# Number of candidates allowed in the final election.

10 candidates are allowed to participate in the election phase to choose moderators in this election. Is there any reason for the number 10? I've been reading the answers to the questions serious candidates take the time to answer thoughtfully(Moderator Election Q&A), and I dislike the idea of scrutinizing all the information there is to consider for 10 separate candidates to elect 3 moderators.

How are the number of candidates for the election phase determined?

Thank you.

• Feature request to reduce it to 8: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/102239/… – Jonas Meyer Dec 18 '14 at 8:09
• I think 10 down to 3 is fine. Perhaps 9 would have been neater, but think of it like a baker's dozen. 1 more, just in case. I think $3n+1$ is a nice formula for this. 3 people chasing each position. Of course, just reading 4 questionnaires would be easier, but not very fair... – user1729 Dec 18 '14 at 9:22
• @user1729 It's always 10, regardless of how many moderator positions are available: 2, 3, or 4. – user147263 Dec 18 '14 at 16:33
• @Behaviour Sorry, I should have said that I realised that, I was just saying that 3n+1 is nice. If there were 10 positions, we should have 31 candidates, not 10...and so on. – user1729 Dec 18 '14 at 17:11
• Many are called, but few are chosen. – Lucian Dec 22 '14 at 3:45

The number of candidates in the final round does not depend on the number of positions available. It is either $10$ or the number of contenders, whichever is less. If there are $10$ or fewer nominees, all of them go directly into the final round.