• About AUUG
• News + views
• Events
• Membership
• Resources
• Directory
• Press
• Sponsors
• AUUG Classic
• Contact AUUG

Election Procedures

How to run the AUUG Annual Board elections.

Last updated 14 December 1994

AUUG Election Procedures

These rules were approved by the AUUG Incorporated Management Committee on 14th December 1994.

1. NOTICE OF ELECTION

The Returning Officer shall cause notice of election to be sent by post to all financial members no later than 15th March each year.

2. FORM OF NOTICE

The notice of election shall include:

1. a list of all positions to be elected, namely:
   • President
   • Vice President
   • Secretary
   • Treasurer
   • Ordinary Committee Members (5)
   • Returning Officer
   • Assistant Returning Officer
2. a nomination form;
3. the date by which nominations must be received (in accordance with clause 21(2) of the Constitution, this date is 14th April);
4. the means by which the nomination form may be lodged;
5. a description of the format for a policy statement.

3. POLICY STATEMENT

A person nominated for election may include with the nomination a policy statement of up to 200 words. This word limit shall not include sections of the statement stating in point form the nominee's name, personal details and positions held on, or by appointment of, the AUUG Management Committee and chapters.

Policy statements exceeding the word limit shall be truncated at the word limit when included in the ballot information.

The Returning Officer may edit policy statements to improve readability, such edits being limited to spelling, punctuation and capitalisation corrections and spacing modifications.

Use of the UNIX wc program shall be accepted as an accurate way to count words.

4. RECEIPT OF NOMINATIONS

In accordance with clause 21(2) of the Constitution, nominations shall be received by the Secretary up until 14th April. A nomination shall be deemed to have been received by the due date if one of the following is satisfied:

• it is delivered by post to AUUG Inc's Post Box, the AUUG Secretariat's Post Box or the AUUG Secretariat's street address no later than 2 business days after 14th April and is postmarked no later than 12 midday on 14th April;
• it is delivered by hand to the Secretary or the AUUG Inc Secretariat no later than 5pm on 14th April;
• it is transmitted by facsimile to the Secretary or the AUUG Inc Secretariat no later than 5pm on 4th April.

5. REQUIREMENT FOR A BALLOT AND DUE DATE

In accordance with clause 21(5), no later than 1st May, the Secretary

• shall advise the Returning Officer of all valid nominations received;
• and if a ballot is required, shall advise the Returning Officer of a date no later than 15th May for the ballot for all contested election.

In accordance with clause 42(3), the due date for return of ballots shall be 4 weeks after the date advised above.

6. FORM OF BALLOT PAPER

The ballot paper shall contain:

• details of all positions for which the number of nominations exactly equals the number of positions to be filled;
• for each position for which a ballot is required, the names of all persons seeking election to that position, except those already elected to a higher position, with a square immediately to the left, for the elector to place a voting preference;
• instructions on how to complete the ballot paper;
• instructions on how to return the ballot paper;
• a brief description of how the ballot is to be counted.

The ballot shall not contain any identification of existing office-bearers.

The ballot shall be accompanied by a copy of all policy statements submitted by all persons nominated, including any persons elected unopposed. These policy statements may be truncated or modified as outlined in 3.

7. METHOD OF VOTING

Voting for each position shall be by optional preferential vote. The number ``1'' must be placed against the candidate of the elector's first preference, and a number other than ``1'' against any or all of the other candidates. Preferences shall be determined by the numbers placed against other candidates, which must be strictly monotone ascending to count as preferences.

A vote shall be informal if:

• it does not have the number ``1'' against exactly one candidate.

8. SECRECY OF BALLOT

The ballot paper shall be accompanied by two envelopes, which may be used by the elector to ensure secrecy. On completion of the ballot paper, the paper may be placed inside the smaller envelope. This envelope is then placed inside a second envelope. The elector must then sign and date the outer envelope, making the following declaration:

``I, __________________________________, member number __________________________________, declare that I am entitled to vote in this election on behalf of the voting member whose membership number is shown above, and no previous ballot has been cast on behalf of this voting member in this election.''

