Procedure

All students who are registered at the University are eligible for election and have the right to vote. Students vote for the student section of the University Council and Faculty Councils. This also includes scholarship PhD students, but not external students (extraneus) or people who are registered for individual courses (cursist).

Student assistants who work at a service unit or a faculty other than the one where they are registered as a student have, in addition to their voting rights as students, the right to vote for the staff section of this service unit or faculty where they work.

The electoral register is drawn up by the Central Electoral Committee in a timely manner, which lists all students who are entitled to vote and be elected. This means that all students can exercise their electoral rights if they are enrolled at the university at that time.

All staff members with a permanent or temporary appointment at the UG are eligible for election and have the right to vote. UMCG academic staff as well as UMCG support and administrative staff in the fields of teaching and research are also eligible for election and have the right to vote, under the conditions set by the UMCG. This also applies to staff of the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and similar organizations who are working at the University.

The electoral register is drawn up by the Central Electoral Committee in a timely manner, which lists all staff members who are entitled to vote and be elected. This means that all staff members who have an employment contract at the University at that time can exercise their electoral rights.

The voting procedure during University elections is as follows:

Invitation to vote

All who are eligible to vote, will receive an email with an invitation to vote and voting instructions (voting ballot). Information about the various parties and their candidates will be published in a digital voting application, on the condition that the parties have submitted their information to the Central Electoral Committee in good time. The voting application is available in Dutch and English.

Voting

To  access the voting ballot, logging into the University environment, using your user name and password, is required. Please go to account.rug.nl  if you have forgotten your password.

It is not always necessary to vote: if the number of nominations is equal to or fewer than the number of seats on the relevant Council, all nominated candidates will be deemed to have been elected.

Results

The counting of the votes will start on the day after the closing date of the voting application, and the results will then be announced as soon as possible.

Objections

Anyone who disagrees with a decision made by the Central Electoral Committee can submit an objection to the Board of the University of Groningen.

The Central Electoral Committee organizes the elections for the University Council, the Faculty Councils and the Employee Councils in accordance with Article 2 of the UG Electoral Regulations.

The Central Electoral Committee is made up of five members, including both staff members of the University and at least one student member. The Central Electoral Committee is supported by an administrative secretary. The secretariat of the Central Electoral Committee is part of the AJZ department. The Secretary of the Central Electoral Committee provides the necessary information about the elections to the parties in the elections and any others who are interested in the elections.

The address of the CSB is:
University of Groningen
Central Electoral Committee
P.O. Box 72
9700 AB Groningen
The Netherlands

Email: csb rug.nl

Want to know more about the University elections, procedures, the right to vote and be elected, and related matters? Feel free to email your question to the Central Electoral Committee.

The Central Electoral Committee informs students and staff of the university about the different steps of the electoral process through a number of official announcements. These announcements are published on the intranet and on www.rug.nl/vote. On this website you will also find a timetable showing the various steps of the electoral process.

• Publication Electoral register

• Candidacy

• Candidacy list

• Electoral periods

• Elected candidates

The University uses a ‘list system’, which means that each candidate is a member of a party. Candidates can stand for election via an existing party (by contacting the Council and/or party in question) or establish their own party (by contacting the CSB). Each list (party) wishing to participate in the elections contacts the Central Electoral Committee and arranges for a list submitter.

The person who registers a party will be invited by the Central Electoral Committee to enter the candidates into the digital system. Nominations must satisfy certain official requirements. The Central Electoral Committee will therefore inspect the candidate list upon receipt. Any irregularities can be corrected during a term to be defined, after which the nominations will be declared definitive and the candidate lists will be published.

Nominations must be submitted digitally during a period that is announced in advance. No new parties or candidate lists can be submitted after this period.

The blue button "Candidacy" can be used by the candidate to confirm the candidacy.

After the list of candidates is determined by the CSB, the candidate can further supplement the candidate profile with, among other things, a motto and a motivation for election.

The list submitter is the contact person of a party participating in the elections and is responsible for, a.o., submitting the candidate list of the respective party.

During the period the that candidacy will take place, the list submitter can fill the list which candidates, ask the candidates to confirm their candidacy and see if the candidates have confirmed their candidacy, rejected it or have not done anything yet.

After the list of candidates has been determined, all candidates will be asked by the CSB to record information about their candidacy (candidate profile).

Candidate lists not submitted (on time) and unconfirmed candidacy can be declared invalid.

The list submitter will have access to the dashboard via the blue button "Submitter" (www.rug.nl/vote), which shows which information candidates have registered for the voter. This way the list submitter can see if the candidate  still needs to take action. The list submitter can also add general information about the respective  party.

For more information, please contact the Central Electoral Committee.