AUBSU Elections - Next Steps

So, you’ve nominated yourself in the AUBSU Officer Elections 2020! Big congrats!

Just by nominating yourself, you’re helping to shape your Students’ Union, making a difference to students at AUB. To make sure you get the very most out of running in this election, we’ve prepared this handy guide to take you through all the steps, from preparing your campaign to voting week.

Preparing Your Campaign - Check over your nomination Make sure you’ve filled out your manifesto (see our Manifesto guide for more tips) and uploaded a picture alongside your nomination. You can make changes to this yourself by logging in to your account on the AUBSU website, or by sending your desired changes to the Democracy Coordinator.

It is very important this year that you upload a picture alongside your nomination, as AUBSU has implanted a new voting system, which uses your uploaded picture alongside your name.

The picture can be a photo, a campaign logo, or even just a doodle on a napkin.

- Get a team together There is power in numbers! Ask some of your friends and course mates if they will help you.

Your campaign team can help you prepare your campaign resources (e.g. badges, T-shirts, banners), and will be very valuable during voting week itself helping you speak to students about the campaign.

- Start preparing your resources You have a candidate budget to buy or make things to help promote your candidacy. This is £30 for each Sabbatical Candidate, and £10 for each Exec Candidate, which can be claimed back by handing in your receipts to AUBSU. You MUST NOT exceed this budget: this is to ensure a fair election for all.

There is no restriction on what you may spend your budget on, so get creative! Here are some examples of things candidates have used their campaign budget to make or buy: - Campaign T-shirts - Badges - Homemade cakes (NOTE: if you do this, please ensure you have ingredients/ allergens available on a list) - Packaged Sweets - Banners You don’t always have to spend money to make an impact: candidates may use materials and items they already own, as long as it is reasonable that all candidates could access the same things.

If you are unsure about using anything, come and speak to the Democracy Coordinator. It may be deemed that the item is not freely available to other candidates, in which case a nominal fee will be deducted from your budget (if you choose to use the item/ materials).

- Prepare your printed promotion For Sabbatical Officer Candidates ONLY: AUBSU is going to be printing your flyers for you.

They will be single sided, A6, full colour, and will be limited at 150 per candidate (this can be combined for candidates running as a pair, for a total of 300 flyers between you). On the back, AUBSU will be printing a “How to Vote” guide to make it easier for students to take part.

If you would like to have flyers printed, please have your designs sent as a pdf to the Democracy Coordinator by Friday February 28th at the very latest. Your flyers will be handed to you before voting opens on Monday 2nd March.

Voting Week - Candidate Speeches At 12pm on Monday 2nd March in the Arts Bar, we will be giving candidates a chance to tell students a bit more about themselves and their campaign through candidate speeches.

These will be livestreamed on our Social Media. You will have a maximum of two minutes to tell students about yourself and your ideas. The time limit will be strictly enforced to give everyone an equal chance to speak. Make some notes and practise beforehand, timing yourself to check you can fit all the info in!

- Campaigning in the courtyard Most of your campaigning will be happening in the courtyard over lunchtimes, 12-2pm. This is your best time to get the word out to students.

Talk to as many students as possible! As well as talking, it’s also important that you listen to students: don’t just speak at them for a few minutes! People are more likely to vote for a candidate who they think would listen to them if they were in the role. Ask them questions, hear what they have to say, and let them ask you stuff too.

It is very important that you do not campaign in learning spaces! People have work to do, and access to certain spaces is not necessarily available to all candidates.

- Campaigning on Social Media Nearly everyone is online these days, so make smart use of social media. Here are some things you can try: - Set up a Facebook page or event - Set up an Instagram account - Post on your personal social media accounts (NOTE: you cannot use any pages you previously owned, e.g. club or society pages, corporate accounts, etc)

Self Care Campaign week is super fun, but it can also be quite tough on your mind and body. Here are some tips to ensure you make it through healthy and happy: - Prep meals: make a big batch of something you can freeze and bring on to campus every day. This saves you time and money!

- Stay hydrated: bring a bottle of water and refill it often.

- Let your course know you’re running: if you have a group project, make sure you let your team know you will be busy campaigning, and find ways to mitigate your absence during that period (e.g. doing a portion of your work before the campaign week). It may also be a good idea to speak to your tutors, especially if you have projects or deadlines.

- Have a campaign team: friends aren’t just useful campaigners, they can also be there to keep an eye on your health and wellbeing and offer an objective outside view (e.g. asking you if you have had lunch/ had a drink/ offering to let you take a break for a bit).

- Remember that this is just one week: regardless of the result, what you have done has been super beneficial to everyone at AUB, and to you. You will have learned new skills, made friends, and probably had a lot of fun; the students you spoke to will have heard new ideas, and got excited about the work AUBSU does, and that engagement will benefit everyone for years to come.

- Results: AUBSU will be on hand to direct you to the support services you need before, during and after the election. We understand that results night in particular can be really scary for everyone involved, so we will be there for you extra hard on results night itself, as well as the weeks following.

Check out our welfare guide for more details.

Rules AUBSU loves democracy, and we love fairness, so there are some rules you need to follow while running in the election. You will be given a copy of the Election Regulations, but here are the main big No-Nos: - No campaigning in learning spaces, e.g. lecture theatres, studios, the library, etc - No bribes for votes! You may hand out incentives while telling people about your campaign, but you couldn’t say “I’ll only give you this incentive if you vote for me” - No support from current Officers/ AUBSU or AUB staff members. This includes your tutors and lecturers!

- No negative campaigning. You may criticise candidate policy, but personal attacks are not allowed.

- No campaigning near polling stations: students need to be able to consider their vote freely, without someone forcing them to vote a particular way. If someone wants help voting, send them to AUBSU or the polling stations which will be set up in the courtyard. It is asked that you and your campaign teams stay back from the SU polling stations in the courtyard, and refrain from showing people how to vote on their phones, tablets or laptops.

These rules apply to both candidates themselves and their campaign teams. The Deputy Returning Officer/ Returning Officer makes judgements about the election regulations and how they are interpreted. Any issues or complaints should be brought to them. This year, the DRO is the Democracy Coordinator.