Spring Elections Working Group (6th February 2014)

Minutes were approved.
Actions:

1. Guy will follow up with Paul if the Zone filter has been included on P-choice.
2. Guy will follow up with Scott about staffing on 21st February.
3. Guy spoke to Guy Dawson about posters; the deadline for submission will be 12pm on Wednesday 19th February, information will be included in the publicity pack.
4. Paul informed Guy that manifestos cannot be done in PDF, Davie Martin stressed that they should be up by 18th February. Guy will confirm that this is possible with Paul.

David Gilani suggested that the bullet points within manifestos should have a word limit.

Nickola asked how the Sabbatical drops in were going. David Martin said they were going well and that there were had been quite a few people showing interest in elections; particularly members who had not been engaged with Union before. Nickola asked if the lack of flyers is detrimental; the general agreement was that flyers would be a good idea and make it easier for Sabbaticals to engage the members. It was suggested that marketing crew should be involved in these drop ins; they can hand out flyers and guide interested students towards the Sabbaticals in Pod 3. It was decided that Sabbatical drop ins will continue into next week, with the addition of marketing crew to assist in handing out flyers.

David Martin explained that he would like the manifestos on the website no later than the morning of Wednesday 19th February; ideally they would have all been submitted by 5pm on Tuesday 18th February, in time for debates.

It was decided that the deadline for the submission of designed manifestos will be close of nominations (12pm on Monday 17th February). Candidates will be informed that if their design is not in by this deadline, there will be no guarantee that their manifesto will finished. SUSU will only be offering this assistance to Sabbatical candidates. On Wednesday 19th February, between 9-12 there will be a drop in session where candidates will be able to view their manifesto first before they go live at 12pm.

NOTE: It has been subsequently decided to offer the design facility from 2pm on the 17th, and on the 18th. You can find more information about this here.

Guy informed the group of the schedule leading up to the Big Reveal: on the 17th February at 12pm, staff will go through manifestos to ensure that they are appropriate and not in breach of Union Policy. The Returning Officer will then need to approve the manifestos for publication. Hopefully this will be completed by 5-6pm. After this, the manifestos will be printed and the media groups (Surge Radio, SUSUtv, Wessex Scene and SotonTab) will be given the opportunity to view these in the Boardroom. Media groups will not be able to release this information until 5pm on Tuesday 18th February. Members of media groups who attend this will need to be impartial to the elections and an attendance list will be taken as a precaution.

David Gilani asked if we were planning on including any local media. Nickola recommended speaking to Alana about external communication. Claire will action this.

Guy presented the group with a paper detailing the schedule of the candidate briefing on Tuesday 18th February. It was decided that Union councillors will not have their photos taken and will only attend the briefing. They will need to send in their photos when they nominate themselves. Student Trustees will be combined with Student Leaders and have their briefing at 1.30pm, followed by photos at 3pm.

NOTE: It has been subsequently decided to hold the Student Leader photos and media session at 12:30, and the briefing at 2pm. All candidates will be informed of the details at 12pm on the day.

Discussion turned to the event of the Big Reveal and media involvement. As SUSUtv are unable to animate candidate videos, Nickola will speak to Paul about getting an animator in for the afternoon to do this work. A meeting will be arranged for next week with SUSUtv to discuss the specifics of their involvement in the Big Reveal.

The Briefing was discussed and approved:

1. Introduction - 10 minutes
2. Voting process - 5 minutes
3. Rules - 10 minutes
4. Publicity and Campaigning - 15 minutes
5. Candidate Support - 10 minutes
6. Close and questions - 10 minutes.

We will be providing free balloons, free bedsheets (to sabbatical candidates) and free tshirts, similar to last years set up. This information will be made available from the 18th February. This material will be given out between 4-5pm on the 18th February from the Democracy Department.

SUSU will not provide PA systems or any other technical services, unless approved by the Working Group and offered fairly to other candidates. This information will be relayed to the Technology crew.

Space will be provided outside the Democracy Department and in the Student Groups room (located next to the Hub) for candidates to store their campaign material on campus.

Guy will speak to Jaki about asking other staff members to help out during the voting period. The more staff who can support the polling stations the better as this will free up marketing crew who will be able to visit student halls and other sites.

By Monday, David Martin will have spoken to relevant media groups and will know when Surge Radio will be available to play on the red brick area during the voting period.

It was decided that a DJ would be booked for the Results Night Live. Guy informed the group that catering will be keeping the cafe open until 8pm on that evening. The media group who will be attending have asked for food vouchers; David Martin will ask SUSUtv on Monday (10th) how many vouchers they will require

David Martin informed the group that he will now be missing both candidate debates on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th February.

There was no other business.

The meeting ended at 12pm. The next meeting will be on Friday 14th February at 9am in Breakout Room 1.