1. Election Regulations
UNC Chapel Hill

2. How UNC Elections Work UNC elections are a two step process:
Certification- the method by which a candidate can get their name on the ballot
In order for your name to appear on the ballot, you must turn in to the BOE a ballot petition, the details of which are discussed later in this power point.
Election- students vote for their representative, choosing from the names on the ballot or writing in the names of others
Elections are broken up into 3 distinct time periods:
Pre-declaration/Private Campaign Period
Pre-certification/Public Campaign Period
Post-certification/Active Campaign Period

3. Pre-Declaration/Private Campaigning
During this period, you may engage in individual one-on-one communication for the purpose of preparing campaign materials and privately recruiting campaign workers ONLY
You may not announce publicly or to any large group of people that you are running for office.
You may not campaign or promote yourself in relation to the office.
Declaration refers to officially announcing your intent to run, and being recognized by the BOE
In order to announce your intent to run, you must either attend a mandatory candidates’ meeting or complete this training mechanism. If you do not do either one of these you will not be allowed to run.
Once you have done so, and once you have received an from the BOE stating that your intent to run has been recognized and that the public campaigning period has begin, then the pre-declaration period ends.
The pre-declaration period for the Fall 2017 elections will end at some time in the evening of OCT 11.

4. Pre-Certification/Public Campaigning
After the pre-declaration period ends, the pre-certification period begins
The purpose of this period is for candidates to collect signatures for their ballot petition
In order for a candidate’s name to appear on a ballot, they must turn in to the BOE a ballot petition containing a requisite number of signatures
USG President-1000
CAA President- 750
RHA President-250
President/VP of the Senior Class- 250
USG Senator-25
Homecoming Court- 200

5. Pre-Certification/Public Campaigning
During this period you may engage in public campaigning, defined as campaigning for the sole purpose of obtaining signatures for your ballot petition
You may engage in personal private conversations not at a gathering of a recognized campus organization and/or a group of more than 5 individuals (excepting campaign staff meetings) for the purpose of getting signatures
You may engage in one-on-one conversations online and on social media with individuals for the purpose of having them sign your petition
You may use signs and A-frame for the explicit purpose of collecting signatures
You may not make any mass announcements such as speaking to a large group of people, speaking to a campus organization, making public posts on social media, using group chats, etc. to campaign to collect signatures
All campaigning must be done on an individual basis

6. Ballot Petitions Ballot petitions can be physical or electronic:
For physical signatures, the student must write down their name, PID, address, primary major, class, and signature. Physical signatures then have to be typed up into a spreadsheet which must be ed to The paper copy of the physical signatures must be turned in to the Student Government Suite (Union third floor)
For electronic signatures students signing must include their name, PID, address, primary major, and class. ONYEN-verification takes the place of the signature. Your website must ONYEN-verify. Linked is a video explaining how to set up ONYEN-verification. You must send proof that your website is ONYEN-verified by way of sending the URL to with screenshots. To turn these signatures in, the spreadsheet to
Your signatures do not need to be all electronic or all physical, they can be a combination of both.
Signatures must be turned in for the Fall 2017 election by Oct 19.

7. Ballot Petitions
Every student may sign only as many ballot petitions are there are open seats to represent them.
If there are four open seats in the Humanities District, then each Humanities student may sign up to four petitions and no more
If a student signs more petitions than they have open seats, their signature will be stricken from every petition they signed.
As a result, sometimes, a petition with more than the requisite signatures will not meet the signature threshold after accounting and striking out the signatures of those who have signed too many ballot petitions
If this happens to a candidate, that candidate will be given a 24 hour period to collect more signatures and reach the threshold

8. Pre-Certification/Public Campaigning
Ballot petitions for the Fall 2017 election are due on Oct 19 at 5PM
On Oct 20 all candidates will be notified if they did or did not make the threshold, and if they are entitled to a grace period to collect more signatures
On Oct 21, the grace period will end at 5PM and all new signatures must be turned in at that time
On Oct 22, a final list of certified candidates will be released. After this, the pre-certification period will end, and the active campaining period will
Only these candidates will appear on the ballot.
Even if you are not certified, you can still run a write-in campaign

9. Post-Certification/Active Campaigning
During this period, you may utilize publicly distributed printed materials and mass communication mechanisms to promote your candidacy and get people to vote for you
You may hand out flyers; make posters and A-frames; send s, voic s, text messages; make public announcements both physically and online through social media, group chats, etc.
This period will culminate with the election, on Oct 27.

10. Materials and Technology
Any physical and digital materials produced by a candidate or campaign must have the following sponsored message:
“sponsored by the [name] for [office] campaign”
This includes but is not limited to print matter, social media accounts, websites, videos
You may have a website
The URL of the website must be specified in your financial statement (more later on this)
No campaign-related material may be posted on the web until the pre-certification period begins
Your website must have the sponsored message
You may send unsolicited s
only in the active campaigning period
only with the subject line “Vote for [candidate] for [office]
only with the sponsored message
Cannot have “high” or “urgent” priority designation
Must include a reply or sender’s address

11. Materials and Technology
Social network posts must follow the same regulation as unsolicited
Mass use of voic is allowed
during the post-certification period only
The first words in the message must be “THIS MESSAGE IS IN SUPPORT OF [candidate] FOR [Office]. REPLY TO [Phone number of sender].”
The message cannot be longer than 30 seconds
Mass text messages can be sent
During the post-certification phase only
This includes GroupMe, Facebook messaging, and all other various instant messaging applications

12. Finances
The following are the max amounts that a candidate, their campaign workers or other people on the behalf of the candidate, can spend (including services and gratuities). Going over this limit will result in disqualification:
USG President- $150.00
CAA President- $100.00
RHA President- $100.00
President/Vice President of the Rising Senior Class- $50.00
USG Senators- $15.00
Mr. or Ms. UNC- $25.00
This applies to all candidates, including write-ins.

