The rules below are in place for the 2025 main election. You must confirm you have read and agree to these rules when submitting your nomination. If you have any questions about these rules please contact us at surreydecides@surrey.ac.uk
General Information
As a candidate, you are expected to follow the rules of the election. Rule breaks will risk your position in the election. Making vexatious complaints about other candidates can also result in action being taken against you. Focusing positively on your own campaign is the best way to win the election.
During the election the Students’ Union will communicate with you via emails from surreydecides@surrey.ac.uk. It’s advisable to check your student email every day.
For voters – If you have any concerns about a candidate’s potential rule-break, please report it as soon as possible with evidence using the complaints form.
| Dates | Election Event |
| Monday 3 February at 10:00 | Nominations Open |
| Wednesday 12 February at 17:00 | Nominations Close |
| Monday 17 February at 12:00 | Manifesto Deadline – Campaigning Starts |
| Monday 24, and Tuesday 25 February | Question Time Evenings |
| Tuesday 25 February (Following Question Time) | Voting Open |
| Saturday 1 March at 12:00 | Budget Declaration Deadline |
| Saturday 1 March at 19:00 | Voting Closes |
| Saturday 1 March from 20:00 | Results Announced |
Important Deadlines
- 17:00 Wednesday 12 February: Nominations deadline
- 12:00 Monday 17 February: Manifesto and candidate information deadline
- 12:00 Saturday 1 March: Budget declaration deadline
17:00 Wednesday 12 February: Nominations Deadline
To be a valid election candidate, you must submit your nomination before 17:00 Wednesday 12 February. If you miss this deadline, please submit your reasons for your late submission via email to surreydecides@surrey.ac.uk
12:00 Monday 17 February: Manifesto and candidate information deadline
To help voters choose who to vote for, candidates are asked to submit a manifesto and information about their campaign using this form. Candidates should upload:
- Your manifesto points in plaintext
- Your manifesto as a portrait PDF (you may use our provided template)
- Your ballot photo as a .jpg or .png file
- Your name as you wish it to appear on the voting page
Any information which is not submitted in the correct format by the deadline will not be included in any Students’ Union materials, only the candidate’s name and the position they are running for will be displayed. Providing information, including a manifesto, is optional but highly recommended.
12:00 Saturday 1 March: Budget declaration deadline
Election budget:
The total cost of any resources used or purchased to support your campaign cannot exceed the maximum limit for your role to ensure fairness. The full amount you have spent can be claimed back from the Students’ Union. The limit for your campaign costs are:
- £70 for full-time roles
- £45 for Union Chair
- £35 for all other part-time roles
This limit includes any items or services you or anyone else pays for to support your campaign. This limit also includes the approximate value of any materials or services you may receive for free or already owned which you have used to support your campaign.
Budget declaration:
You must declare that you have not exceeded the maximum limit for your campaign costs via the budget declaration form by 12:00 Saturday 1 March. You must complete the budget declaration even if you spend no money or use no materials/services for your campaign so we can ensure all candidates campaigned fairly.
You should fill in a budget form to track all your campaign spending, including receipts/proof of purchase, and the approximate value of any gifted or pre-owned materials/services you use for your campaign. The only exception is materials provided by the Students’ Union at optional candidate training. This budget form will be provided to all candidates and should be uploaded using the budget declaration form by 12:00 Saturday 1 March.
The approximate value assigned to any materials/services should be a fair reflection of the value of the item/service. The only items likely to be able to be listed as having a value of zero is recycled cardboard. If you are unsure of how to cost up an item/service, please contact surreydecides@surrey.ac.uk.
Candidates who are late in submitting budget forms risk being removed from the election count. Exceeding your budget, making a fraudulent or inaccurate budget declaration is a serious offence that could result in your disqualification from the election.
Reimbursement:
Candidates must supply receipts in order to prove their spending and claim back campaign expenses. Please ensure that you have scanned or photographed all your receipts for electronic submission, as if you cannot provide a receipt for something on your budget form that you have spent, you cannot be reimbursed for it, and it may lead to problems with your budget submission.
Campaigning Rules
Early campaigning and organising your campaign:
Campaigning means promoting yourself as a candidate to students or actively encouraging students to vote for you. Campaigning for votes may begin from 12:00 Monday 17 February. Campaigning for votes is not allowed before this point. Before campaigning for votes begins, you may organise your campaign. This can include:
- Conducting research or gathering information to help develop your manifesto
- Meeting with Union or University staff or elected officers
- Assembling a small team of students who will campaign on your behalf once campaigning opens
- Seeking endorsements from Club or Society signatories
- Purchasing resources to use for your campaign (remaining within budget, please see budget rules for more information).
