UCSU is a student-led, democratic organisation because we're run by elected students.
In our elections any students can nominate themselves and all students can vote.
By-Elections 2018
Nominations Open: 9:00am, Monday 3rd September 2018 - 5:00pm, Wednesday 3rd October 2018
Voting Opens: 9:00am, Monday 8th October 2018 - 12:00pm, Friday 12th October 2018
Results Announced: Friday 12th October 2018
#CumbriaVotes 2019
Nominations Open: 9:00am, Tuesday 1st January 2018 - 12:00pm, Friday 15th February 2018 @ www.ucsu.me/nominate
Voting Opens: 9:00am, Monday 25th February 2018 - 12:00pm, Friday 8th March 2018 @ www.ucsu.me/vote
Results Announced: tbc, Friday 8th March 2018
Why do we run elections?
As your Students' Union, we have students at the heart of everthing we do. Your elected Full-Time Officer are trustees and directors of UCSU.
The Panel is made up of elected student volunteers who make big decisions about the Students' Union's policy and your ideas.
For all our elections, we ask our members (all University of Cumbria students) to have their say and collectively choose the leadership of their Students' Union.
When are UCSU elections?
In February/March we elect our Full-Time Officers, Student Trustees, and The Panel.
In October we elected our Panel Co-Chairs and NUS Delegates. If any positions are left vacant, we run by-election for those positions.
Can I run?
Yes, of course you can! No matter who you are, every single one of our members has the right to stand in our elections.
For some positions we ask that candidates self-identify as a particular identity or with a certain group of students to qualify to stand as a candidate.
How do UCSU elections work?
Elections are run by the Deputy Returning Officer, who is a member of UCSU staff. Elections are monitored and judged by the Returning Officer, normally a member of NUS staff.
In our elections, all students are invited to nominate themselves or recommend a friend for a position. Once nominations have closed, candidates are provided with training and support, before being announced ahead of voting. Voting is normally open for a week or two via www.ucsu.me and polling booths on campus. Once voting has closed the Deputy Returning Officer and Returning Officer check the election has been fair and announce the results.
You may notice a candidate called "RON". This stands for "Re-Open Nominations".
You should vote for RON you feel that no candidates are suitable for the position. If RON wins, nominations will be re-opened and the election will be re-run at a later date.
How does voting work?
We use the Single-Transferrable Voting method. This means that a majority of voters (over 50%) must prefer a candidate before they can win. This means that you don't just vote for your favourite candidate (like in national, Parliamentary elections) but can let us know who is your 2nd favourite, 3rd favourite, and so on!
How to vote:
- Log in to www.ucsu.me/vote
- Vote by ranking the candidates - 1 = favourite, 2 = second favourite, and so on. You can choose to rank as many (or few) candidates as you like.
How votes are counted:
- All first preferences are counted and assigned to each candidate. If no candidate achieves more than 50% of the vote then the candidate with the lowest number of voted is eliminated.
- The second preferences (for the voters who gave their first preference to the eliminated candidate) are added to the other candidates totals. If no candidate achieves more than 50% of the vote then the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated.
- This process continues until a candidate achieves a majority and wins the election!
