UKYP electionsvoting station pack 2014

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Cumbria County Council

Serving the people of Cumbria cumbria.gov.uk

Essential guide for election

supervisors

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Cumbria County Council

Contents

About the elections .............................................................................................................3

About the Voting..................................................................................................................4

Democracy Awards .............................................................................................................4

Benefits to the School .........................................................................................................5

Benefits of online voting......................................................................................................5

Voting Station – Information and key dates .......................................................................6

Cumbria UKYP 2014 Promotion ........................................................................................6

Candidate Information, Training and Filming Days ............................................................7

Supervising the Online Vote ...............................................................................................7

The Democracy Awards .....................................................................................................8

Voting Schedule at a glance ...............................................................................................8

Election Top Tips .................................................................................................................9

Cumbria’s Youth Democracy, Levels of Engagement ......................................................10

What is UKYP? .................................................................................................................11

UKYP Voting Station Pack 2014

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About the elections

Candidates must be 11-18 years old; if a candidate is going to turn 19 during their term in office, then they must stand down. The term of office is fifteen months long, the intention is to bring Cumbria into line with national UKYP elections.

Candidates must either live, work or go to school in the constituency in which they wish to stand for election. Candidates must join their local Youth Council to be eligible to stand. Candidates will be able to stand for election for the following geographical areas:

Cumbria West: •Allerdale•Copeland

Cumbria North:•Carlisle•Eden

Cumbria South:•Barrow•South Lakeland

The elections will be held between the 3rd November and the 12th December 2014. Voting week will take place during the 8th to the 12th December 2014.

Once voting has finished, votes will be counted and the results will be announced on the 13th December 2014 at County Hall in Kendal. The candidate in each geographical area with the highest number of votes will become the MYP. The candidate with the second highest number of votes in each geographical area will become the Deputy MYP. In the case of an equal number of votes for two or more candidates, a separate election will be held involving the candidates in mention and then the same rules shall apply until a candidate is selected.

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Cumbria County Council

About the votingWe will be holding the election on-line.

Voting week will take place during the 8th to the 12th December 2014.

All voting will be conducted electronically using Mi-Voice’s e- voting platform.

To vote, pupils should be directed to www.mi-vote.com, where they will be asked to enter a unique voting code. This code will allow the voter to view manifestos and cast their vote. Each code can only be used once.

The codes will be printed on individual cards and will include instructions on how to vote. Schools will receive voting codes before the election starts on Monday 8th December 2014.

Prior to the election starting it is recommended that each school checks that there are no restrictions that prevent pupils from accessing www.mi-vote.com.

Before the election starts, it is possible for pupils to view the candidates standing in their area. To do so, please encourage voters to visit the appropriate election marketing site:

WEST (Allerdale and Copeland )NORTH (Carlisle and Eden) SOUTH (Barrow and South Lakes)

Should you have any questions about the voting process please contact mi-voice:

T: 0845 241 4145 E: support@mi-voice.com

Democracy awardsCumbria County Council will be running the Democracy Award Scheme for the 2014 elections. The Award recognises a school’s participation in the elections. There are three levels of award; Bronze, Silver and Gold. Awards are made on the basis of a school’s participation in the elections. The requirements to achieve an award are outlined below.

Award level Award levelBronze 50% of school votedSilver 70% of school votedGold 90% of school voted

The Mi-Voice e-voting platform is able to monitor turnout for each school and we will send out progress reports throughout the voting period.

Voting cards will look like this;

UKYP Voting Station Pack 2014

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Benefits to the schoolCertificates will be given for each level of the award for schools to display. There will also be a celebration event at which your schools achievement will be highlighted.

Participation in this County award gives good statistical evidence for OFSTED inspections. There is also the chance to gather qualitative evidence, by making the elections part of lesson plans.

