Once you have created and added posts to your Election, it's time to open nominations. Either run nominations through your MSL website, requesting Candidates nominate themselves online or hold nominations offline or in class and manually add your candidates to the Election via Candidate Admin before polling opens. The MSL System can facilitate either approach.
In Candidate Admin you can:
- Quickly see how many nominations you've received and their statuses
- Check and edit candidate manifestos
- Update the status of candidates, either individually or in bulk
- Administrate other processes, such as proposers, deposits and paper forms
- Access candidate contact information
- Add admin-only notes to a candidate to aid communication with colleagues regarding any changes to a candidate's nomination
TABLE OF CONTENTS
You can access this feature from your MSL website. Only Content Editors with access to Elections Admin can access the Candidate Admin windows.
For further information, see Elections Overview.
Candidate Admin Fields
This table lists and explains the fields in the Candidate Admin windows.
| Field Name | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sort Option | This is the order in which the Candidates are displayed on the Candidate List. The options are:
The candidate order on the ballot is random by default. Contact support@ukmsl.com if you need to be able to specify the candidate order on the ballot. For further information, see How to Update the Candidate List Order. This field is displayed only in the Candidate Admin window. |
| Current Status | This field controls when the Candidate List is ready to be published on your MSL website. The polling period cannot begin until you set the Current Status to Approved. The options are:
For further information, see How to Approve the Overall Candidate List. This field is displayed only in the Candidate Admin window. |
| Post | These are the names of any Posts added to the selected Election. Click the relevant Post linkfield to open the Candidate List window. This field is displayed only in the Candidate Admin window. |
| Candidates | This is the number of Candidates for the relevant post and a summary of their statuses where the status is not Approved, for example, '4 candidates (1 unapproved, 1 withdrawn, 1 disqualified)'. This field is displayed only in the Candidate Admin window. |
| Name | This is the name of a Candidate as it appears in your University data. The name is prefixed by their University ID on the Candidate window, if present. This field is displayed only in the Candidate List window and the Candidate window. |
| (Display) Name | This is the chosen name of a Candidate displayed on the Candidate List and ballot. For example, the user may be in the University data as Elizabeth Smith but may wish to stand in the election as Lizzy Smith. This field is mandatory. This field is displayed only in the Candidate List window and the Candidate window. |
| Slate (Ticket) | This text field is where a Candidate enters the name of the Slate they are running with, if relevant. This field is displayed if you select Allow Slates on the Edit Election window. For further information, see Elections Admin. This field is displayed only in the Candidate List window and the Candidate window. |
| Status | This is the state of a Candidate's nomination for the post. The options are:
This field is displayed only in the Candidate List window and the Candidate window. |
| Form Received | This checkbox field is enabled when you select Require Paper Form on the Edit Post window. Select Form Received once the Candidate has submitted the additional information to support their candidacy. For further information, see How to Enable Paper Forms. This field is displayed only in the Candidate window. |
| Deposit Received | This checkbox field is enabled when you enter a numeric value into the Deposit Amount field on the Edit Election window. Select Deposit Received once the Candidate has paid the monies required to stand for election. For further information, see How to Enable Deposits. This field is displayed only in the Candidate window. |
| This is the Candidate's email address provided when they submitted their nomination. This field is displayed only in the Candidate window. | |
| Phone | This is the Candidate's telephone number provided when they submitted their nomination. This field is displayed only in the Candidate window. |
| Proposers | This is where you select the Proposer(s) if you are manually nominating a Candidate for the selected post, or where the Proposer(s) the candidate selected are displayed. The proposers must have an existing account in your MSL System. You can search for the user via their Person ID, Card Number or Name. This field is displayed only in the Candidate List window and the Candidate window. |
| Notes | This text field is where you enter relevant notes about the Candidate, for example, the reason for a status change. Content entered into the Notes field is not displayed anywhere else on your MSL website. This field is displayed only in the Candidate window. |
| Select Candidate | This is where you select the Candidate if you are manually nominating a candidate for the selected post. The candidate must have an existing account in your MSL System. You can search for the user via their Person ID, Card Number or Name. This field is mandatory. This field is displayed only in the Candidate window. |
| Photo | Upload an image of the Candidate. The photo is displayed on the Candidate List and the candidate's manifesto. This field is displayed when you select Allow Photo on the Edit Post window. For further information, see Election Posts. The uploaded photo is rendered at 198 x 198 pixels. Should a candidate not upload a photo, a Default Manifesto/Ballot Image can be added. For further information, see How to Add a Default Manifesto/Ballot Image. This field is displayed only in the Upload Manifesto window. |
| Slogan | This text field is where you enter the Candidate's campaign tagline, for example, 'Fair is Worth Fighting For'. The slogan is displayed on the Candidate List and the candidate's manifesto. This field is displayed when you select Allow Slogan on the Edit Post window. For further information, see Election Posts. This field is displayed only in the Upload Manifesto window. |
| Manifesto | The field(s) displayed depends on which Manifesto option was chosen for the selected post. This field is displayed only in the Upload Manifesto window. The Manifesto free-text field is displayed when you select the Free-text Manifesto Document option from the Manifesto Type dropdown on the Edit Post window. Any content added is displayed on the candidate's manifesto page and can contain:
The Manifesto Editor Toolbar can be edited to add or remove the available buttons. The Manifesto form field(s) are displayed when you select the Candidate Statement Form option from the Manifesto Type dropdown on the Edit Post window. You must also specify a Candidate Statement Form at the election or the post level. The field(s) displayed are the questions added to the selected form. The content entered is displayed on the candidate's manifesto page. For further information, see Election Posts and Election Forms. |