The original Arbitration Committee were appointed by Jimmy Wales in December 2003, and consisted of 12 members. In making these appointments, Jimbo indicated that in the future, the Arbitrators would be elected. Until 2009 when the terms were reduced to two years, Arbitrators were appointed for three-year terms beginning on January 1. To stagger the terms, four of the original appointments (tranche alpha) were subject to re-election after one year, and four more (tranche beta) after two years; the remaining four (tranche gamma) serving for the full three years. This results in a third of the positions being open for election on an annual basis. Historically, elections to the Arbitration Committee only advised Jimbo on who to appoint, and were not binding, Jimbo being free to appoint other people to the committee, instead of appointing those elected. The established community election process now selects committee members directly.^[1]

Of the original appointees, Eloquence refused the appointment, and UninvitedCompany withdrew from the Committee shortly after it began taking cases; both of these were from tranche alpha. In order to fill these vacancies, the first elections were held in July 2004 for two members to fill the unexpired terms through to the end of 2004. In his appointments, Jimbo selected Jwrosenzweig and Raul654 to serve as temporary Arbitrators.

The regular election cycle began with the December 2004 elections. This covered seven seats — the two specially-elected positions held by Jwrosenzweig and Raul654, the two tranche alpha positions whose terms expire at the end of 2004 (held by James F. and The Cunctator), and three vacancies created by additional resignations (Martin Harper, Gutza, and Camembert).

In his appointments, Jimbo placed on alpha tranche: Ambi, Raul654, Sannse, and Neutrality; on beta tranche: David Gerard; and on gamma tranche: Grunt and Theresa Knott.

The second set of normal elections were held in January 2006, after delays. This covered eleven seats: the two still-sitting tranche beta positions of Fred Bauder and David Gerard, the tranche gamma mid-term seat of Grunt, and the two tranche alpha mid-term seats of Ambi and Sannse, all three of whom resigned, and three additional seats (one to each tranche).

Of the temporary appointees to fill the empty seats during 2005 (James F., Fennec, JayJG, Mindspillage, and Kelly Martin)

In his appointments, Jimbo placed on alpha tranche: SimonP, Dmcdevit, and Fred Bauder; on beta tranche: James F., Mindspillage, Filiocht, Charles Matthews, and Morven; and on gamma tranche: JayJG, Sam Korn, and Mackensen.

The December 2006 elections began on December 4th and ran for 2 weeks. Candidates could nominate themselves and candidate statements were accepted until December 1. None of the four arbitrators (The Epopt, Jayjg, Theresa knott, and Sam Korn) in the previous Tranche Gamma ran for reelection. The vacant seat in Tranche Gamma (vacant since Mackensen's February resignation), the resignation of arbitrator Mindspillage (who was appointed to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees), the replacement of Filiocht (who had left Wikipedia indefinitely), and the seats of the four Tranche Gamma members led to a total of seven seats filled. FloNight, and Blnguyen were appointed to the vacant seats in Tranche Beta (terms expiring December 2008) and Flcelloguy, Kirill Lokshin, Paul August, UninvitedCompany, and Jpgordon were appointed to Tranche Gamma (expiring December 2009).

The December 2007 elections commenced on December 3, 2007. Voting ran for two weeks. The prior members of Tranche Alpha were SimonP, Raul654, Mackensen, Neutrality, and Fred Bauder. Thanks to the election, the new Tranche Alpha consisted of Newyorkbrad, FT2, FayssalF, Sam Blacketer, and Deskana.

The 2008 Elections filled the seats of that year's out-going Arbitrators: Jdforrester, YellowMonkey, Charles Matthews, Morven, Paul August, UninvitedCompany, and Jpgordon.

The following users were appointed to three-year terms in Tranche Beta, with terms expiring in December 2011: Casliber, Risker, Roger Davies, Cool Hand Luke, Rlevse, Jayvdb (expansion seat).

The following users were appointed to two-year terms in Tranche Alpha, with terms expiring in December 2010: Vassyana, Carcharoth, Wizardman (expansion seat).

Additionally, a seat vacated by Deskana in Tranche Alpha was left unfilled, leaving 5 (instead of 6) members of Tranche Alpha for the time being.

The seventh elections to the English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee were held after two RFCs: one in which secret ballots were approved and one for other committee structure and election issues, in which Tranche Gamma was eliminated, and committee terms were reduced to two years. Self-nominations were accepted from 10 to 24 November 2009 through the submission of a candidate statement. Voting was open from 1 December 2009 to 14 December 2009 using the SecurePoll extension for a secret ballot with the traditional options of support/abstain/oppose. The appointments were announced by Jimbo Wales on 24 December 2009. The new Arbitrators took their seats on 1 January 2010.

The 2010 Elections and later elections used SecurePoll in the same manner as the previous year. Twelve arbitrators were elected.

In the 2011 Elections, eight arbitrators were elected.

In the 2012 Elections, eight arbitrators were elected.

In the 2013 Elections, nine arbitrators were elected. One arbitrator-elect (28bytes) did not take up his seat (noticeboard announcement).

In the 2014 Elections, nine arbitrators were elected. This was the last year Jimbo formally ceremonially appointed the election winners.

In the 2015 Elections, nine arbitrators were elected.

In the 2016 Elections, seven arbitrators were elected.

In the 2017 Elections, eight arbitrators were elected.

In the 2018 Elections, six arbitrators were elected.

In the 2019 Elections, eleven arbitrators were elected including three on a one-year term.

In the 2020 Elections, seven arbitrators were elected.

In the 2021 Elections, eight arbitrators were elected.

In the 2022 Elections, eight arbitrators were elected.

In the 2023 Elections, eight arbitrators were elected.

In the 2024 Elections, nine arbitrators were elected.

• Wikipedia:Elections