Hello, my name is Martin and I’m one of the staff members at the Students’ Union.
As well as overseeing several services and working to support elected officers each year, for a couple of weeks at a time I also take on the role of Deputy Returning Officer for elections.
A Deputy Returning What?!
A Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) is a full-time member of Union staff who is appointed to oversee the planning and organising of elections and to ensure that they operate in line with SU rules to ensure a free and fair vote takes place.
They work with the Returning Officer (RO) to do this, someone who is independent of the Students’ Union/University with vast experience of overseeing elections – in our case the National Union of Students’ who oversee a large number of Students’ Union Elections each year.
Okay so what do you actually do?
Day-to-day this means I work with a range of staff at the Union typically known as the ‘Elections Team’ to prepare for and deliver our elections each year.
Planning for elections begins as lot earlier than you’d think, typically as early as November/December for the Spring Officer Elections held in March. We also hold By-Elections in October and April/May. I will typically work with staff to prepare information and communicate this to students about the elections process and roles available.
We do this because we believe passionately in having a broad and diverse range of candidates, as well as ensuring when it comes to voting that students are informed and have as smooth an experience as possible. During the elections itself I will act as the main point of contact between students, candidates, the Elections Team, and Returning Officer.
What experience do you need to have to be a Deputy Returning Officer?
Well, everyone’s journey to the role is personal to them. For me, I have worked in Students’ Unions now for over a decade, during which time I steadily built up responsibility and experience as part of various Election Teams at Aber and elsewhere.
In addition, NUS provide a range of training and opportunities for Deputy Returning Officers to meet and discuss how elections work, but also crucially how we make them as fair and accessible as possible to students. Students’ Unions often share best practice with each other, and we often use our sector network to explore common issues and ensure that any actions we take are on a par with what might happen elsewhere.
This year I’ve also very recently taken on responsibility as Returning Officer for NUS Wales Elections meaning I get to see the other side of things at a national level. I also have previous experience of being a candidate to! Ultimately, I’m passionate about students engaging in democracy and want to do all I can to give them the opportunity to do so.
What are the rules for the election?
Well, firstly it’s important to mention that all existing laws and rules which govern individual and student behaviour normally still apply – there are no exceptions made for simply being a candidate. Where it can get complicated is that often many of these rules are dealt with by other complaint processes which a complainant may be advised to follow.
In terms of the election rules themselves, these are listed in a Students’ Union Bye-law, but there are two overarching principles we ask candidates to follow for the election period. These are:
- to do only what other candidates have an equal opportunity to do, and
- treat all students, candidates, and staff members with respect.
In addition, there are 7 examples of unacceptable conduct, including:
- The use of University or Students’ Union resources to further the election of a candidate.
- The defacement of or interference with a candidate’s publicity.
- Bribery of voters or election officials.
- Behaviour which is threatening, harassing, or risking the wellbeing and safety of others.
- Producing offensive or defamatory publicity.
- Preventing the free and confidential exercise of a vote by voters (including the improper use of mobile devices).
- Compromising or interfering with the integrity of the election.
Who decides the rules for the elections?
It’s a bit of a myth that the Returning Officer or Deputy Returning Officer decide the rules – these are ultimately set and decided by students. This is also why when it comes to ruling on complaints, our role is simply to investigate and follow the rules laid out; while there can be a level of interpretation, our rules are based on best practice from elsewhere, experiences at Aber and we also use a log of rulings from previous years to ensure consistency where possible.
It’s important to remember that the rules also only cover the elections themselves. In the same way you wouldn’t want a University to judge you for a criminal offence before a court of law does; we do not pass judgements on behaviour outside of the elections – there are other University and Union complaints processes for this. This is to ensure fairness to those involved.
Any student can suggest changes to the Union’s Election rules by submitting an idea to Senedd. However, it’s important to be aware this can be trickier than it sounds, as the Union is required to follow various laws, including the Education Act, that might make it difficult to introduce changes. For this reason, the Board of Trustees have a final say on all ideas, just to ensure we don’t break the law! I would always recommend arranging a chat if you are thinking of doing this, so that importantly we can find out if other Unions have similar rules in place, and advise appropriately.
If you don’t decide the rules, how do you oversee them?
The Deputy Returning Officer often has two roles; the first is to develop guidance that is designed to ensure fairness and support candidates to not break any rules. A good example of this are the campaign budgets, where each candidate is given a set spending limit (this year up to £25) to cover the cost of their campaign. Candidates are required to provide evidence of their expenditure through receipts before the end of voting.
Another role is to oversee and investigate complaints. We ask students to submit complaints through a specific form, while students can email queries around the election - the form ensures the complaint is clearly defined and that any evidence is included. This is to prevent as much as possible a back and forth over email to clarify matters.
Ultimately the Election Team want to create an accessible election process, which as much as possible ensures fairness between candidates and fairness to the voter.
So how are complaints dealt with?
Once a complaint is submitted, the form comes through to the Deputy Returning Officer, and it is initially reviewed to see if it’s apparent that a potential rule breach has occurred.
Based on this, they will initially contact the complainant or others involved to clarify allegations, as well as the candidate and get their response to the allegations. It might be during this period that until the complaint is resolved the Deputy Returning Officer advises against actions which could worsen the situation. It’s ultimately for that individual to decide whether they listen to this advice.
Once all this information is collated, I will review these statements considering the rules, and including relevant members of the Elections Team where appropriate to test my proposed rulings before they are made. I may also speak to the Returning Officer and other Deputy Returning Officers from around the country to benefit from their own experiences of overseeing elections.
It’s important such rulings are considered carefully, because all candidates and complainants have the right to appeal as a final failsafe.
What penalties can be applied to candidates who break rules, and how is this communicated?
There are a range of penalties that can be applied to candidates in an election. These could include:
- Timed bans on physical or social media campaigning.
- Actions that might redress an advantage that has been gained (for example allowing a targeted email from other candidates to students involved).
- Halting an election.
- Annulling an election result and ordering a new one in its place.
- Giving a formal and final warning.
- Disqualifying candidates.
Common-sense is often applied to situations, so take a previous example where someone had purchased five hand stamps for £25 despite only having £20 of their campaigns budget left. Once they realised this was an issue upon delivery, we agreed that we would hold one hand stamp (the equivalent of the £5 overspend) until the end of the election so that they would not be advantaged.
There are other examples where other candidates may have sent emails to groups which breach rules; to redress any imbalance, other candidates were allowed the opportunity to send a similar worded email to promote themselves. When it comes to disqualifying a candidate, this can only be decided by the Returning Officer, who again is independent of the Union.
Where a penalty is applied this will first be communicated to the candidate before the complainant is told that action has been taken. In cases of disqualification other candidates standing for the position will then be told. Whether such decisions should be communicated more widely is an area of debate both in terms of considering the wellbeing of candidates (standing for election for many can be a stressful experience) but also being as transparent as possible to voters. We annually review our approach to this based on feedback from students
What if students are still unhappy with the result of an election (or the work of a Full-time Officer)?
If someone is elected to an Officer role who students feel are not fit to hold that post, they can submit a vote of no confidence using a procedure outlined in our Constitution Articles of Association. This process covers all trustee roles (which include the Full-time Officers) at any point from being elected to officer until the end of their term. To pass a vote of no confidence in a Trustee requires a simple majority of registered students voting in an All Student Vote, provided that at least 500 registered students took part.
This would initially require a secure petition of no confidence signed by at least 250 registered students and submitted to the Union Chairperson. Our Campaigns and Democracy Coordinator, Alice can advise any student on this process at any time.