A quick guide to elections

Students first nominate themselves, i.e. put themselves forward and tell us that they'd like to be elected to a particular post. 

These students then campaign to be elected by persuading DMU students to vote for them.

Students then vote online for the person they would like to be elected. 

We use the Single Transferrable Vote (STV) system to calculate the winner. This allows voters to rank the election candidates in order of preference.

We then announce the results and the winner takes up their post straightaway for some posts, or at a later date for others.

It’s really that simple. 

RESOURCES

• Candidates' Guide
• Nomination form - this needs to be submitted to the DSU Helpdesk by Tuesday 15^th October, 4pm
• Expenditure form - this needs to be submitted to the DSU Heldesk by Thursday 17th October, 4pm
• Example manifesto - Yetunde Agararwu, Black and Minority Ethnic Students' Representative
• Equality and diversity monitoring form
• Trustee form - this is only required for students wishing to become a Student Trustee
• Declaration of convictions form
• Staffing protocol

• Application form - this is required for students wishing to become aStudent Trustee

Slates

Slates are where a group of like-minded candidates decide to join together as a team to participate in the elections together. They usually have a "slate name" and a slogan too. They'd usually encourage voters to vote for each member of the slate rather than encouraging voters to just vote for themselves as an individual. 

Slates can also share budgets and resources (but there will be a deduction in the amount of budget they get to make it fair!). 

For a full breakdown of rules on slates, see the candidates' guide. 

Jargon buster!

Nominations – this is the process by which students declare an interest in standing in the elections. This requires you to complete a few forms, all of which are described in the Candidates’ Guide.

RON – Who is that guy?! RON stands for 're-open nominations', which means that you don’t think any of the candidates are suitable for that role. If “RON” received more votes than other real candidates for a particular position it would mean that this post would be vacant and, subject to the time of year, another election would have to take place or the position would remain empty.

Manifesto– Nope, this doesn't relate in any way to Haribo or a mojito! A manifesto is essentially a candidates intentions or promises once successfully elected, it enables voters to decide whose “policies” they agree with most. In these elections, manifestos are no longer than 300 words. Further guidance on writing these can be found in the Candidates’ Guide.