About us > Elections > How to vote

About us

The University of Sussex Students' Union aims to make the lives of its members better by providing opportunities such as sports clubs and societies, advice and support services on issues such as housing and coursework and student-friendly shops and bars on campus.

► How to vote

Are you eligible to vote?

To vote in our elections you will need to be eligible;

You must be a Students' Union member. Most University of Sussex and BSMS students automatically become memebrs of the Students' Union upon enrolment with the University however some students choose to opt-out of this membership (and are therefore not eligible to vote in our elections) and some students may be on courses that do not qualify
Some elections are limited to certain groups of students, e.g. students can only vote the Union Councillor position for their school

If you're not sure whether you're eligible to vote, email returning@ussu.sussex.ac.uk for help

The voting website

We use an online voting system which allows you to vote from any computer with access to the Internet during the voting period. To vote, find the election you'd like to vote in on our elections summary page and click through for more information and the voting link (note this will only be active while voting is open).

Step 1 - log in

You will need to log in via the University's website (using the voting link) which will automatically check whether you're eligible to vote and, if so, will transfer you to our website. This is done anonymously, we don't keep records of who votes for who. If you can't log in we have some tips below

Step 2 - choose the election you'd like to vote in

Sometimes there are more than one position available, e.g. in our full-time officer elections we have six positions, or there may be elections and a referendum. Click on the position you'd like to vote for

Step 3 - vote for people

You'll be able to read about each candidate and see a picture of them. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and follow the instructions to vote (see details of our voting system below).

Step 4 - vote for other positions (if available)

If there is more than position to vote for you can repeat this process for each position. You can return later to vote for other positions if you'd like and you don't have to vote for every position if you don't want to.

Step 5 - log out

After you've finished voting remember to log out (the link is under the voting image). It is very important you log out to finish your session, especially if you are using a shared computer

Our voting system

We use the Alternative Vote (AV) system for Students' Union elections which allows you to rank the candidates in order of preference. You make your favourite person number 1, your second favourite number 2 and so on. This system is widely used by Students' Unions as it minimises wasted votes and aims to elect a broadly popular candidate.

Where there is more than one identical post, e.g. the four Ethical & Environmental Rep positions we use the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. Student Reps are elected using the 'First Past the Post' system which does not ask you to rank candidates in order of preference

You have the choice of voting for 'RON - Re-Open Nominations'. You can vote for RON if you would like the election to be restarted by reopening nominations and allowing other people to put themselves forward as candidates.

To vote, find the election you'd like to vote in on our elections summary page and click through for more information and the voting link (note this will only be active while voting is open)

Can't log in to vote?

If you can't log in to vote at www.sussexstudent.com/vote you can try following our tips to solve the problem...

Are you a member of the Students' Union? Check our list of which students are and aren't members of the Students' Union

Did you opt out of Students' Union information? You may have opted out during registration. To change this, log in to your Sussex Direct account then go to the 'Personal' tab at the top, select 'Formalities' then 'edit' to change your status

Are you a BSMS/BIMM student? You need to use your Sussex login OR your Brighton/BIMM details. If you have misplaced your Sussex ITS details, see FAQ 382 for more details. For BSMS login details, contact your IT department.

If you think that you are eligible to vote and these steps haven't helped, please contact Hesan Yousif: h.d.yousif@sussex.ac.uk