Spring Elections Working Group (30th January 2014)

David Martin informed the group that Mayan Al-Shakarchy, Union Councillor, had resigned from the group. The two available positions on this working group will be advertised at the next Union Council which will meet on 4th February.

The group approved the minutes from the previous meeting. 

Actions from previous meeting:

1. The Media Pack will be prepared and ready for the opening of nominations.
2. David Gilani informed the group that he had spoken to Claire Joines about designing posters. After discussing it with her, David suggested that perhaps poster designing is something that can be offered in future elections but not this year as there is not enough time now to organise it. The group were in agreement over this and it will be brought up in the Election Debrief meeting.
3. Nickola spoke to Caroline Jessop; headers of posters will be done in different languages. Nickola also mentioned that Caroline is working on a communications strategy which will include international students' languages. In their discussion, the importance of accessibility of information was brought up and Nickola stressed the importance of using plain english in any publication that is sent out.  
4. The group decided to not rename E-choice and P-choice; instead, they will be labelled under the generic term of 'Election tools' and they will be accompanied with an explanation of what they do. Claire asked if the P-choice tool could also have a Zone filter, this will be discussed with Paul. 
5. The minibus trip will be scheduled ASAP once all other events have been finalised. Also, trips during the nomination period also need to be scheduled.
6. David Martin spoke to iSolutions who informed them that they cannot change the default computer screens.
7. Guy will email out the election myths to Claire and David Gilani.

David Martin informed the group that a policy idea has been submitted to Union Council that would alter the campaigning dates for this year. The new proposed dates are outlined in the paper attached to this item. After discussion. the group decided to opt for option 1 (start campaigning on Friday 21st February at 12pm). In addition to this change, there will also be a candidate breakfast event at 10am, followed by a compulsory briefing at 11am. Only candidates (sabbaticals, student leaders, union councillors and trustees) will be invited to this briefing. If candidates are unable to make this briefing, they will be able to send a representative as long as they email democracy@susu.org before hand. 

During the briefing on 21st February, candidates will receive election material (t-shirts, posters etc.).

Putting up banners

David Martin put forward the idea of drawing lots within sabbatical positions. The group were in agreement over this. It was also agreed that only sabbatical candidates will be given help from Facilities to put up banners. Claire suggested, to avoid confusion and crowding, that candidates be contacted 10-15 minutes before the Facilities team are ready to assist them in putting up banners.  This would involve drawing lots at the briefing on Friday and then informing candidates that they will be contacted throughout the day when the Facilities team are ready for them. Guy said he will speak to Scott Malcolmson to discuss staffing and the estimated time to put up each banner.

Presidential candiates will be given priority, the other sabbatical positions will be drawn randomly from a hat to determine the order of positions.  

Poster printing

Posters from candidates will be accepted from Tuesday 18th February, 5pm. This will allow staff to brief candidates on what publicity is allowed and in what format it should be done in. The deadline for poster completion will be Friday 21st February at 11am, as this is when they will be distributed to candidates. Guy will clarify this deadline with Guy Dawson.

It was decided that the poster template will be made available during the nominations period along with an explanation of how candidates should design their poster. David Gilani suggested putting an explanation online alongside the template. Guy will speak to Guy Dawson about how much information he is happy to release about publicity.

AOB

• Absence

David Martin informed the group that he will be absent on Wednesday 19th February, but he will endeavour to make it back to Southampton in time for the candidate debates.

• SUSUtv

David Martin also informed the group that SUSUtv would like to change the format of the filming of the Big Reveal during elections. Instead of the original format, they would like to pre-record short interviews with candidates, edit them and put them together as one show which will then be released at 5pm on the day of the 'Big Reveal'. The group felt that having live interviews with candidates on the day of the big reveal added to the atmosphere and would be the best option for the day and so were disappointed that SUSUtv did not want to do this. As an alternative, SUSU could seek an external company to carry out the live interviews and take promotional videos/photos. David Martin will speak to Catherine Darcy about other options available, including the possibility of SUSU CMT staff helping SUSUtv on the day.

• Manifestos

There was discussion about the formatting of manifestos and how they can be easily uploaded to the website as well as being accessible to all. Guy will speak to Paul and ask how he would like the manifestos to be sent to him.