Model Ruling on RON and STV
Under the terms of NUS constitution, rules and associated schedules, all Annual Conference elections are required to include the option for the electorate to “Re Open Nominations”. “RON” is then treated as a candidate for the purposes of the count.
At the same time all elections are required to be counted under the “Single Transferable Vote” system. The issue arises where Re Open Nominations goes on to win during a multi member seat count (for example a block of non portfolio officers or an NUS Conference delegation count). This is a specific issue given that the electoral reform society’s official rules do not allow for “Re Open Nominations”
It has been the practice in the past and in some unions, once “RON” has been elected, to deem all other unfilled places unelected and to move to a by-election; so in a count for a block of 12, when RON comes sixth some people have been opening a by-election for 7 places. This is clearly a distortion and it is impossible to say with any authority that the collective decision of the electorate was to do so.
As a result we have sought guidance from experts on the issues and as a result issue the following ruling under the power of the returning officer to interpret the rules:
In elections with more than one vacancy the counting shall be by the single transferable vote system. If at any stage of the count ‘re-open nominations’ candidate gains the required number of votes to be elected, it shall be deemed to have been elected and any surplus and any further votes, transferred to a further ‘re-open nominations’ candidate.
This stage shall be repeated as often as required. The Returning Officer shall declare unfilled the number of vacancies equal to the number of ‘re-open nominations’ candidates deemed to have been elected, if any.
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