Elections Guidelines 2013

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Goldsmiths Students’ Union Elections Handbook 2013

WELCOMEKEY DATESTHE POSITIONSHOW DOES IT ALL FIT TOGETHER?YOUR QUESTIONS… ANSWERED NEW THIS YEARCHECKLISTCONTACT DETAILSELECTION GUIDELINESMANIFESTO & PUBLICITY

CONTENTS

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3Goldsmiths Students’ Union Elections Handbook 2013

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Goldsmiths Students’ Union is a diverse, vibrant, award-winning organisation, providing a range of services for the students of Goldsmiths. By deciding to become an elected representative you can be a big part of it.

Being an elected offi cer of the Union is an excellent experience and I would recommend it to everyone. It puts you at the heart of the organisation and provides you with a position that can truly make a positive difference. The elections process is apart of being a representative and regardless of the outcome you would learn greatly from it.

This handbook aims to provide you with an insight of what the elections process involves, but if you would like to speak to some one about it, feel free to contact Ibby Mehmet Representation and Democracy Coordinator on [email protected] and he would be glad to help you.

WELCOME

KEY DATES & TIMES

Dear Students

Yours Sincerely,Samson OsunUnion President

Event Time & Place Date

Nominations Open 10:00 - 07/01/2013

Manifesto Open Sessions 11:00 - 16:00 ADR11:00 - 16:00 ADR11:00 - 16:00 ADR11:00 - 16:00 ADR

22/01/201323/01/201328/01/201301/02/2013

Nominations Close 16:00 - 04/02/2013

Candidates Briefi ng 18:00 RHB 143 04/02/2013

Publicity Collection 09:00 - 16:00 19/02/2013

Question time night 1 18:00 CR 21/02/2013

Question time night 2 18:00 CR 22/02/2013

Polling Starts 10:00 25/02/2013

Polling Closes 17:00 28/02/2013

Results Night 20:00 28/02/2013

ADR - Angela Davis Meeting Room / RHB Richard Hogard Building / CR- Common Room

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THE POSITIONS

Assembly Members:Vacancies: 15Positions: Black & Ethnic Students Offi cer, Campaigns Coordination Offi cer, Campus Offi cer, Disabled Students Offi cer, Ethical and Environmental Students Offi cer, International Students Offi cer, LGBT Students Offi cer, Mature Students Offi cer, Palestine Twinning Offi cer, Part-time students Offi cer, Postgraduate Students Offi cer, Societies Offi cer, Sports Offi cer, Student Parent Offi cer, Women’s Offi cer. Hours: Part time, 1 yearStatus: VoluntaryDuties: You will be responsible for developing and delivering the Unions Key campaigns and policies, and responding to issues as they arise. Sitting on the ‘Student Assembly’, you are representing all Goldsmith Students.

Assembly Chair:Vacancies: 1Hours: Part time, 1 yearStatus: VoluntaryDuties: Primarily, you will chair the Student Assembly, a body of over 25 students. You will ensure the meetings are outcome focused and make effective decision. You will also be involved in delivering the Union key proactive campaigns and policies.

Full TIme O� cer (Trustee):Vacancies: 4Positions: Union President, Campaigns Offi cer, Educations Offi cer, Welfare & Diversity Offi cerRole: Representative, Campaigner and Charity TrusteeHours: Full Time, 1 yearStatus: Remunerated (c. £22k)Duties: You will represent all Goldsmiths’ students at individual, College, local and national level full time for one year


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Student Trustees:Vacancies: 4Role: Charity Trustee Hours: An average of 3 hours per month plus training. Status: VoluntaryDuties: You will sit on the Unions Trustee Board and be making key decisions about the Union’s long term strategy and fi nance.

NUS DelegateVacancies: 3Hours: The hours PTStatus: VoluntaryDuties: You will represent Goldsmiths Students at NUS regional meetings, national conference and attend NUS composition. You will act as the voice of Goldsmiths Students at a national level. You will also be expected to report back to Student Assembly on all NUS related experiences.

