E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com Dear Candidate, Thank you for choosing to take part in the Fall 2014 Elections for the Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA), the undergraduate student government at Rutgers—New Brunswick! You will be held responsible for all of the information contained in these Elections Guidelines, so please read this entire document thoroughly. Best, Saad Shamshair Rutgers University Student Assembly Chair, Elections Committee 1 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com Official Timeline Election Information Sessions: The Elections Committee will discuss and answer questions about the timeline, and guidelines of the RUSA Election. Candidates will be provided with RUSA’s Elections Guidelines, including the “Declaration of Intent to Run.” It is strongly advised that students seeking candidacy attend. You are free to drop in at any time to receive the information. Date and Time: Location: Wednesday, September 10th at 8pm Student Activities Center, River Lounge Student Activities Center, River Lounge Douglass Student Center, Meeting Room A Busch Student Center, Room 117 Wednesday, September 17th at 8pm Monday, September 22nd at 8pm Tuesday, September 23rd at 8pm Intent to Run Deadline: Candidates’ Declaration of Intent to Run is DUE Tuesday, September 23rd at 11:59p.m., no exceptions. The candidate must have, by this time, completed and submitted the Declaration of Intent form (available online at ruassembly.com) to rusa.elections@gmail.com. Tuesday, September 23rd Time: 11:59 p.m. By this time, all candidates will have received confirmation of whether or not they are eligible to run for the respective positions they each declared candidacy for. Elections, Appeals and Announcements: Election Days Monday, September 29th @ 12:00 a.m. —Tuesday, September 30th @11:59 p.m. 2 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com During this period, electioneering and active campaigning is prohibited within 30 feet of all polling locations. Read further into these guidelines for details and definitions. Appeals Wednesday, October 1st @ 10:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m. Appeals should be completed using the Elections Appeal document (attached), and brought to the RUSA Office in the Rutgers Student Center, Room 438. Candidates will have the opportunity to bring forth appeals to the Elections Committee at this and only this time. In the event that an appeal against a candidate is deemed appropriate and viable, the Elections Committee may expel the candidate in question from the election. Appeals will be reviewed in a timely fashion. Announcements Thursday, October 2nd Elections results will be announced once the appeals process has been completed or no later than 12pm on October 2nd. First Meetings for Newly Elected RUSA Body: RUSA General Body Meeting Thursday, October 2nd Location: Student Activities Center, Riverside Lounge Time: 7:30 p.m. All newly-elected representatives of RUSA will be sworn in by the Elections Chairperson, welcomed, and introduced to current RUSA business. 3 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com Eligibility: All candidates must currently be full-time undergraduate students, and must maintain that status for the Fall 2014 semester. Any candidate on Academic or Disciplinary Probation (as defined by their respective school or college) is barred from contesting or occupying a position within RUSA, and all candidates must have a minimum 2.5 GPA in accordance with guidelines set forth by the Division of Student Affairs. Transfer students who wish to run will be required to submit a transcript from their previous institution to verify GPA. Candidates for a Class Representative position must BOTH be of the designated graduating class AND be slated to reside on that campus for the Fall 2014 semester. At-Large Representative positions are not class specific but candidates must be slated to reside on that campus for the Fall 2014 semester. Off-Campus Representative positions are not class specific. Candidates for a Representative position may belong to any of Rutgers’ colleges or school. ––Example: a candidate for College Avenue Campus 2015 Representative must be an undergraduate student registered as having an expected graduation date of May 2015 and will be living on the College Avenue Campus for the 2014-2015 academic year. Candidates for a Senator position MUST be students of the School of Arts & Sciences at the time of elections, AND must maintain that status throughout the 2014-2015 academic year in order to remain in that position. There are no class restrictions for Senator positions. Candidates for a campus-specific Senator position must be slated to live on that campus for the Fall 2014semester or have lived on it the previous year. The At-Large Senator position is open to any student of SAS, irrespective of geographic location. All students elected as Senators are simultaneously elected to serve on the 2014-2015 Rutgers University Senate, the University’s 200-member system-wide body consisting of University faculty, staff and students. EVERY Senator position open for contest as part of the RUSA elections is SAS-specific; if at any point a student fails to maintain a status with SAS, he or she will be removed immediately from both RUSA and the University Senate. 4 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com Responsibilities: Candidates are responsible if elected to attend all RUSA meetings. These include general meetings which are held alternate Thursdays at the Student Activities Center at 7:30pm during the 2014-2015 school year as well as committee meetings which are held alternate Thursdays at the Student Activities Center at 7:30pm. Meetings can last from one hour to five hours. As an elected member, one is expected to stay as late as necessary. These are both mandatory time commitments and should be planned for in your schedule. Thus, there will be a RUSA meeting every Thursday (one week it will be a general meeting and the next it will be a committee meeting). Students will be expected to join a committee and to actively work to ensure the success of the committee's objectives. Senators are required to attend monthly meetings of the University Senate. Further, each member is expected to represent one's constituency and participate in RUSA sponsored events and projects to the best of one's ability and to act in a manner becoming a RUSA member. Additionally, every candidate must be willing and able, if elected, to attend a Fall Retreat to be held the weekend of October 17-19, 2014. The retreat is mandatory and will constitute how to be an effective member of RUSA. It will also be a time to learn more about the current body, get to know each other, past projects and some leadership training. Transportation is provided. Declaration of Intent to Run: Students seeking office will complete a Declaration of Intent to Run that specifies the position they will be running for and affirms that they agree to carry out their campaigns in accordance with the established Election Guidelines. The Declaration of Intent to Run will serve to verify the correct spelling of candidates’ names, and the names of tickets that they affiliate with, as well as to verify the candidates duty to attend the RUSA retreat during one weekend of the Fall semester (October 17th-19th). The information that they provide will be used to create the ballots that will be featured at online and at polling locations on Election Day. The Declaration of Intent to Run will be made available on the RUSA website, well in advance of the deadline of September 23rd, 11:59 p.m. The forms can be submitted online, emailed in, or brought to the RUSA office, Room 438 Rutgers Student Center, Failure to furnish the Declaration of Intent to Run by the deadline, will result in a forfeiture of the right to run for a position within RUSA. Write-in votes will not be made possible. 