Elections Admin

This is the name of the Election. It is displayed on the election pages and on election lists. 

The Title must be unique, so if you are running an election you run annually, add the year into the Title e.g. Officer Elections 2024

This field is mandatory.

This is the name of the Organisation to which the Election belongs.

This field is mandatory.

Click the Change Organisation linkfield to open the Change Organisation dialog.

Only Content Editors with access to Elections Admin and with permission to edit elections at the MSL Membership System root Organisation (Group ID: 0) can change an election’s organisation.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

For further information, see How to Change an Election's Organisation.

This is the stage of the Election. 

The options are:

• Nominations open at (time and date)
• Nominations open
• Nominations closed - approval required
• Polls cannot open because final approval is required
• Polling opens at (time and date)
• Polls are open
• Polls are closed, results are pending
• Polls are closed, and results have been published
• This election is locked
• This election has been archived

This field is mandatory.

This is a brief introduction to the Election. Content should be written as plain text.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

These are the dates between which nominations are submitted. 

The Nominations Period must finish before the Polling Period begins.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

This field is mandatory.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

This field is used to enable an additional Slate text field on the Nominations page and Candidate window.

It allows candidates to identify themselves as part of a group of candidates running together on a common platform or to denote a political affiliation rather than a field for campaign catchphrases and promises. 

Contact support@ukmsl.com to change the maximum length of a slate.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

If specified, this is the URL to which users will be redirected from the StudentLink app when they click How to Stand.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows, and only if the StudentLink app is installed on your MSL System.

For further information, see Election Forms.

For further information, see Election Forms.

A candidate can add and edit their manifesto on your MSL website until the date specified.

The Online Manifesto Deadline date must be after nominations close and before or the same as the end of the polling period.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

An Election Administrator can add and edit manifestos on behalf of a candidate at any point. For further information, see Election Candidates.

This field is mandatory.

This is a for-information-only field used by administrators should you request paper manifesto submissions by candidates.

The Paper Manifesto Deadline date must be after nominations close and before or the same as the end of the polling period.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

An Election Administrator can add and edit manifestos on behalf of a candidate at any point. For further information, see Election Candidates.

This field is mandatory.

If specified, content added to this text field is displayed on the Upload Manifesto page. Content should be written as plain text.

This guidance might include information about the size of the image a candidate needs to upload or how to complete the Candidate Statement.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

For further information, see Election Forms.

• Full - show all information
• Basic - only show description and dates
• Hide

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

• Full - show all information and allow participation
• Full (members only) - show all information, but only allow members of (the Organisation to which the Election belongs) to participate
• Basic - show description and dates to all, but only allow members of (the Organisation to which the Election belongs) to see all information and participate
• Hide - only show to members of (the Organisation to which the Election belongs)

If using the Full (members only), Basic, or Hide options, make sure that eligible participants belong to a membership-type group within the Election's owning organisation. For example, if the Election is set up within the Activities organisation, ensure eligible participants are members of a group within that specific organisation. The system will not verify eligibility based on child groups of the Election's owning organisation.

Eligibility to nominate and vote is also determined by the Requirements (if any) set on each post. For further information, see How to Add a Requirement to a Post.

This field is mandatory.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

Content added to this text field is displayed to users who are not eligible to participate in the Election when Full (members only) or Basic is selected on the (Visibility) Logged In Users field. This field is mandatory if either of those options is selected.

The Not Eligible Message might include information about who is eligible to participate in the election and a contact email address so users who believe they are eligible to participate, but don't have access, can get in touch.

Content should be written as plain text.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

If selected, the candidate's manifestos are no longer available once the election's display period has passed.

Any links to the manifestos will return a 'Manifestos are no longer available' message, and the HTTP response code is 404 to assist with the removal from search engine indexes.

For further information, see How to Hide All Election Manifestos.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

Upload an image for the Election. The election's image is displayed on the StudentLink app if it is added as an item on the home screen or as a menu item.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

For further information, see Self-Definition.

For further information, see Self-Definition.

If selected, only posts the logged-in user is eligible to nominate or vote for are displayed by default. The user still has the option to click Show all posts to view them all, whether the user is eligible for those posts or not.

Hide Posts is particularly useful for Academic Representation or Activities elections, where there could be hundreds of posts where the user is only eligible for a small subset.

Use of this option is not recommended when self-definition requirements are in place.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

These are the dates between which votes are submitted. 

The Polling Period must start after the Nominations Period finishes.

This field is mandatory.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

These are the terms a voter must agree to before they can continue to the ballot. Content should be written as plain text.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

Content added to this text field is displayed on the Confirm Vote dialog once the voter has selected their preference(s) and clicked Cast Vote. If left blank, the default "Please confirm your vote" message is displayed. Content should be written as plain text.

If you have added content to the Unused Preferences Text field and the user has two or more candidates they have not ranked, the Unused Preferences Text will be displayed instead.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

Content added to this text field is displayed on the Confirm Vote dialog when Abstain is clicked on the ballot page. Content should be written as plain text.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

Content added to this text field is displayed once the voter has cast votes for all posts they are eligible for. This field supports HTML.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

This is the time when the voting window on your MSL website starts every day that polling is open. The format is HH:mm in 24-hour clock.

Website Voting Time Restrictions may help where you have experienced issues on campus with voters pressured into voting in a certain way between lectures, for example.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

For further information, see How to Restrict Website Voting Times.

This is the time when the voting window on your MSL website ends every day that polling is open. The format is HH:mm in 24-hour clock.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

For further information, see How to Restrict Website Voting Times.

This is the URL to which users will be redirected, rather than the ballot page, outside the voting time window, if specified.

This field is mandatory if the Website Voting Time Restriction times are set.

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

For further information, see How to Restrict Website Voting Times.

Content added to this text field is displayed at the top of the ballot page for all posts unless overridden by the Ballot Rubric text specified per post.

The Ballot Rubric content should contain instructions for the voter about how they cast their vote. The Ballot Rubric can be set per device type (Website, Polling App and Mobile App).

This field is displayed only in the Add Election and Edit Election windows.

The Default Ballot Rubric text can also be updated at the system level. For further information, see How to View and Edit the Default Election Ballot Rubric.

This field is displayed only in the Elections Admin window.

For further information, see How to Copy an Election.