By taking part, you will gain valuable data that shows whole school participation in the democratic process. We can provide you with a toolkit that helps teachers deliver learning through our elections. This gives a creative range of methods that can be used across different departments

The countywide elections offer students a chance to access:

•Skills and Understanding

•Skills of enquiry and communication

•Skills of participation and responsible action

Benefits of online votingFollowing our research and taking advice from the BYC (British Youth Council) we hope to achieve the best turn out results through an on-line voting process. There are a number of benefits to ‘e-voting’, and these include;

•A better informed voter with on-line, accessible information about the candidates and information about the UK Youth Parliament.

•A fairer chance for candidates standing to be elected: when the voter casts a vote, the candidates will appear on screen with their manifesto information.

•A voting system that reduces negative environmental impact, as no printing of ballot papers and delivery of ballot boxes. This fits well with the County Councils priorities on both ‘Environment’ and ‘Transport.’

•Better feedback to schools e.g. we can provide individual school turn-out percentage and issues of concern. This may in turn help future initiatives in your school college as we can tell you what issues are important to young people.

•Pupils may be casting their vote on-line in future general elections when they reach voting age, so it will be a good experience for them to have now.

Working with ‘Mi-Voice’ - Partner in delivering the Big Vote election.

We are working with Mi-Voice.com to deliver the Cumbria UKYP election. Mi-Voice has created a cost effective, secure, multi-channel voting tool for use in a wide variety of situations such as Youth Council and School Council elections

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Cumbria County Council

Voting Station – Information and key datesTo support you in delivering the Cumbria UKYP 2014 election we will provide you with the following:

5th November 2014•This voting station pack for you to understand the

requirements of the Cumbria UKYP election process.

•Posters and candidate information packs to raise awareness of the Cumbria UKYP 2014 election and encourage young people to stand as candidates. PDF files will be e-mailed to you.

•A PowerPoint presentation to be delivered in schools.

•Contact details of your local CCC participation worker who can offer support.

November •Upon request we could arrange a visit to your school

and explain more about the election, meet prospective candidates and voters.

•Liaise with you about your registration as a voting station; liaise with candidates about their registration forms before the closing date of 14 November 2014

•Candidate training day will take place on the 15 November

•Candidate information days will take place on the 17th and 18th November around the County

•In November we would like you to carry out an ICT test of your computers to check that you can access the on-line voting site, candidate statements and film clips. We will send you more details.

•Unique voting codes for each voter will be sent to you; one card per voter to make it easy to distribute.

•19th November 2014 candidate campaigns begin

December •8th December 2014 – on-line voting opens!!!

•12th December 2014 at 5p.m. – on-line voting closes.

•We will be able to monitor the number of students who vote on-line and we let you know your school/college ‘turn out’.

•Results announced on the 13th December 2014 at a celebration event at County Hall in Kendal.

Cumbria UKYP 2014 Promotion

Please would you kindly arrange for the posters to be displayed and circulated in your school/college? We are asking that you to encourage your students to stand as a candidate. This will help to ensure that your school/college/ has an increased profile and it also makes the election process more real for the young people voting. We are looking for candidates who demonstrate passion and interest in issues that affect young people. They don’t have to be a good public speaker or a Grade A student. They just need to have an interest in issues that affect young people and want to work as a team to voice their ideas and opinions.

UKYP Voting Station Pack 2014

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Candidate Information, Training and Filming DaysWe will be meeting with candidates, supporting them to prepare their manifestos and filming their statements on the 15th November. You will be able to see these through the mi voice site. The message to give to young people who may be interested in standing as a candidate is that they need to do three things:

1. Read the candidate information pack

2. Complete the Candidate Registration Form in the candidate pack

3. Send Registration Forms to cumbriaUKYP@cumbria.gov.uk email address by the14th November 2014.

Supervising the Online Vote

There will be a flexible voting period between the 8th to the 12th December 2014. This is so that you can make arrangements for voting most convenient for your voting station.

The benefit of on-line voting is that all voters will be able to see information and film clips of the candidates standing before they vote. Please make sure voters look through all the candidates standing in their voting area before they vote. Candidates will appear in a randomly selected order each time a voter logs on, and this helps to give a fairer chance in the election for candidates standing.

