Autumn-Elections 2017 Candidate Information Pack Contact: Reach the Head of Student Voice on 02920 781 435, email elections@cardiff.ac.uk or visit the Student Voice area in the 3 rd Floor General Office, Students Union The elections email address is monitored centrally by the Head of Student Voice, Returning and Deputy Returning Officer.
Timeline 25/09 Notice of Elections Nominations close 09/10 Candidate meeting 10/10 Notice of Poll 13/10 Manifesto & Publicity deadline 12pm midday Voting opens 9am 23/10 24/10 Meet the Candidates event 25/10 Voting closes 12pm midday What are the student elections about? The Students Union is a democratic and student led organisation. This means that you as a student have a democratic right to influence the issues the Students Union works on and contribute to the way it represents you to the University and wider community. As in any democracy we elect representatives to act on behalf of, and in the interest of, wider groups of people - in our case the student body.
Note: If you are standing for a Campaign Officer position, you cannot also stand for a Student Senator or Scrutiny Committee position. You may stand for NUS Wales Conference Delegate. (The same is true in reverse: if you are standing for a Student Senator position and/or a Scrutiny Committee position you may not stand to be a campaign officer however you may still run to be an NUS Wales Conference Delegate) Therefore we have the following groups of representatives: Campaign Officers- They are 10 students who volunteer their spare time to represent the interests of 10 different liberation and minority groups within the student population. They make sure that the needs of these groups are being considered by both the union and university. There are several vacant Campaign Officer positions: Welsh Language Officer, Ethical & Environment Officer, LGBT+ Open Place Officer, LGBT+ Women s Place Officer, and Women s Officer. Campaign Officers must to attend Scrutiny Committee, Student Senate, as well as other training throughout the year. Dates are provided below. Student Senators They are 25 students who in their spare time, together with Elected Officers and Campaign Officers, make up Student Senate, the Union's governing body. Student Senate has the power to make and review policy, ensuring the Union works to reflect the values and ideals of the Student Body. 12 positions are reserved for self-defining women, with 13 positions reserved for self-defining men. Senators must attend: 31/10/17 Student Senate training from 5pm in 4J 07/11/17 Student Senate meeting from 6pm in 4J 05/12/17 - Student Senate meeting from 6pm in 4J 30/01/18 - Student Senate meeting from 6pm in 4J 27/02/18 - Student Senate meeting from 6pm in 4J 24/04/18 - Student Senate meeting from 6pm in 4J Note: one of these Student Senate meetings will take place on the Heath Park site Scrutiny Committee They are 10 students who volunteer their spare time to hold the Elected Officers and Campaign Officers to account. They scrutinise the work the officers do and make sure that they are always working in the best interests of students and that their work is of a satisfactory standard as the Officers only boss is the student body! # Scrutiny Committee must attend: Semester 1 Boardroom from 5:15pm until 7pm Scrutiny Committee Training: Thursday 2 November Campaign Officer Scrutiny 1: Thursday 9 November Campaign Officer Scrutiny 2: Thursday 7 December Semester 2 Boardroom from 5:15pm until 7pm Campaign Officer Scrutiny 1: Wednesday 14 February Campaign Officer Scrutiny 2: Tuesday 13 March
NUS Wales Conference Delegates The National Union of Students (NUS) and NUS Wales hold annual conferences to set the political agenda for the student movement the following year. We elect delegations of students to represent the voice and interests of Cardiff University Students by attending the conference and speaking on our behalf. NUS Wales Conference Delegates must attend: NUS Wales Conference Tuesday 13 March Wednesday 14 March It is also recommended that NUS Wales Conference Delegates attend Student Senate to submit motions to NUS Wales conference. Eligibility: All students irrespective of degree program, mode of study, age, or nationality has the right to stand for election to any of the above positions and all students get to vote on who, of all the candidates, they think is the right person for the job. Why should I get involved? If you want to make a difference this is the best way. If you don t, there is always a chance that others make decisions that you don t agree with. It s a great way of meeting new people and doing good work on behalf of others. Whatever role you take on you are not alone, there is always a group that shares the responsibility and the experience with you. You might not always agree but that makes it all the more interesting!
