Good election practices

The election booths, which the associations use for election activities during the election week, will be set up on the first day of the election and will be removed by the associations on the last day. These election booths are often placed in cafeterias and the like, where the applicable rules must be followed by the associations.

The student associations use the election booths for election activities for their own association and inform their fellow students about the elections. Computers may be set up in the election booths and be available for students who wish to vote. However, the anonymity in connection with the election must be respected. During discussions about the election and the candidates, focus should always be on politics rather than personal matters. In addition, a polite and constructive tone must be used in the booths. It is always okay to object if you feel subjected to verbal abuse from a representative from another association, and it is therefore important to always be aware of the other party’s boundaries during a discussion. It also fine to ask representatives from the other associations to leave one’s election booth, if you feel that this is necessary.

In case of problems in connection with the election booths, the associations will contact each other. This is done via the contact persons, including the association’s chairperson, so the problem can be solved before it turns into a conflict.

If someone asks about another student association, refer to the association’s website, election booth or flyer. It is okay to give an account of another student association’s key issues in an objective way, but there should never be discussions about another association’s standpoints.    

Election posters can be put up, cf. AU’s common guidelines. Please note: no posters are allowed on emergency exists, on the main entrance, and on glass in direct connection with the main entrance. The chairpersons will together decide how a joint effort for correct location of posters for all associations can be reached. In addition, election posters may not be put up on other student associations’ doors if they do not directly support the association in question. If this happens, the association/degree programme council in question can take the poster down. If there are any questions or doubts in connection with putting posters up or taking them down, please contact the association in question or the Election Committee.

In the run-up to the election, all student associations will participate in coordination meetings with the heads of building services at AU. This should help ensure that the various special rules at faculties, departments and schools are clarified before the elections.

The associations in the election are responsible for removing their own posters at the end of the election, even though they can also agree to help each other. The removal of posters must be completed at least a week after the election    

It is natural for the associations to fight the election on social media, where a constructive tone must also be kept. On social media, it is also important to stick to politics and refrain from discussing personal matters. If you feel that some people are taking the discussion too far or cross the line in some way, contact the chair of the association in question. This also applies if it concerns a person who is active in one of the student associations. It is important that nobody is exposed to public criticism, verbally abused or personally offended in any way on social media.

It is acceptable to tag the student associations’ pages in posts, e.g. about neutral messages such as “remember to vote” or similar, which are generally conducive to voter turnout and student democracy. In addition, the rules about appropriate behaviour must also be followed on social media, and it will therefore only be relevant to tag the Facebook pages in positive or neutral posts.

Therefore, it is okay to tag the associations’ pages and own candidates, but not other candidates unless this has been agreed with the candidate in question.

To avoid problems, it is important that we as student associations are in contact with each other in a constructive and clear way both before, during and after the elections. Therefore, the chairpersons from the associations in the elections should meet before the elections and write and sign a document concerning good election practices. During the election, the chairpersons should have a short status meeting, and they should then meet again after the elections to evaluate the elections.

In the event of problems during the elections, the chairpersons or those responsible for the elections, as stated on the list of contacts, should be contacted directly. It is important that this list can be found in each election booth, so the volunteers also can use it. As a volunteer, you must always contact the contact person from your association before contacting other involved associations. This way, the risk of unnecessary bad atmosphere between the associations is minimised, while a solution is also found quicker. 

As political student associations, we are first and foremost going to the polls on the basis of our own opinions, and in order to get as many students as possible to vote. However, it is important that we stand for election based on key issues that are obtainable in the relevant councils, boards or committees. It only serves to confuse and distort the debate, if you stand for election based on something that has no relevance to the elections in question. This does not mean that you cannot tell the students about your own association’s views on other topics, such as the Danish Students’ Grants and Loans Scheme (SU), for example, but when it comes to the election’s key issues, posters, list names, etc., it is important to restrict these to realisable topics.

There must be room for humour in local election activities, as long as it is clear that it is just for fun, and that it aims to draw attention to the elections.

Additionally, it must be clearly stated in the election system which list your candidacy relates to, and therefore abbreviations should be avoided if possible, if they are not explained elsewhere in the voting process.    

As a volunteer in the election, you can easily be seen as a representative for the entire election, which is why it is essential that the volunteers are not held responsible for the entire association’s statements or actions, especially if this assumption is made by a representative from another student organisation in the election. The volunteers can always send a visitor at an election booth to the chairperson of the association in question who can then provide answers to detailed or critical questions that the volunteer does not feel comfortable with. The volunteers who help out in the booths must be respected. Without them, we would not have any student democracy.

 

In addition, the aim is that material from all student associations can be found in all booths. This can be in the form of flyers or similar so that they can be given to interested visitors in the election booth. At the same time, this also serves as information for the volunteers who stand in the election booths and talk to their fellow students about the election.

The aim is to develop common, neutral election material, possibly in collaboration with AU. This must be impartial and inform the reader about what the boards of studies, the academic councils and the board are and what they work with. In this way, the involved organisations can work together to promote student democracy and increase the voter turnout.

Finally, a neutral, unmanned election booth with the message “remember to vote” must be set up. Here, there will be flyers from all the involved student associations that students can take so they can read more about what they are voting for, and who they can vote for.