Directly asking students to vote for you, advertising manifesto points, or promoting your intention to stand in the election may be interpreted as early campaigning. Any action that could be interpreted as early campaigning for votes will be investigated by the Returning Officer and action may be taken against you. If it is unclear whether preparation activity will be considered as early campaigning, please contact surreydecides@surrey.ac.uk for advice.
Campaigning methods:
Once the campaigning period begins, you should campaign whilst following these rules around allowed and nonallowed campaigning methods, whilst ensuring your campaign costs remain within the budget for your role (see budget section of the rules).
Allowed campaigning methods:
- Printing and distributing campaign materials (eg. posters, flyers) across the University campus. You must ensure you do not place campaign materials in any not allowed locations.
- Speaking to students in-person about voting for you.
- Posting about yourself and your campaign on your personal social media.
- Asking other students to promote your campaign.
- Attending social events or Rubix nights to promote your campaign.
- Attending Question Time held in Rubix in the Union building Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 February. (Attendance at Question Time is highly recommended but not compulsory. Candidates who cannot attend will be mentioned during the event.)
- Creatively finding other ways to promote your campaign.
Nonallowed campaigning methods:
- Campaigning and campaign materials (eg. posters, flyers) are not allowed in the entire Library building (including the ground floor area outside Co-Op ), all Hive spaces, the Dots, and the Nest.
- Unsolicited knocking (cold calling) on doors of residences (including any outer doors) is not allowed.
- Obtaining votes from students in a manner which removes their free choice through behaviour which may be interpreted as intimidation or harassment is not allowed.
- Obtaining votes from students in a manner which removes their free choice through financial bribery or by using their voting details is not allowed.
- Campaigning candidates must not block access to University buildings, disrupt the academic activities of the University, or cause disturbance to others.
- Campaign materials are not allowed to be placed in any dangerous/hard to reach areas.
- Campaign materials are not allowed to be placed in any location which obstructs the normal workings of the campus, covers any existing signage, causes danger to others, or damages/litters the University or Union property. Do not obstruct vision panels in doors or obscure a fire exit sign. Posters should only be placed on central poster boards, and are not allowed on painted walls or on trees. You should not use stickers.
- Campaign material should never be placed in non-University owned locations, including public bus stops off-campus and at Hazel Farm.
- Claiming false endorsements from clubs or societies.
- Students in leadership positions (eg. Union Officers, Course Reps) must not campaign using resources/opportunities that are not available to other students but which are available to them directly as a result of being in a position of leadership. This includes using mailing lists.
- Part-time and full-time employees of the Students’ Union must not campaign whilst undertaking work for the Union. Employees of the Union also must not campaign using resources/opportunities that are not available to other students but which are available to them directly as a result of being employees of the Union. This includes using mailing lists, social media accounts, or Union staff facilities. Full-time employees (Sabbatical Officers) should not undertake student-facing work during the campaigning period.
All campaign material must be removed from campus before the election results are announced. Any reports of campaigning materials left in any banned areas will be treated seriously. University staff may remove campaigning material which is located in unsafe places or which may damage the University’s property.
Voting
Every student has the right to vote for the candidate they want to represent them. Every student has the right to vote secretly if they wish and without undue pressure, intimidation, or harassment.
You must not cast any votes using another person’s unique voting code. This includes using another student’s phone/device to access the voting page using their unique voting code and casting a vote for yourself.
Any evidence of candidates interfering with another student’s vote in a manner which removes their right to a free and/or secret choice of who to vote for will be taken very seriously by the Returning Officer and may result in disqualification from the election.
Voting opens after Question Time finishes on Tuesday 25 February and closes on Saturday 1 March at 19:00. Votes will be counted and announced from 20:00 on Saturday 1 March. Full voting results will also be published to the Union website after the results announcement. If you are successfully elected, you will begin your role in July 2025.
Breaches of these rules
It is essential that you follow the election rules whilst campaigning. If there is an issue around any candidate allegedly breaking the rules, we contact the Returning Officer for their decision.
Rule breaches can lead to strikes being imposed by the Returning Officer. We operate a ‘three strike’ approach, meaning that anyone receiving three strikes is removed from the election and can no longer be a candidate. The Returning Officer can also award multiple strikes or remove someone from the election if their offence is particularly severe. Examples of particularly severe offences include calling into question the validity of the election through interfering with other students votes, exceeding your campaign budget, or intimidating/harassing voters.