Union Council

This year SUSU has introduced a new method of electing Union Councillors. The aim of this new voting system is to elect a group of students who reflect the overall student body of Southampton University

Nominations

After the nominations closed last week, it was found that some of the Union Council positions would not be contested due to the number of candidates being equal to or less than the number of seats available. For the positions where this was the case the candidates have been allocated the seats and declared elected. They are therefore not participating in any further voting process and have been removed from the ballot paper.

Voting

This has left a total of 12 candidates participating in the voting stages, and the voting system that has been selected requires voting members to rank the candidates from the highest to the lowest preference. This produces a single list with the most popular candidate ranked in first place.

The Union Council seats are then allocated, starting with the two seats from the category with the lowest number of candidates standing. The two highest ranked candidates who fit within that category are then declared elected and are removed from the ranking. This process is repeated until all seats are filled or until there are no more eligible candidates available.

Example

If only one candidate is nominated under the category of mature student, then they would automatically be allocated one of the two seats available for mature students on Union Council.

However, if there were three candidate nominations under the category of mature student then, following a vote, the two highest ranked candidates within that category would be allocated the seats on Union Council.

Questions?

For more information on the voting process for Union Council Elections, take a look at this blog post from your VP Communications, Joe McLoughlin.

Or, if you're unsure about how the voting works, or have any questions, you can email the Returning Officer at returning@susu.org.