percentage of support to be considered successful.
• In some cases, there may be a minimum number of votes needed for the vote to be successful. This will be written somewhere. If there are fewer than the required number of votes, the vote was not successful.
• An editor, usually an Administrator, will decide whether a vote was successful. He or she should look for consensus. Consensus means what most people feel should be done.
  • In certain requests, Bureaucrats must decide whether it is successful, such as in a "Request for Adminship".
• The closing editor should give his or her tally and decision at the bottom soon after a vote is closed, and in most cases, archive the whole vote.

Footnotes

^ Strikethrough phrases are made by adding <s> before them and </s> after them.

• meta:Don't vote on everything
• meta:Polls are evil