Election Help: How voting will work

1. To be eligible to vote, staff must be employed under a permanent non-academic contract that is either full-time or part-time, and must be in post during the period of the Election.

2. Staff eligible to vote will receive instructions on voting procedure on or around Wednesday 4 May 2011.

                               NB:  All ballots received will be treated in the strictest confidence.

        3.  When you receive your e-mail message, Press the "Reply" button to create a response to the message. That forms your electronic ballot 'paper'.

4. On your ballot paper you will be asked to rank candidates in order of preference (1, 2, 3 etc) rather than by making a single choice with a cross.

5. Put a "1" beside the candidate you like best, then a "2" beside your second choice, "3" beside your third choice and so on.   You can express preferences for as many or as few candidates as you like.

6. The numbers you use must be in sequence. If you make a mistake, your vote will be valid up to when you made the error - for example, if you miss out a "3" and just rank 1, 2, and 4, only your first two preferences will be valid.

7. Once you have completed the above table, simply press "Send" to reply back to the returning officer.   You do not need to add any comments or other information in addition to your ranked preferences.

8. You must reply from the email address to which the ballot was sent.  This is so that we can ensure that each eligible staff member has only cast their vote once.  Do not print out the email to send a paper copy in the internal mail.

9. The Election will be conducted using a preferential voting system called the Instant Runoff Voting system. If your first choice has already won enough votes to be elected, or is eliminated as a result of having the least number of votes, then your vote is transferred to your second choice and potentially on to your third choice and so on, until one candidate has been elected.

10. A Ballot Paper will be invalid and not counted:

• If a cross or a tick is used instead of the figure 1
• If the figure 1 is not placed next to one candidate
• If the figure 1 is set opposite the name of more than one candidate
• If the figure 1 and some other number are set opposite the name of the same candidate
• If the ballot paper is unmarked or void for uncertainty.

11. After the close of voting, the winner will be decided using the following process:

• Count the first place votes.
• Eliminate the candidate with the fewest number of votes and transfer the votes to the next preferred candidate on each ballot.
• Repeat step (b) until only one candidate remains

Remember to send your reply before 12 Noon on Thursday 12 May 2011. Voting closes at that time and your vote will not count if it is received any later.

Enquiries

For all questions about the elections, contact the Returning Officer: John McDermott, Governance Services on 455 6408 or email j.mcdermott@napier.ac.uk