2015 all you need to know about the elections 2) campaigning

SU Leadership Elections 2015

All you need to know about the elections 2) Campaigning

SU Leadership Elections 2015

Worcester Students’ Union Elections Rules for Candidates 1. Eligibility Any member of Worcester Students’ Union may submit a nomination to be a candidate for election for a full-time officer role. Any student who is continuing their studies in the next academic year (2015-16) may submit a nomination to be a candidate for election for a parttime officer role, providing he/she self-identifies as belonging to a defined group where required.

Who is a member of Worcester Students’ Union?

Any student registered on a course of study with the University of Worcester, whether fulltime or part-time, is automatically deemed a member of Worcester Students’ Union, unless they have chosen formally to opt out of membership. “Student staff” employed on a parttime basis by Worcester Students’ Union and students who are employed on a part-time basis by the University of Worcester, such as Student Ambassadors, are still deemed members of Worcester Students’ Union. Any student whose membership of Worcester Students’ Union is currently suspended as a result of the disciplinary process is not eligible to stand as a candidate or to vote in the elections.

Nominations will be checked to ensure that all nominees are eligible and that all other regulations are adhered to. On completion of these checks, the names of all candidates will be published on the notice board in the Students’ Union and on the Worcester Students’ Union website within two working days of the deadline for nominations, which is midday on Wednesday 25th February 2015.

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SU Leadership Elections 2015

2. Candidates’ briefing It is mandatory for candidates to attend the briefing session, which will be delivered by SU staff. This will be held at 16:15 on Wednesday 25th February in EE1026. At this time, rules and regulations concerning the election campaign will be fully explained and candidates will have the opportunity to ask questions and get clarification on issues of concern. Any candidate genuinely unable to attend the briefing session must contact the Membership Services Manager Ruth Christie by midday on Wednesday 25th February. Email r.christie@worc.ac.uk Under these circumstances, an alternative briefing time will be arranged as soon as possible for the candidate.

The SU has arranged for photographer, Paul Beard, to come to the candidates’ briefing to take photos of all candidates. These will be used by the SU to promote the elections and will be made available for candidates themselves to use.

3. Campaigning When can I start campaigning?

No campaigning can begin until you are confirmed as a candidate. Confirmation of all eligible candidates will form part of the candidates’ briefing. Candidates may start campaigning immediately after the candidates’ briefing.

Candidates unable to attend the official briefing must not start campaigning until they have attended an alternative briefing session.

Why do I need a manifesto?

No nominee* who has failed to submit a manifesto will be confirmed as a candidate. The manifesto is a public declaration of your intentions, beliefs, aims and policies, which will give voters a flavour of what you would bring to the position for which you’re standing. All manifestos will be published by the Students’ Union, both online and in hard copy format and will be available for students to read online. *The exception is the role of Chair of Student Council, for which nominees should not submit a manifesto as this is an impartial, non-political position.

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SU Leadership Elections 2015

What kind of publicity material can I produce?

Every candidate will be allocated a small budget to help them publicise their campaign. The amount will be confirmed at the candidates’ briefing. This budget must not be exceeded, because we need to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to make their case. We hope you’ll find ways to be creative and innovative, but anything you want to use must be authorised by Worcester Students’ Union first, so all publicity material must be submitted to the Students’ Union and approved by the Elections Committee in advance of you using, displaying or distributing it. The final decision about the suitability or otherwise of campaigning materials rests with the Returning Officer.

You and your supporters must not make defamatory statements about other candidates and you must not use language or images which might be considered offensive, discriminatory or which might bring either Worcester Students’ Union or the University of Worcester into disrepute.

You must not refer to or endorse any other candidate for any position on your campaigning material.

You will be told where you may and where you may not display campaigning material.

Please be aware that posters, flyers etc placed elsewhere may be removed at any time by University staff. You may not use your own laptop, tablet or phone as an unofficial polling station anywhere on or off campus. Contravention of these rules may lead to immediate disqualification as a candidate.