Student Media:Vacancies: 4Role: Smiths Magazine Editor, Leopard Newspaper Editor, Wired Radio Station Manager, Made In Goldsmiths DirectorHours: An average of 25 hours per month on a one year part time basis.Status: VoluntaryDuties: You will be responsible for student media, handling a budget of up to several thousand pounds and creating publications and media that can be contributed to and accessed by all students.

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Your ideas, opinions and input are completely central to the governance structure of the Union. This diagram show’s how you could get involved at all the different stages of decision making within the Union.

You should now have a better idea of the roles and remits each of the positions as well as how they all fi t together. If you still have questions we’ve put together a list of the most frequently asked questions, and then answered them.

HOW DOES IT ALL FIT TOGETHER?

Student Elections

Annual General Meetings (AGM)

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Student Assembly

LiberationGroups

Access Groups

Student Media

StudentActivities

Part Time Officers


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Who can run in elections?Any registered student (this includes international students) except for visiting students can stand for election. In order to run for a departmental representative’s position you will need to be a student in the department that you would run for. Likewise, if you want to be the Mature Students Offi cer, you will need to be a mature student. If you are an international student and wish to run for a sabbatical position, please consult the colleges Advice team you can contact them on [email protected].

What if I am already a member of student staff in the Union?That is not a problem. You can still run, however you won’t be able to campaign while working in your position.

Where can I � nd out more about the roles?You can go to the Unions website and follow the links to the elections page or if you can contact Ibby Mehmet, the Representation and Democracy Coordinator. Ibby’s details are located on the back.

What is Question Time?Question is where the candidates will be given a set amount of time to verbally inform students on why to vote for them. Additionally, students are given the opportunity to ask candidates questions. Please note that the two Question Time events are recorded.

Video Manifesto’s a new introduction.Each candidate will be given the opportunity to have a 1 minute video manifesto, which will be recorded and edited by the Union’s Communication team. The recorded manifesto will go up on the Union’s website as well as being made viewable on the Electronic Ballot Sheet (so all students that vote, could fi nd out more about the candidates). The video is not compulsory, but is highly recommended.

Where can I � nd out more about writing a manifesto and publicity?During the elections nomination open period, Ibby Mehmet and Samson Osun will be hosting manifesto open sessions to aid and offer practical support to candidates on the creation of their manifestos and publicity.It is recognised that some candidates would prefer their standing for a post to be private until the end of nominations, which is respected and therefore can request a one to one session con� dentially. Times and dates are as follows: 11:00 - 16:00 in the Angela Davis Room on the following days, 22/01/2013, 23/01/2013, 28/01/2013 and 01/02/2013.

If elected, do I need to do anything before I start?We try to keep demand on time to a minimum before you start your role. However, we will be running a training session that will be compulsory for you to attend.

What are the time commitments?Sabbatical Offi cers: are required to work as full time representatives thus working a minimum of 35hours a week. In addition to this Sabbatical Offi cers are required to attend respective college committee and sit on internal committee of the Union ranging from the Trustee Board to the Staffi ng Committee.

Student Trustees: are required to attend all trustee board meetings of the Union?Assembly members are required to attend all the student assembly meetings for the coming year. In addition to this they will need to make sure that they fulfi l their role either by representing their cohorts to the student assembly or by fulfi lling the pledges highlighted on their manifestos.

YOUR QUESTIONS...ANSWERED

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NEW THIS YEARThe Pool of mentors.The pool of mentors comprise of various full time staff members of the Students’ Union and are volunteers to guide and offer support to sabbatical candidates throughout the elections. The list of mentors will be made available to candidates at the candidates briefi ng with further explanation on how to contact them and what to contact them about. Please note the elections procedures regarding mentors found in the Elections Handbook.

