Single Transferable Vote
The Union uses transferable voting systems for its elections. This may at
first glance seem more complicated than the system used in other votes where you just identify one candidate, but in fact it provides the voter with more choice.
Instead of your vote being 'spent' on one candidate, you can choose to
express several different choices. You do this by putting '1' against your favourite candidate, '2' against your second and so on until you have no further preferences.
In an election for one position, like President, if your first choice (number
1) gets the lowest vote and is eliminated, your number 2 vote is used. If they get eliminated by
having the lowest vote then your number 3 is chosen and so on. Once a candidate has 50% or more of the votes they are elected.
In an election for more than one position, like NUS delegations, the process is the same as above, but if your first choice gets elected, you can still influence the other positions as your vote will transfer to them at a reduced rate.
The key things to remember are:
* Your second, third and other votes will only have an affect once your
first choice is elected or eliminated
* The more preferences you give, the more choice you can influence