5 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com Contest Budget: Each individual candidate may spend no more than $200 on his or her campaign. Each candidate will be required to maintain a list of all campaign expenses, and retain all receipts to document those expenses. Absolutely any purchase made by a candidate that directly or indirectly benefits his or her campaign will be considered a campaign-related expense. This includes, but is not limited to, purchases of supplies, photocopies, and advertising. Candidates who decide to run on a ticket may pool their funding with other members of their ticket, and will be required to share a list of campaign expenses for their ticket. The spending cap for a ticket is $600: all candidates entering the RUSA contest jointly on one ticket may not, collectively, spend more than $600. Candidates may seek out funding using whatever means they deem appropriate. Candidates may not violate local, state, and federal law in their efforts to obtain funding. Violation of local, state, or federal law will serve as grounds for expulsion from the Election. Should an appeal be brought forth against a candidate for a violation of these budget requirements, the Internal Affairs Committee reserves the right to audit the campaign budget of the said candidate during the Review of Appeals. A candidate’s failure to submit his or her budget for review, or fabrication of line-items in a campaign budget, will serve as immediate grounds for expulsion from the Election. Campaigning, Electioneering, Ticketing, Voting: Active campaigning includes, but is not limited to: posting of flyers, literature, or other printed materials by a candidate or representative of a candidate; and/or advertising in campus media; Active campaigning will commence on September 29th at 12:00 a.m., and will end on September 30th at 11:59 p.m. Candidates and tickets may prepare campaign materials and adverts prior to the designated campaigning period, but such campaign material may not be made publicly accessible until the contest officially begins. Electioneering during a campaign constitutes of shaking hands, oral communication, and/or communication via e-mail, social networking sites, blogs, or campaign websites for the purposes of supporting a candidate for a RUSA position. Electioneering is the only form of campaigning that will be permitted prior official start of the RUSA contest. Starting Monday, 6 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com September 29th at 12:00 a.m. through Tuesday, September 30th, at 11:59 p.m., electioneering is strictly prohibited within 30 feet of student centers, residence halls, computer labs, and classrooms. Carrying around any electronic device with Internet access and encouraging students to vote for or against a candidate is strictly prohibited. Campaigns must be conducted in compliance with federal, state and local laws, and are subject to rules and regulations that govern University facilities and property. Candidates are encouraged to be courteous and respectful to one another. Libel and slander are prohibited. Ticketing is defined as the pooling of funds and joint campaigning. Candidates retain the privilege of ticketing with an unlimited amount of candidates, but must have a minimum of three candidates entered into contest for three separate RUSA positions. Tickets must have names, and candidates wishing to ticket must indicate so on their Declaration of Intent to Run forms by providing a common name. No ticket name will be ascribed to groups consisting of less than three RUSA candidates. Endorsements by organizations are not allowed, neither is the use of such organization’s infrastructure, such as list serve or budget. Endorsements from individuals are allowed under the condition that they are not violating any of the above stated rules. (For example the RBGA cannot endorse a candidate but a member of RBGA in their capacity as a member of RBGA can.) It is expressly prohibited to buy votes or make any promises that would comprise the ethical standards expected of a member of RUSA. Voting: All current undergraduate students are eligible to vote. Neutrality of Elections Committee: All members of the Elections Committee are forbidden from publically endorsing and actively campaigning on behalf of any candidate from the beginning of their tenure on the Elections Committee until the Announcement of Results. Any violation of this commitment to neutrality will result in an investigation by the Internal Affairs Committee of RUSA. Further Questions: Any questions regarding campaigning procedures should immediately be referred to the Elections Committee at rusa.elections@gmail.com. 7 E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com These guidelines are subject to change by a majority decision of RUSA. Available Positions All RUSA positions are open to contest for this coming election; below is the list of all positions available for contest and the number of seats available for each respective category. A student may be candidate may only run for one [1] position during the Election. All positions remaining vacant after this semester’s elections will be open for contest during the Spring 2014 RUSA elections. See election guidelines for eligibility specifications. College Avenue Campus: [1] [5] 2018 Representative At-Large Representative Douglass Campus: [1] [5] 2018 Representative At-Large Representative Cook Campus: [1] [1] [5] 2018 Representative 2015 Representative At-Large Representative Busch Campus: 1] 2016 Representative [1] [5] 2018 Representative At-Large Representative Livingston Campus: [1] [5] 2018 Representative At-Large Representative Off-Campus: [6] At-large Representative University Wide [1] At- Large Representative 8 Election Guidelines – Fall 2014 Web: http://rusaelections.webs.com E-mail: rusa.elections@gmail.com Election Appeal Instructions: To be completed by the candidate and furnished to the Elections Committee by Wednesday, October 1st, no later than 5:00 PM. Name: __________________(print legibly)_____ ______________ Telephone Number: __________________(print legibly)_____ ______________ Date(s) of Infraction: __________________(print legibly)_____ ______________ Type of Infraction : ____________________(print legibly)_____ ______________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________ Accused Candidate/Ticket: _____________ (print legibly) ________________ Please attach any evidence that you deem pertinent to an investigation of this appeal. 9