Election and by-election Procedures and Campaigning Regulations

Transcription

1 Election and by-election Procedures and Campaigning Regulations Definitions: A working hour shall be defined as an hour within the times of 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday inclusive. 1. Deposits & Registration and Ballot papers: 1.1 -All sabbatical positions will require a deposit of 50, and all non-sabbatical positions will require a deposit of 25. Returning of this deposit is subject to all the below rules Between XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXat XXpm all prospective candidates and their campaign managers (if appointed) must meet with the Electoral Committee to pay this deposit and to get posters stamped and make their candidature official In accordance with the constitution all positions on executive require two proposers and three seconders The candidate may appoint a campaign manager who must be a member of the DCU Students Union as defined by the DCUSU Constitution. The campaign manager may not be a current sabbatical officer, a current school convenor, officer or official of the students union, a DCUSU staff member or a member of the Electoral Committee For the purposes of elections the Executive of the students union are directed not to endorse any candidate for any position The ballot paper shall contain the names of all candidates. Where there is only one nominated candidate named on the ballot paper the ballot papers shall include as an option the statement 'Reopen nominations', which shall be treated as a rejection option of the single candidate and shall be the last option on the ballot appear. If the 'Re-open nominations' option receives the most valid votes, the Returning Officer shall declare the vacancy unfilled and a new election shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. 2. Finances: Candidates will be given a Campaign Spending limit of 150. Candidates who spend over their limit will automatically forfeit their entire deposit As per article The Students Union shall provide printing credit to the value of 70 for those running for sabbatical positions and 35 for non-sabbatical positions. This is not included as

2 part of the spending limit of 150. This money will be put into Campus Print Solutions or the ParmHealth Print Service at the direction of the candidate All spending for Campaign Materials (e.g. t-shirts, posters, sweets, drinks, confectionary) must be recorded and receipts must be presented to the Treasurer XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, as such Candidates will be required to submit full accounts to the treasurer by XXpm, XXXXXXXXXXXXX (an hour after polling closes). These will be finalised after the count. It is strongly advised however that receipts be given to the Treasurer as issued to candidates so as to speed up any queries in relation to spending Candidates agree, by their acceptances of their nomination and ergo these regulations, to instruct any supplier to furnish the Electoral Committee details of campaign materials ordered including costs and quantities and date of ordering and to ensure that their rights under the Data Protection Act facilitate the release of this information. Such information should be supplied within four working hours of the request. Where a candidate refuses to do so he or she will be deemed to be attempting to deliberately frustrate the work of the Electoral Committee and the Returning Officer will be obliged to seek a convening of Class Representative Council to remove the candidate from the election Where Electoral Committee have suspicions pertaining to the cost of materials used during the campaign a candidate or his/her appointed campaign manager will be required to immediately (within four working hours) furnish receipts to the Returning Officer or Treasurer for inspection and the contact details for the supplier. Where a candidate is found to deliberately mislead the Electoral Committee on the cost of materials the Returning Officer shall seek the immediate convening of Class Representative Council to seek that candidate s removal from the election race. 2.7 In order to promote equality and fairness in campaigning no candidate is permitted to source printing for any sizes of printed matter that will fit within the dimensions of ISO A0 size off campus. Only printed matter larger than ISO A0 may be sourced off-campus. Campus sources are defined as Campus Print Solutions in the Hub, the Large Format Printing facility in the campus PharmHealth pharmacy, printing from FollowMe credit based service managed through PaperCut. 2.7a - Non-paper printing may be done off campus and maybe any size. For the purposes of these regulations paper will be defined as 80gsm to 330gsm media for printing on a digital, laser or inkjet machine suited for printing paper. 2.8 A list of additional fines may be drawn up at the behest of the Electoral Committee, which should be proportionate to a breach of the spirit of these regulations and the articles pertaining to the elections contained in the Constitution. These fines may be decided as a situation presents itself by a quorate meeting of the Electoral Committee.

