Club or Society Election Guidance

ELECTION GUIDANCE 

• Clubs and societies should run their elections in a way that is fair, democratic, accessible, and transparent. 

• Office bearers and committee members should be elected by your club or society's membership at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) or at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) called to elect a replacement during the event of a vacancy. 

• Your AGM should be held within the final few months of the academic year. The easiest time to do this would be at the end of semester two in March, as this gives time for your current office bearers to tie up any loose ends and provide a sufficient handover to those newly elected. For more information on how to host your AGM, please click here.

• Each Office Bearer must be elected by your club or society's membership, even in the event of a vacancy. Other vacancies may be filled by co-option etc., but the method must be specified in your club or society's constitution. 

• Any full member of your club or society is entitled to stand for an office bearer position, provided they are a registered University of Glasgow student. 

• No full member should be barred from standing for office in your club or society unless the position is in existence for a particular group or community of interest. Prior vetting of candidates is prohibited (via interviews, a selection process, etc.). 

• No full member may hold more than one position at the same time per club or society. 

• Please remember that associate members can neither stand nor vote in your elections. 

• You must publicise your elections to your members and set a timeline for your nomination and voting periods. Nomination applications can be gathered via MS or Google Forms and should not be accepted after the closing date. 

• Voting can take place prior to, or during, your AGM. We recommend using one of the following online platforms for online voting: Vevox, Doodle, Microsoft or Google Forms. 

• First past the post must be used as the voting system for each role, whereby a candidate will be elected via a simple majority. 

• Votes must be counted and verified by an impartial member(s) of your committee who is not running in your election or endorsing a particular candidate.  

• Any office bearer re-running for election must not be involved in the electoral process. This must be conducted by neutral individuals within your club or society, who are not running in the election or openly supporting or campaigning for a candidate. If neither are possible, your club or society President should contact the SRC for assistance with running your election. 

HUSTINGS  

• Hustings involves each candidate giving a short speech to an audience about who they are, what they wish to achieve in their position, and why people should vote for them. It is also an opportunity to answer any questions from fellow club or society members.  

• We recommend organising a hustings event for your club or society. Hustings help to ensure that each candidate is given a fair and equal chance in your elections. You can host your hustings prior to, or during, your AGM. Organising your hustings during your AGM ensures most of your members will be present and allows them to vote for their favourite candidate in real time. 

• Due to the size of many clubs and societies, we recommend inviting your members to submit questions for all candidates standing for each position in advance, once nominations are open. When nominations close, you can compile the questions – removing any inappropriate ones! – and send them to each candidate, either with a deadline to submit their answers prior to voting opening, or to answer during your AGM.  

• You can run your hustings in-person, virtually, or hybrid, but remember – you will need to put some ground rules down and agree a format in advance, so people do not just talk over each other and to give all candidates a fair chance to answer. For example, each answer should be restricted to the same time limit, e.g., two minutes per question. 

• If hosting your hustings prior to your AGM, you should post all answers by candidates to an appropriate forum, e.g., your club or society's website, Instagram account, etc.  

CANVASSING 

• Canvassing is defined as any means of public declaration or publicising of candidacy during the election period.  

• Candidates should be given the opportunity to outline their reasons for running and any previous experience, which must be made freely available to the electorate, e.g., via a written statement or video. These can be submitted by candidates when they put themselves forward for a position. This does not have to be exhaustive and could just be a 200-word statement outlining who they are, their experience, what they wish to do, and why your club or society should vote for them. 

• Society and club funds must not be used to publicise a candidate. There is no designated budget for canvassing provided to club or society members. We do not expect students to spend any money canvassing for club or society elections. This helps to ensure that there is no financial barrier for others to participate.  

• Your club or society cannot endorse individual candidates. Your club or society's members may campaign on your behalf but must do so in a personal capacity.  

• We encourage candidates to treat each other with respect and discourage negative canvassing. Whilst you may criticise another candidate's campaign, this must never relate to a candidate's personal traits or character.