FAQs:

What's an Election?

Elections are a process where students put themselves forward for a certain role and try to persuade other students to choose them as the best person for the role, through voting for them. This means students can choose who leads their Students’ Union. It’s important for our work to be led by students themselves so that we can be sure we’re truly working in your interests. To this end, students can choose who leads the SU, and help set the direction and priorities of the SU for the upcoming academic year.

 

During our main elections period in October/November, we elect students into full-time and part-time positions who represent different groups of students and campaign on a variety of issues. The University of Buckingham Students' Union Elections are an opportunity for any eligible student to run for a role, and for other students to choose who they want representing them.

How do I run for a position?

To apply for a position, you will need to complete the online form. The form includes your ideas statement - a paragraph that tells students your ideas & why you’re the best person for the role. When applications open, follow these simple steps to apply:

 

  • Head to su.buckingham.ac.uk/elections/
  • Scroll down and click "Stand in Election"
  • You'll need to enter your name, email address and phone number (so we can stay in contact with you!) and click "Save"
  • Scroll down to find the position you’d like to apply for and click ‘Submit’
  • Upload your ideas statement and a square cropped photo of yourself  
  • Submit it! Before the application deadline, you’ll receive confirmation email that we’ve approved it (dont panic if it says "Unnapproved" next to your candidacy for now, this will be updated once you've attended your interview). 

What do I need to do after I've applied?

Full-time Officers, Network Leads, Faculty Liasons and BSU Executives are elected roles - students across campuses will participate in a vote so they can choose who they want representing their interests. Once you've applied, you'll be a candidate. You will be expected to campaign. A campaign is a series of activities you'll run to encourage other students to vote for you and discuss the issues you'd like to work on in that position. You'll have a budget to campaign with. You might decide to:

 

  • Make a banner to display somewhere on campus
  • Create a 'Vote for me' Instagram account
  • Ask your lecturers for 5 minutes before a lecture to talk to students
  • Hand out 'Vote for Me' stickers
  • Make a creative YouTube video Talk to students on campus about why they should vote for you

 

Throughout the campaign, you will need to abide by our election rules to help make sure the election is fun, free and fair. There will be a mandatory interview and briefing session before the voting period opens where these will be discussed with all candidates in detail.

 

You are not expected to know how to campaign before you apply! All you need to bring is your enthusiasm.

What is a Manifesto?

A Manifesto (also known as an ideas statement) is your chance to tell other students why they should vote for you and sets out your ideas and plans. You should explain why you want to represent students and what changes or projects you would implement if you are elected.

 

The ideas statement is limited to 300 words. It must be text only but you can include links to social media pages, videos, images, etc. Many candidates also choose to create artwork for their ideas statement, which you can use as part of your campaign materials.

 

The deadlines to submit your ideas statement is later than the deadline to apply, so you have a bit of extra time to put it together. Why not look at what's going on in other universities for inspiration?

Where are the Academic Rep Positions?

This year our Acacemic Rep positions have been moved from an elections process to an appointment process. To become an Academic Representative, please navigate to the Academic Rep section of the website under the Student Voice option in the toolbar above. From here you'll be able to submit your application for a Rep position.

Can I stand for more than one position?

You can nominate yourself for one full time position and one part time position in the same election, however, you will only be able to hold one of the roles if elected to both positions. This is because Officer roles are full-time salaried positions and you would not be able to dedicate enough time towards the part-time role. Similarly, if you nominated yourself for two part time roles you would not be able to dedicate enough time to each role.

You cannot run for multiple full time officer positions.

How do students vote for me?

Voting takes place online through the su.buckingham.ac.uk/elections website. Students simply need to log in to the website in order to vote.

How do you know who's won?

The Students' Union website uses the Single Transferable Vote method, where voters rank the candidates in order of preference.

 

By voting this way, you can tell us that if your favourite candidate doesn't win, then you don't mind your second favourite winning, or third favourite, or so on.

 

When voting closes and we count the results of the election, we require a candidate to have over 50% of the votes to win. If no candidate gets over 50% of the votes, then we eliminate the candidates with the lowest scores and redistribute your voting preferences until someone does.

 

If you want to find out more about STV voting, you can watch this helpful video here.

I have other questions that aren't answered here.

Full Elections Procedures can be found here.

 

Email Brook.Jones@Buckingham.ac.uk to speak with the Deputy Returning Officer for our elections processes and we will get back to you as soon as we can.