Running Elections (draft)

Elections Overview

It is in a group's best interest that elections be fully managed on Rubric, for situations when results must be reviewed and verified. The platform has a variety of settings to ensure that voters can democratically engage with their clubs, and that individuals overseeing the elections can abide by processes outlined in a group's constitution.

For a deeper understanding of democratic procedures and how to abide by student group policies when conducting an election/byelection, refer to these resources.

Creating an Election

1. Login to your student account via hellorubric.com

   • Click the “Login” drop-down and select Student Portal. Login with your student email and appropriate password.

   • Note that, you must be assigned an executive role with election permissions (campaign feature & membership) on Rubric to be able to complete this task.

2. OnFrom the top navigation bar, clickselect onAdministration. Elections.Under Youthe Leadership section, select Elections. This will be taken toopen the Elections Manager Overview page.

   • To see past elections and data, scroll down to the table at the bottom of the page.

   • To create a new election, click on the “Create Election” button on the top-right of the screen.

     • It will appear in the Active Elections table at the top of this page for future edits once launched.

3. Input the basic Election Information to create your election.

   • This includes the name of the election. We recommend the following:

     • [Club Name]: [Election Type] - Semester, Year

       • Election types are typically annual or byelection.

       • For example, Lettuce Club: Annual Elections - Fall 2025

   • The time window for voting. Including the start and end dates.

     • Double-check these details before launching the election, as changes cannot be made once voting period has started without deactivating the election.

   • The results release date.

4. Optional: Select a Returning Officer.

   • You may assign one or more Returning Officers to oversee and manage the election.
   • Returning Officers should be impartial and not have a conflict of interest in the election.

5. For advanced options, there are twoseveral additional settings. WeReview highlyeach option and enable it where appropriate for your group’s election procedures - we strongly recommend boththe first two be set to true, by clicking on the icons until they are checkmarked.enabled.

    

   One Win Per Candidate	RegardlessWhen ofenabled, a candidate who wins one position will not be able to win another position in the formatsame ofelection. Enable this if your ballot,constitution oneor winelection perprocedures candidateprohibit ensurescandidates thatfrom one person cannot win the majority forholding more than one elected position.
   Anonymous Votes	WhenKeeps aindividual votevoting ischoices casted,hidden nofrom personelection (administrative or otherwise) can view the information of the voter.organizers. Once turned on,enabled, this featuresetting cannot be undone.turned off. This must be enabled for student group elections, as elections are required to use a secret ballot.
   SSO Login	Requires voters to authenticate using their institutional login before accessing or submitting the ballot. This option is currently not available.
   Membership Voting	Restricts voting to students who hold an active membership. You may require either all memberships or select specific memberships that are eligible to vote.

6. Proceed to the (optional) voter group settings. This will allow you to create cohorts of voters that can then be assigned certain votes limited to their group. Some examples are as follows:

   • • A delegate representing an off-branching student group represented on your council should only be voted on by members of that branching organization.

     • A first year representative vote should only be available to members in the First Year voter group.

If everything goes well, you should be brought to the Election Management page:

Managing an Election

There are two main featuresareas ofinvolved Elections.in Thesetting up an election on Rubric: ballot and votevoter management management,, and theelection logistics. management.Each Botharea of these will need toshould be fullyreviewed and completed for your elections to run on Rubric. To start off, we’ll reviewbefore the ballotelection andis vote features at the bottom of the Election Management page.launched.

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Creating the Ballot

To create a ballot, startclick by clicking the “Create Ballot” buttonBallot in the left-most pop-upsection at the bottom of the screen.Election Management page. Rubric offers usersuses a dragdrag-and-drop ballot builder, allowing you to add, arrange, and drop program that allows them to customize theirdifferent ballotvoting withelements simplebased pre-coded metrics. Makingon your ballotgroup’s (aka, elections form) flexible and easily delivered.needs.

The ballot header is a brief introduction to your members, including the title of your election (set in step one) and a description. Things that may be important to include in your election:

• A brief (1-2 sentences) address.note, Includingincluding a greeting, and emphasis of the importance of the electoral process.

• A notice of the timeline of the elections. Including when the ballot opens, closes, and results are set to release.

• A list of how a vote is considered invalid. This could include casting multiple votes, sharing the voting link with non-members, incorrectly stating your full name or registered member email, etc.

  • Note that these must be listed in your constitution or election package (formal documentation which is voted on) to be enforceable.

The ballot body is where you get to customize your ballot according to how your members are voting, and what your members are voting for. You would always be voting for your officer positions, unless a rare unforeseen circumstance occurs. To insert these elements, simply click and drag them into the ballot in the centre of the screen, releasing them and ordering them as you prefer.

A full detailed overview of the different drag-and-drop elements your group could utilize can be found from the official Rubric help page.

The usage of Student Bank Details and Student ID is strictly prohibited under the University of Alberta FOIP policy. Do not use these elements under any circumstances.

Once your ballot is complete, click Preview Ballot to ensure it is ready to be published. After that, don't forget to save the ballot. You'll return back to the Election Management page.

Creating Candidates

To create a candidate, start by clicking the “Manage Candidates" button at the bottom of the Election Management page. The four elements of a given candidate profile are summarized as such:

• Name - Should include first name (preferred) and last name of a candidate.
• Photo - Should be a professional photo for easy identification, screened by your Elections Officer.
• [Optional] Candidate Party -- If the candidate is representingaffiliated onewith ofa party or slate, select the partiesappropriate onlyparty. availableParties are used to agroup selectaffiliated votingcandidates demographic (i.e. First Year Representative) ensure theyand are setseparate asfrom such.voter groups, which determine which voters are eligible to vote for specific positions.
• [Optional] Candidate Description - A brief description of the candidate, such as their experiences within the group, year of study, passion for the organization, etc. 

