A. General 

1. Election rules exist to ensure that the electorate can have confidence in the ballot box; that it represents the preferences of the membership without undue influence, coercion or misconduct. In short, they exist to create a fair election. 

2. It is impossible to provide a set of rules and regulations that cover every potential scenario that could happen during an election campaign. When investigating conduct, incidents, or complaints, the Deputy Returning Officer(s) and Returning Officer will make a judgment based on the following principles: 

     i. Fairness and reasonableness.
     ii. Removing barriers to participation.
     iii. Encouraging active participation at all levels.
     iv. Considered in line with the Union of Kingston Students byelaws. 

3. If in doubt, we advise you to run your ideas (in complete confidence) past the Students’ Union before you put them into action. 

4. The elections will be overseen by an appointed Returning Officer (RO). The RO will be supported by appointed deputies including a designated Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) who will oversee day to day election activity, along with investigating any complaints or other issues required, in line with union byelaws. 

5. Both individuals are empowered to investigate any matters related to the election, infringement of election rules or complaints regarding candidate, campaign team or slate conduct. If they find that there has been an infringement, they may: 

     i. Not uphold a complaint
     ii. Apply a minor sanction including:
          a. Penalty to a campaign budget
          b. Restrict attendance or participation in debates
          c. Restrict campaigning
     iii. Apply a major sanction including:
          a. A formal written warning
     iv. Suspend elections
     v. Suspend a vote count
     vi. Re-run elections Disqualification 
 

B. Campaigning 

6. All candidates must have an equal and fair opportunity to promote their candidacy in terms of resource and accessibility to the student votes. On this basis, candidates should only do what others would have the opportunity to do. 

7. Publicity must be approved by the RO/DRO before use, and the following rules will be applied: 

     i. Publicity may only promote your own candidacy (and the name of a slate if you are involved in one).
     ii. Publicity must not directly, or indirectly, criticises the persona of any other candidate.
     iii. Publicity must not be used in a way that a reasonable person would see as a breach of University bullying and harassment, or other existing rules.  

8. No campaigning shall take place in the following spaces: 

     i. Computer rooms.
     ii. Libraries (including the whole of town house building) on any of the campuses.
     iii. Living spaces at halls of residences. 

9. For the avoidance of doubt, the election rules and regulations equally apply to online activity, including social media. 

 

C. Finances 

10. Each candidate shall be given a budget for publicity and sundries, the amount of which shall be determined annually by the union.  

11. The budget for candidates standing for this election will be £50.00 per candidate. 

12. Any overspend will be considered a breach of these rules and regulations. 

13. Candidates failing to hand in their expense claim within 24 hours hour after the close of voting will not be able to claim back any expenses. 

14. All candidate expenditures must be receipted in order for it to be reimbursed by the union. Failure to produce a receipt for any expenditure with result in that expenditure not being reimbursed. 

15. Preowned materials will also need to be accounted for. 

 

D. Existing employees 

16. No existing employees of the Union can campaign during their working hours. 

17. No existing employees can take advantage of their role, or the access to resources linked to it. 

18. For avoidance of doubt, this includes officers and students. 

 

E. Slates and endorsements 

19. A slate is defined as candidates identifying themselves as a single group. 

20. Slates cannot share budget or publicity materials in order to meet the restrictions as set out in these rules and regulations. 

21. Slates or individual candidates cannot be sponsored by an external company. 

 

F. Behaviour and conduct 

22. Behaviour of candidates, their campaign teams and slates will be managed via both these election rules and regulations and ‘standing rules’ (such as the union constitution, union bye-laws, university regulations and the law.) If any behaviour would be unacceptable the rest of the time, it is unacceptable as part of the elections. 

23. Candidates, their campaign teams and slates may criticise only the policies of another candidate that have appeared in the campaign, but not the personal of another candidate. 

24. Candidates, their campaign teams and slates shall in no way attempt to undermine the fair and democratic running of the election. 

25. Candidates shall be responsible for the conduct (and bear any penalties) of those campaigning on their behalf, including campaign teams and slates. 

26. Regarding shared campaign teams and slates, and for the avoidance of doubt, if the action of a candidate, campaign team or slate results in a sanction, all candidates who share a campaign team or are part of the slate, will be subject to the sanction. This applies up to, and including disqualification. 

 

G. Complaints, sanctions and appeals 

27. Complaints must be submitted no later than 24 hours after the close of voting. All complaints will be addressed by the RO/ DRO in conjunction with any appointed deputies where necessary. 

28. Any complaints must be made in writing in the first instance to the DRO via a published complaints form. The DRO will then decide the appropriate course of action for dealing with the complaint. 

29. Vexatious complaints will be dealt with as a breach of election rules. 

30. Sanctions in the case of an upheld complaint may be applied up to and including disqualification. These are detailed in bye-law 11.  

31. For the avoidance of doubt, these election rules and regulations apply to all candidates as a condition of standing, regardless of whether explicit acknowledgement has been obtained. 

32. Candidates, their campaign teams and slates will be subject to additional sanctions that may be applied as a result of breach of University regulations. 

33. Appeals can be made via a written statement to the Returning Officer (but must include factual information as to why the original decision is considered un-just). Appeals will normally be on the ground that the decision of the Deputy Returning Officer was: 

     i. Procedurally incorrect
     ii. Taken outside the scope of the powers of the Deputy Returning Officer as defined by these regulations
     iii. Disproportionate 

34. The appeal must be made in writing to the Retuning Officer within 24 hours of the Deputy Returning Officer's decision. 

35. Decisions of the RO are final with no further route for appeal. 

 

Returning Officer: Peter Robertson, National Union of Students, Charity Director 

Deputy Returning Officer: Phillip Dowler, Union of Kingston Students, Student Voice & Insight Manager 

Deputy Returning Officer: Alan Roberts, Counterculture LLP, Partner