Distribution of unique voting codes - One unique code is generated per student and these will be sent to you as individual voting cards. All you need to do is distribute to teachers so that they can hand out to voters before they vote – best to give codes out when students vote, so they don’t get lost! Students may want to put their unique code in their school diary/planner. A voting code can only be used once in this election.

1. Voters must be aged 11 or over but must not have reached their 19th birthday.

2. Voters are allowed to vote for only ONE candidate in their election area. The on-line system does not allow for ‘spoilt votes’.

3. Voters will also vote for the top two issues that concern them most and a record of the issues voted for will be recorded for each voting station and fed back to you.

4. Once all your pupils have voted, please kindly inform our team by e-mailing:cumbriaUKYP@cumbria.gov.uk we will then e-mail you confirmation of the number of votes that have been cast from your voting station and the order of concern for the issues.

5. Voters can vote anywhere with their unique voting code, as long as they can access the internet and a computer. Please distribute these codes near to the voting time so they don’t get lost.

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Cumbria County Council

The Democracy AwardsBy using the on-line voting system the voting ‘turn-out’ can be monitored and recorded and we can let you know how many young people voted. To recognise the number of votes cast and to thank voting stations for their participation, we are launching the ‘Democracy Awards’.

The Cumbria UKYP election provides a tool for engagement and citizenship, and also gives candidates the opportunity to promote their ideas for campaigns and discuss these in the lead up to the election.

We hope that the ‘Democracy Awards’ will act as an incentive to teachers/youth workers, candidates and voters – everyone helping to increase participation in the election. Good evidence for OFSTED.

There are three levels of the Democracy Award:•Bronze: Up to a 50% voter turn out

•Silver: 50% to 75% voter turn out

•Gold: Above 75% voter turn out

We will communicate with all voting stations during the week of the 15 December, giving voting ‘turn out’ percentages and feedback on the issues of concern to young people.

All voting stations will be sent either a bronze, silver or gold Democracy Award certificate, to recognise their achievement in the election, based on their voting turn-out.

Thank you for taking part in the Cumbria UKYP elections.

Voting Schedule at a glanceStage Activity Date(s)

1 Letter to school headsRegister your school/youth centre as a voting station ASAP

2 Candidate registration deadline 14/11/14

3 Candidate information and training day. 15/11/14

4Voting station information pack sent to schools.PowerPoint presentation sent in to schoolsPlease show the presentation in lessons/assemblies to promote candidates standing.

From 03/11/14 to 08/12/14

5 Candidate campaigns 19/11/14 to 12/12/14

6 On-line voting goes live on the 8th December at 9a.m 08/12/14

7 Voting closes on 12th December at 5p.m. 12/12/14

8 Election results announced Saturday 13th December 2014 at a celebration event in County Hall in Kendal 13/12/14

9 Announcement of the democracy award winner at the celebration event 13/12/14

UKYP Voting Station Pack 2014

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Election Top TipsThe on-line voting experience itself will give lots of information about the candidates standing, with the opportunity to watch film clips and read film statements at the time of voting. However, you may choose to watch the films and go through the site altogether as a class before voters cast their vote.

Distribution of unique voting codes - One unique code is generated per pupil and these will be sent to you on individual cards before the election goes live. All you need to do is distribute to teachers so they can hand out to voters before they vote – best to give codes out when students vote, so they don’t get lost! Students can put their unique code in their school planner. A code can only be used once in this election.

1. Keep your ICT Network Managers informed – plan dates and times for classes to access computers and vote. Allow for up to half an hour for voters to watch film clips or read candidates statements.

3. Engage your School Council in the election process and equip them with the information to rally candidates and promote the Cumbria UKYP 2014 elections.

3. Assembly and Tutor Groups – show the presentation, and allow any candidates to give a short presentation.

4. Lunchtime – Create an election stall, e.g. Election Supervisor with a few young people/candidates (possibly from school council) with information about the UKYP elections.

