Section 1 – You’ve stood for Election....What Next?

Well done for getting to this stage - deciding to stand and putting yourself up for election is possibly the biggest hurdle, and you’ve already started getting your name around and telling people why you’re standing when you collected your nominations.

However the hard work is far from over. If you haven’t done so already, you need to turn your attention to how you are going to get students to vote for you. There is no approximate figure available as to how many votes will get you elected – it all depends how many people you are in competition with for the same role and how many students actually vote.

The best advice we can give is this: look for as many votes in as many different places as you possibly can, whenever you can. Do not be complacent and think that telling a few of your friends to spread the word will be enough to get you elected. To have the best chance of success, you will need to be innovative, and use a number of different campaigning methods simultaneously – gone are the days that elections could be won by handing out flyers for a few hours a day.

These guidelines have been produced to give all candidates the very best chance of running an innovative and enjoyable election campaign. It is particularly aimed at those who are not well versed in Students’ Union jargon, are not super creative gurus and who probably won’t have their campaign mapped out for them by a team of strategists!

It doesn’t come with a money back guarantee that you’ll be elected, but it will hopefully go some way towards ensuring you give it your very best shot. We hope you find it useful. We’ll cover the basics of a good election campaign, and some of the rules and red tape you need to be aware of.

Introductory Candidate BriefingOnce you have submitted your application you will be invited to attend the Introductory Candidate Briefing. This is where you’ll get to meet your competition face to face and get further instructions on what happens next, and here we will also try and give you some ideas about the best ways to spend your publicity budget. We will also cover the rules and regulations of campaigning – this is very important, as breaking the rules may lead to disqualification!

We may also take some publicity photos at this meeting, which will be used in publicity across University encouraging people to vote. We’ll be taking individual photos for use on the online ballot paper and profile pages, so make sure you look your best - and don’t forget to smile!

Introductory Candidate Briefing is taking place:

Wednesday 9th October at 3pm

www.huddersfield.su/elections

Section 2 – Winning an Election

Use Your Imagination…If there is one word you should keep in mind, it is this: creativity. It is likely that you will be up against at least one other person for the position that you want, and quite possibly more, so you need to make sure you stand out. While you will find that posters and flyers are a good way of making initial contact with the student population, unless you have come up with an absolute masterpiece of persuasive publicity then you are unlikely to get elected on this basis alone. The Students’ Union does not provide a printed publicity service as we’d like to see more alternative ideas. You may of course still decide that you want to get flyers and posters printed elsewhere, but don’t rely solely on these methods. Each candidate is given £15 in expenses from the Students’ Union and then each candidate is allowed to spend a further £35 on publicity. Remember you don’t have to spend lots of money to win an election. Use your creative flare to do something exciting - this could include fancy dress to go with your campaign theme, handing out homemade cakes or arranging a flash mob on campus. The opportunities are endless so get your thinking caps on and make your mark on the elections.

Who are you and what do you stand for?Most candidates will produce a manifesto - an outline of what you want to achieve if you get elected. Normally this is a written document that we can put online for you (300 words max) but the use of online campaigning in recent years has led to more and more candidates producing video manifestos. We will tell you a bit more about this in due course, but you might want to get thinking! The deadline for your manifestos is midday Wednesday 9th October 2013

Your manifesto may be the first thing that many students see when they are deciding whether or not to vote for you, so make sure you make a good first impression! Try to think of ways of making your manifesto stand out from the crowd – most students will not want to view 30 manifestos that look and sound extremely similar.

Theme your campaign...Having a theme that ties your campaign together will allow you to be more visible on campus and for students to recoginse your publicity and campaign team across campus. There have been a number of themes across the years including pirate theme, pigeon theme or crayon theme (with a slogan ‘Be Part of the Pack and Vote 4 Jack).

Leave them with something to remember...When speaking to voters it’s really important to leave them with something to remember, whether that is a catchy slogan or an exciting speech. There are going to be lots of people talking to students, so be that person that they remember. Some examples of catchy slogans are

‘Don’t be a melon, Vote for Helen’‘I’ll eat my hat, if you vote for Matt’‘Don’t Stop Believing Dan’s not Leaving’

www.huddersfield.su/elections

Get online…Don’t forget the importance of social media – many votes can be won through the effective use of this, and this is another form of campaigning that you can begin as soon as you have decided to stand.

Go International...With students from over 120 different countries at the University, for a large proportion of students English isn’t their first language. Something you may consider is having your online material in a range of different languages so that students can fully understand your priorities. (Don’t just use Google Translate – it’s not always accurate)

Pop a poster up...Having a great poster doesn’t win an election however it does start giving you a presence on campus. When thinking about what you would like on your poster, remember to keep it short and simple - include your name, the position you’re running for, your slogan and when and how to vote.

You may also want to pop a picture of your face on there as well so that people can recoginse you around campus during the week. Think about where you’re putting your posters - don’t just put them in one area, think about where students are going be, for example the library, lecture halls and Cafe areas.

Old Bed Sheets...No it’s not time to dress up as a ghost, but old bed sheets can be great for banners. Banners make a great visual display and can really draw the eye of the voter. They are also more durable than posters. These can be a cheap addition to your campaign and make campus come alive.