If you want to spend some or all of your budget on printed materials such as posters and flyers, these must be brought to the SU Welcome Desk for printing. You must provide SU Welcome Desk staff with hard copies, in the size and format you want reproduced, together with a completed print form indicating how many copies you want. Whilst every effort will be made to produce your copies quickly, please allow 24 hours at busy times.

Welcome Desk staff work from 09:00 – 17:00 Monday to Friday, so please take this into account.

Arrangements will be made for additional staff to be available on the Welcome Desk on Friday 27th February to help with candidates’ printing. Candidates’ orders for printing received by midday on Friday 27th February will be available for collection from 10:00 on Monday 2nd March.

If you wish to nominate another member of the Students’ Union as an agent, who will act on your behalf to help promote your campaign, particularly during your absence, you should send this person’s contact details and University of Worcester ID number to Ruth Christie r.christie@worc.ac.uk before Wednesday 25th February at midday.

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SU Leadership Elections 2015

Can I use social networking sites to promote my campaign?

You may not use Worcester Students’ Union’s Facebook, Twitter feed or website to campaign. The Students’ Union will promote the elections and all candidates’ manifestos and photos using these platforms. Any candidate reporting in writing or via email that another candidate, or any connected person, has made remarks about them on a social networking site which are untrue, abusive, defamatory or offensive will have their complaint examined by the Elections Committee. Where a candidate’s complaint is upheld, this will be reported to the Returning Officer and appropriate action will be taken. If you want to be sure that any messages you are putting on social networking sites are appropriate, please ask the Membership Services Manager to review them for you.

You may use Facebook or Twitter for campaigning, but please note the following: 1. If you plan to use Facebook to campaign, you must invite the Membership Services Manager to join – email r.christie@worc.ac.uk 2. Campaigning on Facebook must be accessible to any student who wishes to view it, so you must use an open, rather than a closed group.

3. Candidates and/or their friends and/or supporters must not post campaigning materials on or through any website or social media page belonging to another group or organisation, including but not confined to the University of Worcester, Worcester Students’ Union and associated websites, any belonging to a sports club, society or academic group, any commercial businesses. For the avoidance of doubt, candidates are advised to check with the Elections Committee before posting.

4. You may compile your own contact list, for example to send emails, but only if the individuals concerned have given you permission to send them messages relating to the election campaign. You must not use mailing/contact lists gained from a third party.

This means you must not use mailing/contact lists compiled, for instance, by a sports club or society, even if you have a role on the committee of that club or society.

5. If you or any of your friends or supporters want to use Twitter to promote your campaign, the official hashtag #wsuelections must be used, so that the Elections Committee can easily monitor communications.

6. Don’t forget that candidates themselves are responsible for anything said or written, in any format, by any of their friends or supporters in relation to their election campaign.

Any candidate reporting in writing or via email to r.christie@worc.ac.uk that another candidate or any connected person has made remarks about them which are untrue, abusive, defamatory or offensive will have their complaint examined by the Elections Committee.

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SU Leadership Elections 2015

Can I campaign while I’m working at the SU or the University?

Many students are employed to work part-time by the Students’ Union (for instance, as student staff in the bar or the shop) or by the University (such as Student Ambassadors). If you are an employee of either the Students’ Union or the University or a current sabbatical officer, you must not take advantage of your employment to campaign whilst at work. All employees of Worcester Students’ Union and the University of Worcester are prohibited from wearing or displaying any clothes or materials during working hours which show support for any particular candidate for election and this includes candidates themselves. Any employee found to be doing so, whether or not they themselves are candidates, will face possible disciplinary action and their actions will be reported to the Returning Officer. Candidates must not wear any clothes or badges which identify them as current officers of Worcester Students’ Union. Sabbatical officers who are standing for reelection to any position must not campaign whilst they are at work. Current full-time officers must not use office space, PCs, tablets, photocopiers or any other facilities or equipment associated with their role whilst campaigning.

Can I get external sponsorship or endorsement?