Candidates can also be created when creating the ballot. You can also edit and delete candidates in the manage candidates page - but note that deleting a candidate will remove them from the ballot entirely, which may break your ballot if you try to publish it.

Importing Voters

In order for your election to run, youreligible voters must be able to access the ballot and recordsubmit their votes. Click on "import voters" on the bottom ofFrom the Election MangementManagement page.page, select Import Voters. There are two ways to giveadd your voters access...voters:

1. Import Voters -— This is the recommended way.method Tofor doadding so,multiple clickvoters. onClick the "Import Voters"Voters button onin the top-right ofcorner theand screen. You will need to import the information usinguse the csv.CSV templatetemplate provided by Rubric.Rubric Importto allupload necessarythe information,required andvoter click "save".information.
2. Add Voters -— This is the manual way.method. IndividuallyAdd importvoters a voterindividually by imputingentering their name,name voterand email, andthen assigningassign them to the correctappropriate voter group.group if applicable.
   • Note that ifIf you makeadd themanyone as a test voter,voter, youmake mustsure to remove theall test voters before thecalculating and publishing results canso bethat published.only Thatlegitimate wayvotes are included in the final voting tally is representative of legitimate voters.tally.

Election Logistics

Now that we've set up the ballot, candidates, and voters, we can move on to the election logistics. To start, return to the Election Management page of your election of interest:election:

 

On the left-hand side you have the Manage Elections overview. Selecting ballot, candidates, or voters will take you to the same management pages as described above. Below is a brief summary of the other (new) logistical elements:

Parties	Allows you to Create Parties (cohorts of individuals, such as a slate or Co-Executives) for the ballot. It will require a name, description, and logo for the group. You can then assign individual candidates to a party that will appear on the ballot.
Votes	Once a vote is cast, you can see the full list of voters who completed the ballot. You can also export the list if you'd like to store the data in a secondary location.
Announcements	There are three types of announcements that may be edited and sent out... Announce Election: Once your election is Pending you may send out an announcement to a specific list of voters, emails, and/or membership tier on Rubric.  Send Voting Email: Once your election is Active you may send out a secure link for voters to use to cast a vote in the ballot. Ensure you remind everyone not to share this link with other individuals. Send Results to Voters: Once your election is Closed you may announce the results via a summary generated by the Rubric platform.  You can either edit a pre-existing template linked to the Elections Feature, or edit directly via the Campaign feature. These can also be schedule-sent in advance!

Once all of this is done, you can then set your election to Active by clicking on the toggle on the top-right side of the Election Management page!

Announcing Results

Once the voting window has ended, the student group will need to validate and announce the results to their membership. 

It is the group's responsibility to ensure all votes are valid, and the group meets Quorum and Majority. Please refer to the terminology page for more information.

1. From the EventsElection Management Pagepage, select Results, onfrom the left-hand side, click on Results.menu.
2. OnClick Count Votes in the top-right side of the Manage Results page, click on Count Votes.corner.
   • The programRubric will automatically tally the votes cast, and displaycalculate the results as statistics (graphs, pie charts).
   • This process will analyzefor each position and determine the results based on the ballot question type and the counting method chosenselected during ballot creation.
   • Review the ballot'scalculated creation.results before publishing them.
3. You can then publish the results, making them available to view onWhen the club'sresults pageare ready, click Publish Results.
   • Published results will only become publicly accessible after the election's specified results release date set during the ballot's creation.
     .
     • EnsureOnce youpublished, useRubric will generate a testunique electionsresults formlink tothat see what information becomes publicized. If you do not want the formal percentages (i.e. who won/lost by what percentage of votes cast) this will need tocan be determinedshared aheadwith of the results release date.members.
       

Appeals & Auditing

In the case when an individual calls for an appeal (a reconsideration of the election procedure and/or election results) it is important to access information that supports the initial investigation. Here are a few key details that Rubric provides groups to ensure elections are run fairly:

Audit Log

Any single individual who accesses the Elections Feature on a group page is recorded in the Audit Log. Including the portal used to gain access, the type of action, the person's email, and a time stamp. Some key disclaimers:

• Administrators (SGS/UASU Staff) can access a group's elections via the adminstrativeadministrative portal. These individuals are specifically marked as Union users.
• Access is when an individual only opens a page without interacting with any elements. Create or Update is when an individual physically alters the information/permissions of the election itself.
• If you are looking into the audit of a specific individual, you can Filter the table by that individual's email and see their full history on the elections page.

Appeal processes are required to be outlined in a student group's constitution, this should be referenced first in the case of an appeal. If additional support is needed, contact Student Group Services at clubs@uasu.ca.

Common Troubleshooting

With the Elections Feature on Rubric offering so many options, lots of student groups tend to run into roadblocks. Below are a few common issues, and their solutions. In the event that additional support is needed, contact Student Group Services at clubs@uasu.ca.

1. Ensure that your election dates (announcement, voting window, results) are at least 24-hours in the future.
2. Ensure that the Voters, Ballot, and Candidates field have all been set up. These are the bare minimum requirements for your election to be published.
3. Ensure that the group is affiliated. Your club will not appear on the group page and may become inaccessible to voters who use the elections link/recievereceive communications. To regain affiliation, you will need to complete your group's annual registration.