PLEASE NOTE: THESE REGULATIONS ARE STILL SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
1. No coercion
This means candidates cannot pressurise or force students to vote for them. Standing over a student and watching them vote may be seen as coercion. Candidates should not give electronic devices to voters to make them vote.
2. No bribery (financial or otherwise).
This means that you cannot pay students to vote for you or offer to do something for them in order to get them to vote for you.
3. No illegal discrimination.
Candidates should not do anything that could be discriminatory against protected characteristics (Gender, Race, Religion, Disability, Sexual Orientation).
4. Campaigning.
All candidates must stick to the fixed budget. Overspending of the budget will result in disqualification.
In-person campaigning is allowed, as long as you follow any Covid-19 related rules, local rules and respect individuals’ boundaries.
Campaigns should be sustainable, accessible, and Covid-19 compliant.
Digital campaigning should follow social media platform rules and regulations. For further information, refer to SU Guidance. Spamming and trolling types of behaviour may be considered to be a breach of this rule.
Pre-campaigning is not allowed. This means campaigning before campaigning has been permitted by the SU. This includes but is not limited to setting up social media accounts (i.e. candidates and their campaign teams cannot set them up (if visible) and/or populate them with posts, stories, followers, etc. prior to the start of campaigning).
No posters and/or campaigning are allowed in the library. Candidates should also not create campaign content (both pictures and videos) and/or print any material for campaigning purposes within the library.
5. All campaign materials should be approved in principle by the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO).
This does not mean every email, every Instagram post and/or every Tweet, but manifestos, posters and flyers/leaflets should be approved.
6. All current Aston University and Aston SU rules must be complied with.
- Local rules apply. For example, the Library will not allow any campaigning inside the Library. This includes speaking to anyone within the library and its premises. A breach of this local rule is a breach of the Election Rules.
- Different parts of Aston University will have different rules. Some Colleges may allow candidates to leave leaflets in their office. Others may not. If they allow 1 candidate to leave leaflets they must allow all candidates to do so. The university is not allowed to show preference to one candidate over another.
BREACHES OF ELECTION RULES
Any breaches of rules should be reported to the Deputy Returning Officer on union.returningofficer@aston.ac.uk.
Please note, in order for the DRO to make a valid decision, evidence is required.
If you witness a breach of campaigning please indicate the specific time, date and location, to assist with the investigation. Complaints will be accepted up until 1 hour after the close of voting.
What happens if the rules are broken?
Some examples:
- The candidate could be asked to issue an apology and this could be placed on the SU website/social media.
- A candidate could be disqualified from the election.
- A candidate could be reported to the university and/or other authorities.