A. General Rules
1. All rules listed here are in addition to the rules set out in the Union Bye-Laws Section F. Major Elections.2. The rules of the elections will be interpreted and enforced by the Returning Officer (RO) and Deputy Returning Officers (DROs).
3. The rules of the elections will be interpreted and enforced by the Returning Officer (RO) and Deputy Returning Officers (DROs).
4. Rulings made by the RO or DROs will be communicated to all candidates and as such become rules for that election. It is up to candidates to ensure that they are aware of the latest rules and rulings which will be available at imperialcollegeunion.org/elections/rules. The latest and correct version of the rules will always be in the downloadable Candidates’ Pack available from imperialcollegeunion.org/elections
6. Any activity that is illegal, breaches College rules, policies and codes or Union bye-laws, regulations, policies or constitution is deemed to be in breach of the election rules. The College is still a place of work for students and staff alike during the election period as it is the rest of the year. This must be respected during your campaigning.
7. If a candidate is in any doubt as to any campaigning activity that they intend to undertake, they are advised to speak to the RO or DROs before undertaking the activity in order to obtain a formal ruling.
8. General feedback on the Election process can be made using the online form at imperialcollegeunion.org/elections/feedback.
8.1 Feedback on the Election process will be considered by the Board of Trustees’ Governance Committee as part of an annual review of the Union’s electoral processes after the end of the election.
B. The Returning Officer
1. The Returning Officer’s duties are set out in the Union Bye-laws Section F.2-4.
2. Any complaint about the conduct, not the decisions, of the RO’s can be made to Board of Trustees’ Governance Sub-Committee through the Union’s complaints procedure as detailed in the Union Bye- Laws Section F.
2.1 Whether or not complaints about the RO will be heard by the Governance Committee will be decided by its Chair.
2.2 Complaints about the conduct of the RO more than made two (2) hours after the close of the voting period will not normally be heard unless the complaint contains new evidence obtained since that deadline.
C. Nominations
1. Nominations open at 00:01 on 3 October and close at 23:59 on 15 October.
2. Nominations are available online at imperialcollegeunion.org/vote.
3. Nominations for Council positions require one seconder.
D. Campaigning
1. No candidates’ publicity may appear before the close of nominations.
2. All campaign material must be covered by a suitable receipt which can be produced if requested.
3. Ordinary Member and GSU Committee candidates can spend up to £30 on their campaign, whereas Year (or Course) Reps can spend £10. These costs will not be refunded.
4. All campaign material must comply with the Union’s Publicity Policy (imperialcollegeunion.org/your-union/policies/17).
5. Receipts for monies spent on all campaign material must be submitted in person to the DROs or by email to elections@imperial.ac.uk before close of voting.
6. Candidates’ manifestos and photos must be submitted online at imperialcollegeunion.org/vote by 12:00 16 October. Manifestos may be no more than 250 words long. Any words over 250 will be removed before the manifestos are published.
Physical
7. Candidates and their campaign team may not harass, coerce or use intimidation to persuade someone to vote or who to vote for.
8. Candidates must not obscure, tamper with or remove the publicity of any other candidates.
9. Permission must be sought when posters are placed on non-designated poster boards as set out in the Union’s Publicity Policy (imperialcollegeunion.org/your-union/policies/17).
Online
10. Candidates may use social networks or their own website to promote their campaign.
11. All candidate websites and social network pages must contain a link to the elections website imperialcollegeunion.org/elections.
12. Candidates are allowed to use Facebook groups, mailing lists and other forms of group communication as long as they have collected the information for those individuals during the campaign period (close of nominations to the close of voting) and the group was formed for the sole purpose of campaigning in this election.
13. All Facebook groups must invite ICU Returning Officer (www.facebook.com/icureturningofficer) to the group before it is used for campaigning purposes.
14. All Twitter accounts used for campaigning must follow @icunion.
15. All campaigning done through Facebook and Twitter must contain the hashtag ‘#voteicu’.
E. Complaints
1. Any complaint must be submitted using the online Elections Complaint Form available at imperialcollegeunion.org/elections/complaint.
2. Only completed Elections Complaint Forms will be considered by the RO or DROs.
3. Complaints should be submitted within 24 hours of the incident in question or at the earliest possible moment.
4. Complaints cannot be anonymous and the ruling by the RO or DROs regarding any complaint may be communicated to all candidates within the election.
5. Complaints involving severe breaches of the rules will be dealt with by the RO. The RO may choose to allow the DROs to rule on all other complaints.
6. The RO will define to the DROs their interpretation of severe and non-severe breaches of the rules.
7. The RO or DROs may make a ruling including, but not limited to, the following sanctions. Depending on the severity of the breach, any or all of these steps may be by-passed when making a ruling.
7.1 Issuing a formal warning
7.2 Reduction in campaign budget or amount the Union will refund
7.3 Temporary banning of campaigning
7.4 Recommendation to the Board of Trustees’Governance Sub-Committee for removal from the election
8. All complaints must be received within two (2) hours of the close of the voting period.
9. The RO’s decision on all complaints is final.
F. The Count
1. Results of the election shall be announced once the count has been made within one (1) College day and the results published.