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. 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.
4. Candidates are responsible for all those acting in support of them, on behalf of them, as part of their campaign team or distributing their campaign material where the candidate may be deemed by the RO or DROs to have been in a position to control that individual’s actions.
5. 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.
6. 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. 3-4.
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 will be open from 00:01 Monday 6 February and close 23:59 Sunday 26 February.
2. Nominations are available online at imperialcollegeunion.org/vote.
3. Nominations require one seconder.
4. All candidates must attend the Candidates’ Meeting on Monday 27 February, location and time TBC.
D. Expenditure
1. Candidates in all elections have a maximum amount they can spend on their campaigns once the nomination has been confirmed. Candidates are asked to produce receipts of their expenditure by the relevant deadline. Any expenditure must be both that which all candidates have had the opportunity to carry out, and must be replicable by all other candidates in a given election. Campaign expenditure is defined as expenditure in pursuit of promoting a candidature as further determined by the Returning Officer. Where there is a question as to the extent to which it is reasonable to believe that the use of a tactic or resource is open to all, the Returning Officer’s decision is final and so advice should be sought first.
E. Campaigning
1. No candidates’ publicity may appear before the close of nominations.
2. All campaign material must be covered by a suitable receipt.
3. All campaign material for full-time positions and Constituent Union Presidents must cost no more than £100 of which the Union will refund 100%.
4. All campaign material for all other part-time positions must cost no more than £50 of which the Union will not refund and must be covered by the canididate.
5. All campaign material must comply with the Union’s Publicity Policy at imperialcollegeunion.org/your-union/policies/17.
6. All posters, flyers and websites must include the pre-designed The Leadership Elections banner available at imperialcollegeunion.org/elections/materials. Other use of the Union or College logo on campaign material is prohibited.
7. 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 17:00 Thursday 9 March.
8. Candidates’ manifestos and photos must be submitted online at imperialcollegeunion.org/vote by 17:00 Monday 27 February. Manifestos may be no more than 250 words long. Any words over 250 will be removed before the manifestos are published.
Physical
9. Candidates and their campaign team may not harass, coerce or use intimidation to persuade someone to vote or who to vote for.
10. Candidates must not obscure, tamper with or remove the publicity of any other candidates.
11. 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).
12. You are not allowed to use adhesive stickers as campaign materials.
Online
13. Candidates may use social networks or their own website to promote their campaign.
14. All candidate websites and social network pages must contain a link to the elections website imperialcollegeunion.org/elections.
15. 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.
16. All Facebook groups must invite Imperial College Union Returning Officer (www.facebook.com/icureturningofficer) to the group before it is used for campaigning purposes.
17. All Twitter accounts used for campaigning must follow @icunion.
18. All campaigning done through Facebook and Twitter must contain the hashtag ‘#voteicu’.
F. 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.
G. 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.