9. RETURNING BALLOT

To be considered to have been returned by the due date, the ballot paper together with declaration as above must be returned by one of the following means:

• it is delivered by post to AUUG Inc's Post Box, the AUUG Secretariat's Post Box or the AUUG Secretariat's street address no later than 2 business days after the due date and is postmarked no later than 12 midday on the due date;
• it is delivered by hand to the Returning Officer or the AUUG Inc Secretariat no later than 5pm on the due date.

10. METHOD OF COUNTING

Where there is an election for a single position, the votes shall be counted by the preferential method. Where there is more than one position to be filled, the votes shall be counted by the modified preferential Hare CLark system described in schedule 1.

11. METHOD OF ELECTION

A person may be elected to only one position. Elections shall be counted in the order of positions described in 2(a). When counting ballots, any person previously elected shall be deemed withdrawn from that election, and all ballot papers shall be implicitly renumbered as though that person was not included.

12. NOTIFICATION OF RESULT

In accordance with clause 42(7) of the Constitution, the Returning Officer shall advise the Secretary in writing of the result no later than fourteen days after the due date. The Returning Officer shall advise all candidates for election of the result no later than fourteen days after the due date. The Returning Officer shall advise the AUUGN Editor in writing of the result no later than fourteen days after the due date. The AUUG Editor shall include the results in the first issue of AUUGN published after receiving the results from the Returning Officer.

13. PUBLICATION OF THESE RULES

The Returning Officer shall advise the AUUGN Editor of the current rules, and the AUUGN Editor shall cause the current rules to be published on or after 1st January each year. Where no issue of AUUGN has been posted by 28th February in any calendar year, the Returning Officer shall cause the current rules to be distributed with the notice of election.

14. OCCASIONAL VARIATION FROM THESE RULES

Subject to the Constitution, the Management Committee may authorise occasional variations from these rules. Such variations shall be advised in writing to all members at the next stage in the election process in which information is distributed to members.

15. EXECUTION

Where these rules require the Returning Officer to carry out an action, it shall be valid for the Returning Officer to delegate execution to the Secretariat from time to time employed by the Management Committee.

16. RETENTION OF BALLOT PAPERS

The Secretary shall retain ballot papers and member declarations (as specified in 8) until the AUUG AGM of the calendar year following the year of the election, unless a general meeting of AUUG directs the Secretary to hold them for a longer period.

Schedule 1

1. Each ballot paper shall initially have a value of one.

2. The value of each ballot paper shall be allotted to the candidate against whose name appears the lowest number on the paper among those candidates not elected or eliminated. If there is no such candidate (i.e. the ballot paper is exhausted) the ballot paper shall be set aside.

3. A quota shall be calculated by dividing the number of formal votes by one more than the number of positions remaining to be elected, and rounding up to the next whole number.

4. If any candidate is allotted a total value greater than the quota, that candidate shall be declared to elected, the ballot papers allotted to that candidate shall be assigned a new value by multiplying their previous value by the excess of the candidate's vote above the quota divided by the candidate's total vote. This new value shall be truncated (rounded down) to 5 decimal places. Ballot papers that subsequently have a value of zero shall be set aside. Steps 2 and 3 shall then be repeated.

5. If no candidate is allotted a total a total value greater than the quota, the candidate who is allotted the lowest total value among those candidates not elected or eliminated shall be eliminated. Steps 2 and 3 shall then be repeated.

6. Where

   1. two or more candidates are declared elected at the same stage of counting according to Step 4 have an equality of votes, and it is necessary to determine which is deemed elected first,

   or

   2. a candidate is required to be eliminated under Step 5, and two or more candidates have an equally low vote,

   the Returning Officer shall return to the immediately preceding stage of counting and

   1. in the case of candidates elected, deem first elected the candidate with the highest vote at the immediately preceding stage, and
   2. in the case where a candidate is to be eliminated, eliminate the candidate with the lowest vote at the immediately preceding stage.

   Where an equality of votes still exists at the immediately preceding stage, the Returning Officer shall continue proceeding to preceding stages until a result can be determined.

   In the event that candidates have maintained an equality of votes throughout the entire counting process, the Returning Officer shall determine which candidate is to be determined first elected or to be eliminated by lot in the presence of the Assistant Returning Officer.