Things you need to know: Typically campaigning for By-Elections is very relaxed, however we do recommend that you put some thought into how you can get students to vote for you. Using social media, flyers and doing lecture shout-outs are among the most common ways of reaching out to students. Candidates Meeting: An initial candidates meeting will be held as detailed in the timeline. This meeting is compulsory for all candidates. If for some reason you absolutely cannot attend, please notify the elections team (elections@cardiff.ac.uk) as soon as possible. Publicity: The Union will publish information about all candidates online and in the student newspaper. Depending on what role you stand for, there will be specific word limit and requirements. You can see the requirements below. If your manifesto exceeds this limit we will simply cut out any words over the 200 limit (even if that is mid-sentence). If you do not submit your text we will put No text submitted in the publicity material. Campaign Officer Candidates; We ask that you submit manifestos with a maximum of 200 words. The election manifesto is an official statement from the candidate, which sets out your experience, skills and goals and the reasons why the electorate should vote for you. If your manifesto exceeds this limit we will simply cut out any words over the 200 limit. Student Senate, Scrutiny Committee and NUS Delegate Candidates; We ask that you submit a statement in a maximum of 100 words. The statement should be a brief description of you as a representative and could focus on your values, principles, the issues closest to your heart or if you have a particular agenda. Translation: All publicity the Students Union produces will be bilingual, this includes all text on flyers etc. We will ensure it is translated for you but it is essential that all publicity is submitted on time. Photo: We will take a photo of you at the candidates meeting which will be used for some publicity purposes. You can choose not you have your photo taken, in which case we will use a silhouette instead. Online media: If you create official social media pages or blogs etc. for your campaign we are happy to link to it from cardiffstudent.com and refer students to them so they can ask questions and get involved in campaigning. You must not have your pages live until campaigning starts. But please submit the link to elections@cardiff.ac.uk at your earliest convenience. Cost: Candidates standing for Campaign Officer posts are given an allowance of 20 (refunded by Cardiff Students Union). Candidates standing for Senate, Scrutiny and NUS positions will have a 5 allowance to spend, also refunded by the Students Union.
Please ensure that any publicity you display is in line with our elections principles and that you have the proper permissions to display posters and the like around campus. Meet the Candidates Instead of a traditional debate we will be organising a Meet the Candidates event on the first day of voting. It s going to be a very informal meet-and-greet style event where students can dropin and talk to candidates in a relaxed and casual environment. The idea is to give voters a change to ask their question and find out more about you before they vote. This is also a good opportunity for you to meet other candidates so you too can decide who you will vote for. We expect all candidates to attend this event. How Voting Works The Transferable Voting System The Students Union s elections operate by using a Transferable Voting system. It is vital that you understand how this system works so that you do not misinform students. The Alternative Transferable Voting system (ATV) is used to elect a single candidate for a position (e.g. to elect each of the officers). The Single Transferable Voting system (STV) is used to elect multiple candidates for a position (e.g. to elect 8 student representatives to attend an NUS conference). Why we Use the Transferable Voting System Parliamentary Elections use the first past the post system, which gives each voter a single vote. With this type of system, a candidate is elected simply by coming top of the poll. The result of the election could look like this: Candidate A Candidate B Candidate C Candidate D 9,999 votes 10,000 votes 9,500 votes 8,000 votes Candidate B is first past the post and will be elected to represent that constituency, despite the fact that 27,499 people did not want him to be their representative and chose another candidate. Their votes are, in effect, wasted. The Transferable Voting system, however, allows each voter the fullest freedom of choice between candidates, and therefore the maximum use of their vote. When used properly, it works to elect the least unpopular candidate. How the system works, and how we count your votes: With the Transferable Voting system, each voter is asked to rank the candidates in order of personal preference.
For example, a completed ballot slip might look like this: Candidate A 1 Candidate B 4 Candidate C Candidate D 2 Re-Open Nominations (RON) 3 At the close of voting, all the completed ballot forms are counted and allocated to each candidate according to the first preference indicated. The Returning Officer for the election then declares the total number of valid votes, and the required quota. The quota is simply the minimum number of votes a candidate must gain in order to be sure of election. For single posts, the quota is a simple majority; the successful candidate must gain at least 50% of the total number of valid votes, plus one. When more than two candidates are running for the same position, it is unlikely that a single candidate will achieve this quota. In this case, at the end of the first round of counting, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated, and each of their votes is re-allocated to the next expressed preference on that ballot slip. If, at the end of this second round of counting, the required quota has still not been achieved by any of the remaining candidates, then the process is repeated. The candidate with the least number of total votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to the next indicated preference. This process of elimination and redistribution is repeated until a candidate either achieves the required quota of 50% of the valid number of votes plus one, or until the final round, where only two candidates remain. In this case, the candidate with the highest number of total votes will be elected.
