<NME> 2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown
<BEF> ---
author: shog
comments: true
date: 2012-06-08 23:05:49+00:00
layout: post
redirect_from: /2012/06/election-participation-badges
hero: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ccz9b.jpg
slug: election-participation-badges
title: Election participation badges
wordpress_id: 11860
tags:
- company
- announcement
- stackexchange
- community
- stackoverflow
---

The [2012 Stack Overflow moderator election](http://stackoverflow.com/election) is off to a good start, with 15 candidates and just under three days left for nominations. Elections are a fairly mature feature of Stack Exchange at this point ([Role-playing Games](http://rpg.stackexchange.com/election) has one in progress now as well), but Stack Overflow remains the largest and I dare say most interesting: with so many members involved (and so many more potentially affected by the outcome) every part of the system is put through the wringer... Including the candidates and voters themselves!

Given the importance Stack Exchange places on community governance and by extension moderator elections, it's sort of curious that we never formally recognized this participation. You could get [badges for voting on questions and answers](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/vote-early-vote-often/), but when it came to the elections we didn't [need no stinkin' badges](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges)...[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qV3Lm.png)](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/135144/what-should-the-election-voting-badge-be-named)

That's really kind of a shame. Here in the US, it's common to at least get a sticker when voting, a token to wear the rest of the day in recognition of your civic-mindedness. Starting today, we'll be handing out _virtual_ stickers - badges - for visiting and voting:



	
  * **[The Caucus Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1973/caucus)** is awarded for visiting the election page. This is important at every stage of the process, as even during the nomination phase comment discussions helps to flesh out the nominations. If you can't vote, you can at least make your voice heard. This is a bronze badge.![Visited an election during any phase of an active election. This badge can be awarded multiple times](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mnctW.png)

	
  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting _- at least once - in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)




Both of these can be earned once for every election. Over the next day we'll be awarding them retroactively across the network for participation in past elections; participants in current and future elections will see them within minutes of visiting / voting.




<MSG> fixed '_' italic markdown

Fixed '_' italic markdown by removing unnecessary space
<DFF> @@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ That's really kind of a shame. Here in the US, it's common to at least get a sti
   * **[The Caucus Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1973/caucus)** is awarded for visiting the election page. This is important at every stage of the process, as even during the nomination phase comment discussions helps to flesh out the nominations. If you can't vote, you can at least make your voice heard. This is a bronze badge.![Visited an election during any phase of an active election. This badge can be awarded multiple times](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mnctW.png)
 
 	
-  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting _- at least once - in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)
+  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting_- at least once - in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)
 
 
 

{'commit': "diff --git a/_posts/2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown b/_posts/2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown\nindex 486a3c39..66a99c66 100644\n--- a/_posts/2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown\n+++ b/_posts/2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown\n@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ That's really kind of a shame. Here in the US, it's common to at least get a sti\n   * **[The Caucus Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1973/caucus)** is awarded for visiting the election page. This is important at every stage of the process, as even during the nomination phase comment discussions helps to flesh out the nominations. If you can't vote, you can at least make your voice heard. This is a bronze badge.![Visited an election during any phase of an active election. This badge can be awarded multiple times](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mnctW.png)\n \n \t\n-  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting _- at least once -\xa0in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)\n+  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting_- at least once -\xa0in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)\n \n \n \n", 'commit_subject': "fixed '_' italic markdown", 'repo_name': 'StackExchange/stack-blog', 'committer': {'name': 'ᔕᖺᘎᕊ', 'email': '5b09a143d62b0e2b115dc3c8709035f4e5c844ab@users.noreply.github.com', 'time_sec': '1436716312', 'tz_offset': '60', 'date': {'seconds': '1436716312'}}, 'commit_tree': 'a3f1924941a7362814422f08e743aee8616f338a', 'commit_message': "fixed '_' italic markdown\n\nFixed '_' italic markdown by removing unnecessary space", 'language_name': 'Python', 'license': 'mit', 'hunks': "@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ That's really kind of a shame. Here in the US, it's common to at least get a sti\n   * **[The Caucus Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1973/caucus)** is awarded for visiting the election page. This is important at every stage of the process, as even during the nomination phase comment discussions helps to flesh out the nominations. If you can't vote, you can at least make your voice heard. This is a bronze badge.![Visited an election during any phase of an active election. This badge can be awarded multiple times](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mnctW.png)\n \n \t\n-  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting _- at least once -\xa0in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)\n+  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting_- at least once -\xa0in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)\n \n \n \n", 'addition_count': 1, 'deletion_count': 1, 'src_file': 'a/_posts/2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown', 'tgt_file': 'b/_posts/2012-06-08-election-participation-badges.markdown', 'file_extension': '.markdown', 'before_file': "---\nauthor: shog\ncomments: true\ndate: 2012-06-08 23:05:49+00:00\nlayout: post\nredirect_from: /2012/06/election-participation-badges\nhero: https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ccz9b.jpg\nslug: election-participation-badges\ntitle: Election participation badges\nwordpress_id: 11860\ntags:\n- company\n- announcement\n- stackexchange\n- community\n- stackoverflow\n---\n\nThe [2012 Stack Overflow moderator election](http://stackoverflow.com/election) is off to a good start, with 15 candidates and just under three days left for nominations. Elections are a fairly mature feature of Stack Exchange at this point ([Role-playing Games](http://rpg.stackexchange.com/election) has one in progress now as well), but Stack Overflow remains the largest and I dare say most interesting: with so many members involved (and so many more potentially affected by the outcome) every part of the system is put through the wringer... Including the candidates and voters themselves!\n\nGiven the importance Stack Exchange places on community governance and by extension moderator elections, it's sort of curious that we never formally recognized this participation. You could get [badges for voting on questions and answers](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/vote-early-vote-often/), but when it came to the elections we didn't [need no stinkin' badges](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges)...[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qV3Lm.png)](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/135144/what-should-the-election-voting-badge-be-named)\n\nThat's really kind of a shame. Here in the US, it's common to at least get a sticker when voting, a token to wear the rest of the day in recognition of your civic-mindedness. Starting today, we'll be handing out _virtual_ stickers - badges - for visiting and voting:\n\n\n\n\t\n  * **[The Caucus Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1973/caucus)** is awarded for visiting the election page. This is important at every stage of the process, as even during the nomination phase comment discussions helps to flesh out the nominations. If you can't vote, you can at least make your voice heard. This is a bronze badge.![Visited an election during any phase of an active election. This badge can be awarded multiple times](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mnctW.png)\n\n\t\n  * **[The Constituent Badge](http://stackoverflow.com/badges/1974/constituent)** is awarded for _voting _- at least once -\xa0in the final phase of the election. Recognizing the importance of the action it rewards, this is a silver badge.![Voted for a candidate in an election. This badge can be awarded multiple times.](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IgKOQ.png)\n\n\n\n\nBoth of these can be earned once for every election. Over the next day we'll be awarding them retroactively across the network for participation in past elections; participants in current and future elections will see them within minutes of visiting / voting.\n\n\n\n", 'message': "fixed '_' italic markdown\n\nFixed '_' italic markdown by removing unnecessary space", 'author_name': 'ᔕᖺᘎᕊ', 'lang': 'markdown'}