5. Computer Terminals – add a screen saver to all your school terminals to help you raise awareness.

6. Cumbria UKYP2014 elections poster – can be sent to your pupils school emails in pdf format [this will be emailed to you]

7. Elect a team of Young Election Supervisors – You may be able to support students to be the Election Supervisors for different year groups, making sure students have been able to vote and they can help to evaluate the experience.

8. Contact your local Cumbria County Council Participation Worker to support the Cumbria UKYP 2014 elections.

Rowan Carr, Allerdale and Copeland Youth Councils, rowan.carr@cumbria.gov.uk

Chris Barry, Carlisle & Eden Youth Councils, chris.barry@cumbria.gov.uk

Lynne Murray, Barrow & South lakes Youth Councils, lynne.murray@cumbria.gov.uk

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Cumbria County Council

Level 1 Youth Councils and Youth ForumsDemocratic Link – Local Committees6 local youth councils underpinned by school councils and youth forums in rural areas. Set local priorities and develop local action plans. Political and democratic engagement is at Local Committee level.

Level 2 Cumbria Youth Parliament (CYP) Democratic Link – Cumbria County CouncilThe CYP agree and set County priorities and develop an annual action plan. Membership is made up of nominated representatives from 6 youth councils (18 young people), Local Committees (12 Elected Members), and other influential adults with countywide decision-making powers (maximum 6 adults).

Level 3 Youthforia (North West Youth Parliament)Democratic Link – North West Local Authorities and MP’sThe North West Regional Youth Work Unit works on behalf of NW Local Authorities, and in partnership with the UK Youth Parliament, to co-ordinate a young people’s democratic network called Youthforia. This project supports over 130 young people each year to take voluntary social action in their communities acting as leaders within local youth forums and youth councils. These young people act to improve and co-ordinate youth participation activities within these projects by producing resources and acting as leaders. Cumbria has six places on Youthforia with each Youth Council having a representative role.

Cumbria’s Youth Democracy, Levels of Engagement

Level 4 UK Youth Parliament (UKYP)Democratic Link – Ministers and MP’sElections must be open to all. To become an MYP, young people have to be elected by other young people in an official UKYP election. Any young person who is a resident of the UK, and aged between 11 and 18 years old (inclusive) has the right to stand for election as an MYP and the right to vote for their MYP. Each Children’s Services Directorate in England represents a Youth Parliament Constituency. The number of MYP’s allocated to each constituency varies depending upon the number of young people who live in that constituency. The allocation for Cumbria currently stands at three MYP’s. Cumbria’s elections would be driven and managed through work with the six Youth Councils and Cumbria Youth Parliament.

UKYP Voting Station Pack 2014

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What is UKYP?

The UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) aims to give 11-18 year olds a voice which will be heard and listened to at a national level.

In Cumbria we will have three Members and three Deputies. In this role there are many opportunities to link up with other young people regionally in the North West and nationally to work on projects and campaigns. This is a great platform on which to voice concerns and opinions expressed by young people in Cumbria to Government leaders, Ministers, MPs and senior providers of services.

Members of the UKYP (MYPs) will attend a regional ‘Annual Sitting’ and have the opportunity to take part in the House of Commons debate in Westminster. MYPs have responsibility for reporting back to all Youth Parliament and Youth Council Members and including their views and ideas in regional and national campaign work. For more info on the UKYP visit ukyouthparliament.org.uk

3 Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) and 3 Deputy Members of Youth Parliament (D/MYPs) will be elected and will stand for a fifteen months term.

Support Needs

We want everyone to be able to take part. If your students have support needs, let us know and we will work with you to help them be involved in the Cumbria UKYP 2014 election. For more information please contact the cumbriaUKYP@cumbria.gov.ukOr you can telephone Susan Hodkin on 01900 706375

If you require this document in another format (eg CD, audio cassette, Braille or large type) or in another language, please telephone 01228 226601.

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Serving the people of Cumbria cumbria.gov.uk