Mock election in school - highway code

We are holding an election and I thought it might be a good idea to set up some guidelines. Anyone who has seen Reese Witherspoon in election will get the drift of what I’m talking about.

Campaign conduct

Selection of parties and candidates
Members of the L6 Politics sets should inform me before the day official campaigning commences on Wednesday 21 April:

• Which party they would like to represent
• Who their nominated candidate will be
• The name of their campaign manager
• Names of any other members of their official campaign team. Teams are encouraged to solicit support from pupils lower down the school – they are, after all, your potential voters.

One person may be an entire team should they wish.

Please sort this out among yourselves. In the event of a dispute, I will make the final decision.

I will also need a handful of volunteers to help with managing the ballot, including manning polling stations, and counting the final vote. You should not plan on being part of an official campaign team, for obvious reasons.

In framing your campaign, bear in mind that voters will be encouraged to vote for what they see and hear during the school’s campaign, not necessarily how they would vote in the actual election (though obviously this might be the same in a large number of cases).

That said, you cannot deviate from what can be regarded as official policy of your party. You can of course focus on those aspects which you think would appeal to your particular constituency of voters within the school. Further, whilst your campaign can be humorous, and point out what you see as the obvious weaknesses of your opponents, conduct during your campaign cannot at any stage be regarded as grossly offensive – use your common sense here.

On which note, please be aware that a BNP candidacy does not comply with school policy on equal opportunities, and they will not be listed on ballot papers.

Hard campaigning
All teams will be permitted an allowance of 20 A4 colour copies per week to publicise their campaign. Within this allowance, you are free produce as many different types of posters within the stated limits. These should be cleared through me. I will arrange for them to be printed, you will collect them and are then free to distribute/place around the school.

Electronic campaigning
Campaign teams will be entitled to one mass mailing to potential voters per week – this could relate to a particular policy or policies (manifesto?) you want to promote, or could consist of attacks on the policies or credibility of your opponents.

These should be no larger than 50KB in size.

There are a host of spoof electronic poster sites out there for inspiration, the most well known of which is here

Should teams break any of these publicity limits, or indulge in sabotaging rival campaigns, their campaigns will be suspended for a duration which will depend on the gravity of the offence.

Campaign schedule
• All nominees to me by: Wed 21/04
• Campaign officially begins: Thu 22/04 – week one
Includes hustings for boys in Theatre
• Full week of campaigning begins: Mon 26/04 – week two
Includes hustings for girls in Theatre
• Final week of campaigning begins: Mon 03/05 – week two
• Polling day: Thu 06/05
• Results announced: Fri 07/05