3 3. Campaigning: 3.1 -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx at xxam: Campaigning begins All physical paraphernalia related to the promotion of a candidate will be subject to review by the Returning Officer and Treasurer to ensure that all candidates and members of campaign teams do not exceed the given budget; in the interest of fairness for all candidates. This also covers donations of campaign materials from external sources or members of a candidate s campaign team. In an extremely suspicious case, the Electoral Committee may decide to give further investigation to how candidates purchased campaign materials Using mass s as a method of campaigning (i.e. Clubs & society lists, or class lists) is strictly forbidden. The use of a mass will incur a fine of Any current position holders (Including Sabbatical Officers, Convenors, Chairs of Governing Bodies [ie. SLC, CLC]) or anyone who has access to a mailing list of such equivalent size who is a candidate or a campaign manager must not send any mass s during campaign and voting times and must delegate to another person during this time in order for the s not to be classed as undercurrent campaigning. Failure to adhere to this will result in a fine of Campaigning using Social Networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace et cetera must not commence until all candidates, proposers and seconders are verified to be registered DCU Students (ie. Any time before xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx at XXam) Following an official declaration of candidates to the student body via by the Returning Officer, campaigning may begin online. It is at this moment, candidacy is official Intimidation against another candidate, a member of another candidate s campaign team or a member of the Electoral Committee is strictly prohibited. Intimidation may be defined as any attempt to speak ill of another candidate in ones canvassing or campaigning; Intimidation may also be seen as any attempt to effect or discriminate against a candidate or a member of the Committee or general students in a personal manner Any instances where Intimidation is thought to have taken place it will immediately be brought to the attention of the Returning Officer who may decide to implement the sanctions of the Electoral Committee including: -Expulsion from hustings; -Withdrawal of Union electoral assistance, such as printing and photocopying privileges; -Withholding (in part or in full) of electoral deposits; -In extreme cases the electoral committee may decide to expel a candidate from running; this must be subject to approval by Class Rep Council All election material must be approved by the Returning Officer before being used and stamped where applicable (this includes all physical and visual material related to canvassing and campaigning). In the event of the Returning Officer's absence, election material must be presented

4 to the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Public Relations Officer or the Ordinary Member(s), who will then reconvene with the Returning Officer in a swift fashion. 3.9a - Where posters are found to be erected on campus and are not stamped a fine of 50 cent will apply for each poster. Where an unauthorised poster or other form of unauthorised election material is found to be used on campus during the campaign a fine of 1 per item will be applied and the material will be destroyed The use or publishing by a candidate or members of his/her campaign team of any messages, images, audio, video or other multimedia including type that is deemed defamatory, ethically questionable, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or otherwise deemed offensive shall be referred to the university Equality Director. The use of such material outlined above shall incur a sanction, as listed above, at the discretion of the Electoral Committee, given due consideration to the seriousness of the infraction Candidates are strictly prohibited from interfering with the Campaign Materials of other candidates. In the event of a complaint regarding the campaign materials of another candidate, said complaint must be brought to the attention of the Returning Officer who will then investigate the matter further and will discuss with the Electoral Committee whether or not to take further action. Under no circumstances is a candidate to interfere, move or destroy another candidate's campaign materials. 3.11a - Similarly, candidates should also not request permission to interfere, move or destroy Campaign Materials of other Candidates. Any such requests will not be entertained. Candidates found to be interferring with other candidate s posters will be fined Candidates are prohibited from interfering with, or removing any officially stamped in-date posters relating to any matter In the event that the Returning Officer believes that a candidate is grossly over monopolising a particular area on campus, he will convene with the Electoral Committee to discuss the implications of the action. Candidates are permitted to place posters anywhere provided they adhere to both the Budgetary Rules of DCUSU Elections and by-election and the Postering Regulations of the University (ie. Estates Office) In the event of DCU Estates or the Cleaner Services removing or interfering with a candidate's Campaign materials, the Electoral Committee will not reimburse or alter the budget of the candidate. Campaign materials are used at the risk of the candidate All posters and associated printed material (such as posters) must be removed within ten metres radius of a polling station by XXam XXXXXXXXX Candidates will be permitted to continue canvassing throughout polling days as long as they proceed according to the aforementioned regulations regarding proximity to polling stations and behavioural procedure.