13. Finances
Volunteered services by duly registered fee-paying students of UNC-Chapel Hill shall not be considered campaign expenditures
All other services shall be considered campaign expenditures
If goods and services are given gratuitously or excessively below normal cost, it will be assessed with regard to the financial limits at fair market value.
If a campaign expenditure is made without a candidate’s knowledge and consent, the candidate must officially decline the service or good purchased within 24 hours of discovering its purchase
To officially decline a purchase a candidate must make a strong effort to remove or nullify the expenditure

14. Finances
All certified candidates are entitled to student government funding solely for the campaign, and may use only this funding for the campaign. This funding will take the form of reimbursement after the election for all campaign expenditures up to the financial limit
All write-in candidates must abide by the financial restrictions but are not eligible for funding
All candidates must submit a financial statement containing receipts and records for all goods purchased, given, or used in the campaign, and all services rendered by non-fee-paying students. By 5PM the day after the election
If a candidate loses and does not wish to be reimbursed, they need not submit a financial statement so long as they notify the BOE of that decision

15. Prohibited Activities
Defacing Campaign Materials- defacing, destroying, altering, or otherwise changing any candidate’s campaign materials before the election.
Misrepresenting Election Issues- deliberating misrepresenting any issue to be voted on by the Undergraduate Student Election or falsely defaming another campaign. , including intentionally presenting falsities regarding the platform of another campaign, shall constitute misrepresentation of an election issue. Any misrepresentation resulting from intended satire shall not constitute such violation.

16. Prohibited Activities
False Start
Actively or publicly campaigning prior to the pre-certification period
Actively campaigning prior to the post-certification period
Privately campaigning for the Spring General Election before Oct 1
Technology
Campaigning online in illegal ways
Campaigning in restricted areas (listed in the following slide)

17. Prohibited Activities
The Cubes (The Pit);
The interior of the Student Union and Student Union Annex;
The interior of the University Student Stores
The exterior of all campus buildings (whether by poster, projection, or other method);
The interior of all academic buildings;
The interior of all campus libraries;
The interior of all dining halls;
The interior of all campus residence halls;
The interior or exterior of all University or Chapel Hill Transit operated vehicles;
Within fifty (50) feet of a University-operated computer facility, and,
The private property of any individual who has not given prior consent

18. Prohibited Activities
Changing the wallpapers/homepages of University Owned computers
Damage to University Property
Damage to Trees/Plants
Using Incentives
Cash, items of cash value, food, coupons, vouchers cannot be used to solicit signatures or votes
Hallstorming (with exception to USG, RHA Presidential Candidates)
visiting campus residence halls operated by the Department of Housing & Residential Education or Granville Towers for the purpose of soliciting signatures or promoting a candidate’s campaign
Campaign materials removed from University property with 96 hours of close of polls

19. Prohibited Activities
Falsification
Includes, but is not limited to falsifying financial records, giving false information, lying during hearings
Financial problems
Includes, but is not limited spending more money than legally permitted
Harmful of Malicious Behavior
Includes, but is not limited intentionally ruining an opponent’s campaign irreversibly or maliciously

20. Points Level 1: 1-5 points Level 2: 6-11 points Level 3: 12-16 points
Notice of Violation shall be ed by the Board of Elections to the student body regarding the campaign’s or referenda’s violations.
Level 3: points
Notice Of Violation(s) shall be ed to the student body, and a Notice Of Violation(s) shall appear on the ballot regarding the campaign’s or referenda’s violations.
Level 4: 17 + points
Automatic Disqualification.
A candidate or referenda campaign which receives a point or points, as issued within the final opinion of a BOE hearing, shall also have their/its maximum spending limit decreased. Each level shall correspond to a 10% decrease from the original maximum spending limit for a candidate or campaign.

21. Points Defacing school property. 2 points. False Start. 2 points.
Location. 3 points.
Technology. 2 points.
Falsification. 8 points.
Financial Problems. 10 points
Harmful or Malicious Behavior. 8 points.

22. Prohibited Activities
Violations of campaign laws are to be filed as election complaints to the BOE. Any student who has knowledge of an election law violation has a responsibility to file an election complaint to the BOE. The complaint must contain:
The name of the plaintiff;
The respective constituency of the plaintiff;
The name of the defendant;
The respective category of the purported election violation;
A description of the defendant’s purported election violation; and
Any evidence of the defendant’s purported election violation.
Signature, aggress, and telephone number of the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s counsel, should the plaintiff be represented by counsel.
A certification of the following:
“I do affirm that I have read in full the foregoing complaint and that the allegations contained therein are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.”
In the event that an election complaint is filed, the BOE will commence a hearing, through which it will hear the complaint and any defense the defendant wishes to make, will make a decision as to the guilt of the defendant, and will assign points appropriately.

23. Completion of this Training
Read through the Title III of the Student Code, found here:
Send an to notifying the Board of your intent to run, and confirm that you have indeed read this presentation and the Student Code, and that you are aware of and will follow all Electoral Regulation.