Cardboard Banners...These are great campaign tools as they are cheap, easy to make and make campus come alive. They are very simple to make and shops are happy to give away cardboard to make them. Top Tip – hairspray your paint one its dry – it will make it a tad more waterproof.

Stamps vs Stickers...Both are great ways to get your message out to students. Who doesn’t love a sticker? We would advise using stickers during the day as people will be a bit more receptive, and using a stamp during the night because it saves you carrying them around and it stops you covering bar floors with them.

You can’t do it alone...A campaign team is the most valuable tool in the election tool box; they are your surrogates and will help spread your messages. Choosing your campaign team is really important, you need to make sure you get a diverse group of students; don’t just pick all of your friends. The most important point to remember with your campaign team is that whatever they do will affect you, whether you knew about it before or not; they are basically you for that week.

www.huddersfield.su/elections

The Height of Fashion...T-Shirts are a great way to make your campaign visible on campus and are a nice present for your campaign team members to keep after the election is over. They don’t have to be designed by Stella McCartney; simply iron transfer will be great.

Don’t just hang around the Plaza...Even though the Plaza is a busy area of campus you need to make sure you are getting around campus speaking to different students. Send your campaign team to different areas, don’t stand all together as a group it can be rather intimidating to voters. Head over to accommodation sites and speak to students there, the perfect time would be around tea time when people will be in their flats.

A great time to target students is during student nights. Most people won’t be up for talking to you about your policies but it will be a great chance to have a chat with students and get your face seen out and about. Take your campaign team with you and relax but remember you need to be back on campus first thing in the morning so try and get to bed before midnight.

Voting Voting is online, so students can now vote whether they’re on campus, off campus, 24/7, at home, at their mate’s, in the library, on the loo, by laptop, mobile phone (if it’s got a web browser), any time, any place, anywhere! Voting begins at midday on Monday 14th October and is open until midday on Wednesday 16th October. Oh, by the way... if you’re standing as a candidate you can still vote (we’d suggest you vote for yourself)

Enjoy the PartyWin or lose, we hope that everyone will enjoy the time they have spent campaigning and will be ready to celebrate the hard work that has been put into their campaigns. Results will be announced in the SU Bar from 7pm on Wednesday 16th October.

Top Campaign Tips!

1. Make sure you are familiar with all the rules and regulations – if you break any you risk being disqualified!

2. Play fair. If you look for ways to get around the rules and regulations, the chances are you will end up breaking them.

3. Be creative – the best campaigns look beyond flyers and posters.

4. Try not to annoy potential voters – if your campaign team hassles them beyond the limits of their patience, they will probably vote for someone else, or not vote at all.

5. If members of your campaign team break any rules it is the candidate who will be held responsible, so make sure you choose your team carefully.

www.huddersfield.su/elections

6. Remember that your campaign should reach beyond the campus – don’t forget other places that students go such as Halls

7. Pace yourself, and factor in breaks for you and your campaign team. You don’t want to burn out before the end!

8. Remember that voters can express an order of preference for all the candidates, so even if they have decided to make someone else their first choice, it is still worth trying to convince them to make you their second!

9. If in doubt….ask! This is especially important if you want to start campaigning before you have attended your briefing – we strongly recommend that you check anything you are planning does not break any rules.

Section 3 - Jargon Buster....

The Elections can seem like a complicated process although when you break it down it’s very simple! That’s why we’ve thought of all the unusual words and acronyms used during the election and tried to explain them here.

Alternative Vote / Single Transferable Vote system (AV/STV)The voting systems which are used in SU elections. Voters put a number 1 next to their preferred candidate and a 2 against their next choice etc. Ideally, you want voters to put a 1 (one) next to your name on the ballot, but if they have already decided someone else is their first choice it’s worth fighting to be number 2, or even 3! This is because if the candidate who was their first choice gets eliminated, that vote will then go to you.

Campaigning Persuading people to vote for you….but be careful not to annoy them! Although voting doesn’t open until 14th Oct, you should begin talking to people and using social media to spread the word as soon as you know you are standing.

Campaign Team A team of people who will be spreading your message around campus and online. There is no limit to the number of people who can help you, but remember…..you are responsible for their conduct!

Constitution A long document, and there’s no need to know it back to front, but it’s the rules that govern how the SU operates so it’s worth familiarising yourself. The constitution can be downloaded online from

E-Voting The paperless way to vote! You can use any web enabled computer or mobile device to vote.

Exec

www.huddersfield.su/elections

Short for Executive Committee, the team of 5 full time (and paid) student officers. Students can take a year out of studies, or apply at the end of their final year.

Manifesto A proclamation of who you are, what you want to achieve, and why you think students should vote for you.

Returning Officer This is the person who oversees the elections and makes sure they are run as they should be. There is also a Deputy Returning Officer who is a member of Students’ Union Staff.

RON (Re-Open Nominations) The opposition in every election. If students don’t like any of the candidates, they can vote to ‘Re-open Nominations’. If this option gets more votes than any of the candidates, the election will have to be reopened.

Section 4 - Questions...If you have any questions about the elections please don’t hesitate to ask - there are plenty of people ready to help. The Deputy Returning Officer for the elections will be Tom Flynn, Membership Engagement Manager.

For more details please visit the iZone or contact the Representation Team

The Representation Team representation@hud.ac.uk 01484 432333

www.huddersfield.su/elections