Manifesto open session and one to ones.During the elections nomination open period, Ibby Mehmet, Representation & Democracy Coordi-nator and Samson Osun, President will be hosting manifesto open sessions to aid and offer practical support to candidates on the creation of their manifestos and publicity. It is recognised that some candidates would prefer their standing for a post to be private until the end of nominations, which is respected and therefore can request a one to one session confi den-tially.

Question TimeAll candidates will be giving a statement and answering questions at the two Question TimeEvents. Candidates will make a brief statement on why they are best suited to the position and then asked questions by the Union and by Students at the event. This event will be recorded and streamed live for those who have friends and family distant and would like them to view the pro-ceedings.

Creative budget.The creative budget is a self funded amount of money, which will be £30 in this election. The crea-tive budget is only for sabbatical offi cers. This is to assist the candidate in their campaign and all purchased items must be available to be purchased by all candidates and receipts must be given to the deputy returning offi cer. No merchandise is to be used, which does not hold the stamp of the elections committee.

Results NightsBeers, tears and cheers. This is when the results of the elections will be announced. It is always a fun and emotional evening and it is recommended that as many of your friends and supporters attend. Winning with a large audience of supporters is always an amazing feeling!


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CHECKLIST

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ELECTION GUIDELINES1. Nominations

(i) All candidates must be proposed and sec-onded by a full member of the Union.

(ii) No candidate may propose or second any candidate running in the election.

(iii) Individuals may only propose one candidate and only second one candidate in the election.

(iv) You can only nominate yourself for one po-sition, bar NUS Delegate and Trustee positions.

(v) Elections committee will meet to review the nominations after the close of the nomination period. The committee will ensure all forms are valid and that the candidate may progress to run in the election.

(vi) All full members of the Union are eligible to stand for any Union Offi ce.

(vii) Candidates shall run independently and shall not have joint and/ or shared publicity.

(viii) It is mandatory that all candidates attend the Candidates Briefi ng, which is organised on the same day as nominations close. Candidates must attend and only exceptional circumstanc-es may be given in order not to attend. If the candidate is unable to attend, they should send a delegate.

(ix) Failure to attend shall result, at the discre-tion of the Returning Offi cer, in the candidate being deemed to have withdrawn from the election.

(x) The Returning Offi cer or nominee shall have the sole responsibility of declaring a submitted nomination form valid. In the event of two or

more candidates having the same proposer or seconder in an election for a single position, the Returning Offi cer or nominee may allow up to 24 hours for the candidate(s) to fi nd fresh proposers or seconders.

(xi) When the Returning Offi cer is satisfi ed all valid nominations will be confi rmed with the candidates.

2. Campaigning

(i) Campaigning is defi ned as, ‘a series of coor-dinated activities, including but not limited to, public speaking, social media and demonstrating, designed to achieve a social, political, or com-mercial goal’.

(ii) No campaign material may be distributed in advance of the time and date of the start ofcampaigning.

(iii) Candidates will not move/alter/remove any publicity of any other candidate.

(iv) There can be no campaigning whilst engaged in paid employment at the Union or while involved with any Union committees. In this case candidates must take holiday or step aside from their position for the duration of campaigning.

(v) During the period of nominations and during the media week candidates may declare their intent to run but may not engage in any campaigning.

(vi) No candidate or campaign team member will sabotage another candidate’s campaign.

(vii) No candidates are allowed to be spon-


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ELECTION GUIDELINESsored in any way, including but not limited to, by any organisations and companies.

(viii) All publicity shall be approved by the Elec-tions committee or the designated person. The amount and type of publicity will be explained at the Candidates Briefi ng.

(ix) There will be a creative budget, which is self funded, to the amount of £30. How and what the creative budget may be used for is to be outlined at the candidates briefi ng. This is lim-ited to the elections of the Sabbatical Offi cer Candidates.

(x) All spending must be recorded in the form of receipts and submitted to Elections Committee before voting opens. If no receipt is available Elections Committee will fi nd the average price of such items and use it as a point of reference.

(xi) During the Candidates Briefi ng, all candi-dates and campaigners will be advised as to where you can and cannot campaign and canvas.

