Below is all the information regarding the election complaints procedure covering:

• The procedure
• What happens once a complaint is submitted?
• Right to appeal
• What happens if a candidate is withdrawn due to a complaint?
• Complaints into overall elections management

Any student can make a complaint by emailing su.elections@durham.ac.uk. Durham SU will not accept anonymous complaints, but will afford as much privacy as possible to any person who makes a complaint.

Complaints will be considered by the Deputy Returning Officer in the first instance, who will accept a complaint on the basis that they:

• Clearly relate to the Durham SU rules or guidance.
• Include evidence relevant to the complaint.

A complaint made with no clear relation to the rules or guidance or no evidence is unlikely to be accepted.

Any complaint in respect of a Durham University or Common Room rule should be made to the appropriate organisation in the first instance. Complaints which do not have any apparent relevance to the Durham SU Elections Rules may be declined or referred to the appropriate organisation. 

For the avoidance of doubt, a candidate is accountable for the conduct of their campaign and their campaign team. It is the responsibility of a candidate to ensure that the behaviour and conduct of their campaign and campaign team is consistent with the rules and guidance. 

Complaints should be received before the close of ballot, as this will allow any appropriate sanction to be applied before the declaration of result. 

What happens once a complaint is submitted?

The Deputy Returning Officer will consider whether there is a reasonable basis to open an investigation. If no reasonable basis exists, because the complaint does not clearly relate to the rules or guidance or does not include any relevant evidence, then a response will be provided outlining the reasons why the complaint has not been taken further. The Deputy Returning Officer may ask for further information, but is not required to do so. 

The Deputy Returning Officer will not accept complaints that are untimely, malicious, anonymous, frivolous or vexatious. 

If for whatever reason, the Deputy Returning Officer does not accept a complaint they may decide that the complaint matter should be referred elsewhere. This will most likely be to the Durham SU Statutory Complaints Procedure, or to Durham University. If this is the case, then the complainant will be advised of next steps. 

If an investigation is opened, the Deputy Returning Officer may ask for a further conversation with the complainant to better understand the issue. There is no requirement to have a meeting with the complainant and the written complaint may be sufficient. 

Any person or campaign which has a complaint made against them will have an opportunity to respond to the allegation before any decision is made. 

The Deputy Returning Officer may require other relevant evidence before making a decision and may ask other candidates or campaign teams for information. All candidates and campaigns must support elections officials in the execution of their duties and must reply to questions from elections officials within 24 hours. 

The Deputy Returning Officer will make a decision whether or not to uphold a complaint and will communicate the decision to the parties. Complaints will be dealt with as promptly as possible. 

If the Deputy Returning Officer upholds a complaint, the sanctions available are:

• A requirement to act on guidance or undertake training
• A formal warning
• A final warning
• Expulsion from the election

 

Any appropriate sanction may be applied without a need to impose a warning before expulsion. A failure to act on guidance, undertake training or heed a warning may be considered as an aggravating factor in further complaints.

The Deputy Returning Officer will not apply sanctions which have an unclear impact upon a candidate or campaign, such as an arbitrary reduction in the proportion of votes counted towards a candidate, or an arbitrary restriction in how a campaign may be conducted for a period of time. 

To determine which sanction is appropriate, the Deputy Returning Officer will consider the extent of harm and the likelihood of harm to: 

• The security of the ballot and the integrity of the result. 
• The good reputation of students and Durham SU. 
• Students, staff, and election participants.

 

In general, the Deputy Returning Officer will seek to offer advice before giving a warning, and give a warning before withdrawing a candidate. There will of course be instances when it is more appropriate to issue a more serious sanction first. 

Sanctions already imposed may be taken into account in further complaints.

The Deputy Returning Officer will not be able to consider intent or ignorance of the rules as relevant factors in a complaint investigation. 

Right to appeal

Any candidate or campaign which has a sanction applied following an upheld complaint may ask the Returning Officer to review the decision if there are grounds for appeal. 

Acceptable grounds for appeal are: 

• There is evidence of procedural irregularity.
• New evidence is available which, in the Deputy Returning Officers’ judgement, means that a different complaint outcome is probable, or a different recommendation of effective remedy is appropriate. 

If there are no grounds, then the Returning Officer reserves the right to not accept an appeal. For the avoidance of doubt, disagreement with a complaint being upheld or the application of a sanction is not a ground for appeal. The decision of the Returning Officer is final. 

What happens if a candidate is withdrawn due to a complaint?

The Deputy Returning Officer will refer any decision to withdraw a candidate to the Returning Officer for immediate review, whether a withdrawn candidate requests an appeal or not. The withdrawn candidate also has the opportunity to submit a statement and any appropriate evidence to the Returning Officer and must do so within 24 hours of the decision to withdraw being communicated to the candidate. 

The appeal will be concluded before the withdrawal is actioned. 

Complaints into overall elections management

A complaint into the confidence of how the elections have been managed should be sent to su.elections@durham.ac.uk within 28 days of the election result being declared.

The Durham SU Supervising Trustee’s role within the Durham SU Statutory Complaints procedure, as the independent person appointed by Durham University Council, is to investigate the governance of the elections.

The Supervising Trustee will not re-investigate complaints overseen by the Returning Officer and is not another chance to appeal a specific ruling by elections officials.