5 The Electoral Committee has the power to discipline any campaign member who disobeys a legitimate instruction from the Electoral Committee; this includes the Committee having the power to remove posters that have been left up after the given time on the given date Sponsorship or endorsement by an external third party is not permitted in any form for candidates or implied by those persons associated with a candidate s campaign. Promotional material must not include branding, names or logos of any external third party (with the exception of promotion of another nominated candidate). Breach of this regulation will result in an immediate find of 25. A second breach will result in a second fine of 25. A third breach will result in the Returning Officer seeking a convening of Class Representative Council to remove the candidate from the race. 3.17a Where a candidate is holding a campaign night in a venue he/she may use venue s logo or font in promotional material. Candidates are advised that any alcohol or other drink given away free on behalf of the candidate by a venue or as a prize specific to the candidate s campaign night will be included in the campaign spending limit The Electoral Committee must be given at least 24 hours of any events planned. Failure to advise the Electoral Committee of an event will result in sanctions. A list of proposed events should be presented to the Electoral Committee at the close of nominations date No candidate may produce or distribute stickers. Breach of this regulation will result in an immediate forfeit of deposit. Further breaches will require the convening of Class Rep Council to remove the candidate from the election. 4. Hustings: Hustings will be held on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX at XXpm The Hustings shall proceed in the following order: - Clubs Officer - Societies Officer - Faculty Convenor DCU Business School - Faculty Convenor Science and Health - Faculty Convenor Engineering and Computing - Faculty Convenor Humanities and Social Science - Vice President for Welfare - Vice President for Education - President Candidates shall confirm their attendance at the hustings via with the Returning Officer of the Committee by XXpm on XXXXXXXXXXX.

6 4.3a - Attendance at the official election hustings is compulsory for all candidates and failure to comply, except through extenuating circumstances shall result in the candidate being disciplined by the Returning Officer 5. Use of social networking and other online platforms: Being a member of a Facebook group, or following a candidate on Twitter does not mean a person is a member of a candidate's campaign team Candidates may not send messages via a Facebook group established by the Students' Union or any organ of the Office of Student Life Candidates Facebook groups, Twitter accounts and similar social networking milieu shall be considered election material, and are bound by all provisions in the Electoral Regulations and Rulings relating to election material. Candidates must, therefore, remove any comments posted in their group s wall that contravenes such provisions within 12 hours, after which time they shall be deemed responsible for the content of the comment For the avoidance of doubt, a Facebook private message shall be deemed an . Unprotected tweets shall not be deemed s Candidates can buy Facebook advertisements, pay to promote a post or use other online advertising if they wish. Like all purchased election material, receipts for any online advertising must be submitted to the Treasurer. If they received sponsored online advertising or post promotion the cost of this will count towards their total election spending. 6. Polling Day: The Polling Stations shall be open from XXam-XXpm on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXam-XXpm on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Canvassing shall only take place in open areas and is prohibited from taking place within a tenmetre radius of Polling Stations Polling stations will be located in locations around campus with the primary ballot box situated in The Hub. Communication will be made between the Returning Officer and the student body regarding the times and locations of certain ballot boxes around campus. 7. Counting

7 7.1 - Counting will be spread over two days to ensure errors and discrepancies can be eliminated as much as possible Polls will close at XXpm on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx and counting will begin after campaign materials have been removed to the satisfaction of the Returning Officer from campus buildings. Candidates will be required to meet in the designated Electoral Committee office with members of his/her campaign team to assist in the removal of material at the advised time Separation of ballots will be the first procedure followed by organising them into categories based upon the position they are related to Counting will take place in this order: - Clubs Officer - Societies Officer - Faculty Convenor DCU Business School - Faculty Convenor Science and Health - Faculty Convenor Engineering and Computing - Faculty Convenor Humanities and Social Sciences - Vice President for Welfare - Vice President for Education - President Counting on day one will take place until approximately XXpm. The count taking place at that time will end when fully completed and the winner is declared and deemed elected. All ballots will be put into secure storage overnight. 7.5a - At XXam on XXXXXXXXX, counting will resume on the remaining positions and continue for as long as deemed necessary. 8. Calling Recounts: Campaign managers or candidates may request to examine spoiled ballots in the presence of the Returning Officer, following the first full count If a candidate feels a recount is needed, he/she may call for a recount within 24 hours of the announcements of the positions In the event that a candidate should request a recount, said recount will commence consecutively with any other requested recounts, in a sequence determined by the Returning Officer on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX beginning at XXam. 9. Withdrawing Candidature:

8 9.1 - Candidates may withdraw their candidature by delivering in person a signed letter of withdrawal to the Returning Officer, no later than XXpm on XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.