(xii) Promotion by a candidate, be it through online, social media, video etc, shall be made in a process accessible to all candidates in a fair manner, adhering to budgeting guidelines. (xiii) Whilst campaigning, candidates must be wearing their assigned lanyard identifi cation card.

3. Manifestos

(i) All candidates, before the Close of Nomina-tions, are allowed to have an offi cial manifestostating what they wish to achieve in their year of offi ce, if elected. The manifesto is only plaintext and of not more than 300 words of size

12 font. All the manifestos will appear on Gold-smiths Students’ Union website for all voters to read prior to them casting their votes, in the same size and type of font. This shall be accom-panied by a photograph taken at the Candidates Briefi ng Meeting.

(ii) Manifestos must be submitted to Return-ing Offi cer, or their nominee, at a time and in a form determined by the Returning offi cer.

(iii) Manifestos shall be displayed in appropriate areas as decided.

4. Mentors.

(i) The Union will have a pool of mentors, whereby all candidates are able to contact these mentors for advice and guidance on;

(a) Guidelines and Regulations of the elections.(b) Strategic advice on campaigning (c ) Manifesto creation and development

(ii) The mentors will be open for guidance to all Sabbatical Candidates running in the elections.

(iii) The mentors will meet and advise can-didates at their convenience and are to be contacted in advance.

(iv) All mentors must have signed a Goldsmiths Students’ Union Election Staffi ng Declaration.

(v) Advice and guidance from mentors is to be used and taken at the risk of the candidate, the role of the mentor is to offer a prospective and guidance. They are not bound by their advice and are not accountable to consequences of their advice.

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ELECTION GUIDELINES(vi) Mentors will be appointed by the Deputy Returning Offi cer and approved by the Return-ing Offi cer.

GSU Elections Guidance

(i) The document GSU Amended Elections Referendum Guidance v4 is the overruling guidance for the elections. The above guidelines shall be adhered to but further guidance shall be sought from GSU Amended Elections Refer-endum Guidance.This document can be found on the Goldsmiths Students’ Union website and also can be re-quested from the Goldsmiths Students’ Union Clerk, Ibrahim Mehmet.


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Manifestos and Publicity.

Please note: If Publicity and Manifestos are not submitted by the close of nominations, candi-dates maybe removed from elections and will not be able to run.

Publicity and Manifestos should be sent to [email protected] before 04/02/2013.

Manifesto.

Candidates should submit a manifesto no longer than 300 words outlining why they are standing and what they plan to do if elected.It is important that you make clear what your intentions are as a candidate, this is to encour-age students to vote for you and inspire people to support you during your campaign.These manifestos will be published online and also put into a hard copy brochure which will be distributed to the student body.

With your manifesto, a passport photo will be required.

Publicity.

This is your chance to design a leafl et or poster which will be printed by the Union for you to use during your campaign. All posters need to

be approved by the elections committee with a stamp, otherwise the candidate will be held accountable.

Creative budget.

This will be explained in further detail at the compulsory candidates briefi ng.

To offer candidates support during the nomina-tions open period on manifestos and publicity, the following sessions for support are open to all candidates.

These are on the following days and times:11:00 - 16:00 on all the following dates.22/01/2013, 23/02/2013, 28/12/2013, 01/12/2013

These will be held in the Angela Davis Room, found near the Students’ Union Reception.

If you would like private consultation for whichever reason, please contact Ibby Mehmet on [email protected] to book a one to one session.

MANIFESTOS & PUBLICITY

Ibby MehmetSamson OsunDoreen Duffi n

WHO TO CONTACTDeputy Returning Offi cerStudents’ Union PresidentOffi ce Manager

[email protected]@goldsmithssu.orgdoreen.duffi [email protected]

www.goldsmithssu.orgGoldsmiths Students’ Union

Dixon RoadNew Cross

LondonSE14 6NW

Elections Guidelines 2013

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Transcript of Elections Guidelines 2013