CUSU Election Regulations Cardiff Students Union elections are governed by 5 core principles which regulate campaigning and candidate conduct through all of elections. We want you as candidates to be free to campaign in clever and creative ways without worrying about remembering long lists of rules. The 5 principles should therefore guide candidates decisions making about their campaign. That said, should candidates act contrary to spirit of the principles, they are subject to sanctions from the Elections committee. These can vary from restricting different kinds of publicity to in extreme cases removal from the election. The Principles 1) Students must be free to cast their vote without undue influence or pressure. 2) Obey the law, union and university policies 3) Treat others as you wish to be treated 4) Items produced or primarily used for your campaign must be accounted for within the given allowance in line with the union's financial election regulations. 5) Campaigning will start on the agreed upon day. How it works: To give you an idea of how this works there are some examples of how the principles are applied below: 1) Students must be free to cast their vote without undue influence or pressure. Candidates may not stand and watch students when they vote as the student would be under pressure to vote for that particular candidate. Whilst it is allowed to hand out a flyer and a sweet to make students remember you and listen to you, you would not be allowed to offer to give students a reward (a sweet or something else) that they get after they have voted for you, as this would be deemed as undue influence. 2) Obey the law, union and university policies. This means that you as a candidate and your campaign team, as always, must adhere to the law, University regulation (such as their behavioural code, health and safety regulations, equal opportunities procedure, harassment code, damage to university property, and use of email etc.) and Union policy (such as our Zero Tolerance policy, Elections Regulations etc). Breach of these policies can lead to a disciplinary which could in turn affect your student status and your Union membership. 3) Treat others as you wish to be treated. This principle covers a lot of ground. For example: defacing other candidates publicity and heckling other candidates are among the actions that would be considered a breach of this principle. 4) Campaign within the allowance provided. Items produced or primarily used for your campaign must be accounted for within the given allowance in line with the unions financial election regulations (see below).
5) Campaigning will start on the agreed upon day. Candidates must not campaign until the start of campaigning. Campaigning may start prior to polls opening or on the same day. The exact date will be made clear to all candidates. This means for example that you may not do any lecture shout outs or put up posters before the start of campaigning. Financial Election Regulations: Money should not be a barrier to any student wishing to run in elections. This is why the union provides campaign allowances to all candidates and also restricts candidate expenditure to the set amount. - Candidates standing for Campaign Officer posts are given an allowance of 20 (refunded by Cardiff Students Union) - Candidates standing for Student Senate, Scrutiny Committee or NUS Delegate posts are given a printing allowance of 5 (refunded by Cardiff Students' Union). 1) This allowance is to spend on your campaign. You cannot exceed the amount allocated. 2) All candidates are required to produce receipts for all of their expenditure on the campaign by the candidates meeting along with an expenses form. 3) Campaign expenditure shall be defined as any expenditure that is carried out with the purpose of promoting a candidate s election campaign. The only exceptions are costumes/clothing and consumables (See guide below). The list below is not exhaustive. Campaign Items (must be accounted for within the allowance) Car vinyl Flyers Sweets Sponsorship (e.g vouchers, flyers, stamps etc) Stamps Rationale: These items are all used specifically to increase the impact of your campaign and therefore you must account for the associated cost. Consumables & non campaign specific items (need not be accounted for.) Paint, sellotape, cardboard & glue Old sheets for banners Pet, musical instrument, car etc Costumes Clothing Rationale: These are all items we can reasonably expect candidates to own prior to their decision to stand in union elections. This means their primary function is not to promote campaigning and therefore they do not have to be accounted for.
Breach of the Code of Conduct: Upon report of a breach of the rules of conduct, candidates will be reported to the Returning Officer who will conduct an investigation and will apply sanctions if the candidate is found to be in breach. The Returning Officer or Deputy Returning Officer have the right to sanction and even remove a candidate from the election process if they feel it appropriate. How to Make a Complaint All complaints must be received within 24 hours of the incident occurring and must reach the elections team in writing by the close of voting. Please email the complaint to elections@cardiff.ac.uk or hand it in to the Student Voice Manager on the 3 rd Floor of the Students Union and make sure you have included the following information; Details of the incident (when and where it took place and whether there were any witnesses) Evidence Which Regulation has been broken What you are asking us to do about it The elections Returning Officer will be reviewing and ruling on all complaints prior to the commencement of the count. Assessing Complaints: The Elections Committee assesses all complaints on an individual basis against a somewhat standardised formula. By posing a series of questions the committee ensures to treat all candidates equally. Has the candidate violated an elections principle or regulation? If so, which one? Has the violation meant the candidate got an unfair advantage? Can the balance be redressed? Yes: The appropriate sanction will be placed on the candidate. - Matter resolved No: Candidate faces exclusion from the election.