This is not permissible. You may have personal or professional friends, relatives or colleagues outside the University who are keen to support your campaign and are willing to help promote your campaign, but this would give you an unfair advantage over another candidate and would constitute a “gift in kind” which would exceed the allocated budget allowance. This kind of sponsorship or endorsement will only be allowed if you have written consent in advance from the Membership Services Manager, which would only be given if: a) There is no cost involved and b) The promotion and publicity is available to all candidates standing for election

What happens to all of the campaign materials after the elections?

When voting closes at 16:00 on Friday 6th March , before results are announced, all candidates will be required to remove all posters, flyers and any other campaign materials from all University properties and sites. Students’ Union staff will be on hand to check that this has been done.

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4. Candidates’ debates and speeches (hustings) All candidates for all positions are expected to play a full part in these events and to encourage their supporters to come along. In order to allow as many students as possible to meet and hear from the candidates, there will be two events. 

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On Monday 2nd March there will be an event for all candidates from 12:30 – 14:00 in EE1107, which will be chaired by the University’s Pro Vice Chancellor (Students), John Ryan.

On Tuesday 3rd March from 12:15 – 13:45 there will be an event for all candidates in The Studio at The Hive, which will be chaired by the University’s Academic Registrar and Deputy Returning Officer for the SU elections, Kevin Pickess. This event will be live-streamed and recorded by the University’s IT team.

Both events will provide an opportunity for candidates to explain their ideas and plans and to answer questions about their manifestos and priorities. Students will be invited to submit in advance questions that they would like the chair to put to the candidates.

Questions should be emailed in the first instance to the Membership Services Manager, Ruth Christie r.christie@worc.ac.uk by 09:00 on Monday 2nd March.

Every candidate in turn will have the opportunity to introduce themselves. The Chair will then put students’ questions received in advance to the candidates, who will be invited to respond in the form of a panel debate/discussion. Questions will then be invited from the floor. Finally, every candidate in turn will be invited to give a summation speech lasting no longer than two minutes.

5. Voting All members of Worcester Students’ Union are entitled to vote. The following part-time officer positions are open only to voters who self-define as belonging to the group(s) the respective candidates are seeking to represent: 

Mature Students’ Officer

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Minority Ethnic Officer

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Non-UK Students’ Officer

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Student Disability Officer

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Women’s Officer

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SU Leadership Elections 2015

Voting will be entirely online, with students able to vote from 08:00 on Monday 2nd March until 16:00 on Friday 6th March. Staff and volunteers will be on hand in the Students’ Union to help any students who have questions about the voting system or who are having any difficulties voting. There will be polling booths in the Pear Tree and students may also vote using volunteers’ tablets.

The voting system used by Worcester Students’ Union and by many other students’ unions is the Alternative Vote. This allows all voters to rank all candidates for each position in a preferred order. Rather than just choosing one candidate, Students’ Union members get a first, second, third and subsequent choices according to the number of candidates, so they have more than one opportunity to influence the results. For each position, voters also have the option to vote to re-open the nominations (RON). Voters can choose to rank all candidates for a position, or just to indicate their preferences for some. Where there are a number of candidates for a position, if a candidate receives over 50% first-preference votes (more people put them as number one than all the rest combined), then that person is elected. If no single candidate wins at that stage, the candidate with the fewest firstpreference votes is out of the running and the second-preference votes of those who chose that candidate as their first choice are redistributed. This process is repeated, as necessary, until one candidate’s votes reach the 50% + 1 mark, at which stage that candidate is declared the winner. If the winner is RON, the Students’ Union will make arrangements to re-open nominations at the earliest possible opportunity.

Voting will close at 16:00 on Friday 6th March. Candidates will then have time to eat and rest before coming back to the Pear Tree with their friends and supporters for the “Out For The Count” event from 19:00. Results will be announced from around 20:00.

The small print (legal requirements) The Returning Officer shall be responsible for the proper running of all Students’ Union elections.

Furthermore, the Education Act 1994 Section 22 requires the University to ensure that the Students’ Union operates in a fair and democratic manner, that appointment to major union offices is by election in a secret ballot in which all members are entitled to vote and that the elections are fairly and properly conducted.

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