Key questions for planning your election:

1. What positions are being elected?

Define the roles, responsibilities and expectations of the student leadership positions. This helps students to make an informed decision about becoming a candidate or choosing who to vote for.

2. Who can stand for election?

To become a candidate for election, individuals must first nominate. As a teacher, this is your opportunity to influence which students can take a student leadership role. Do not wait until after students have voted to influence the outcome. Use nomination rules to make sure that every candidate is suitable.

Examples of nomination rules:

• Nominees must have participated in at least one extra curricula activity
• Nominees must present a campaign speech
• Nominees must be supported by a teacher

Customise the Nomination form with your own rules.

Allow approximately 1 week for students to nominate. Once nominations have closed, check eligibility and announce the candidates.

3. Who is eligible to vote?

When considering who is eligible to vote, remember the principles for a good election. To ensure full participation you may decide to make voting compulsory (as in Australian parliamentary elections).

Consider whether teachers are eligible to vote, or which year levels can vote for school captains.

You will need a list of all eligible voters' names – class rolls are a good basis for this.

4. What type of election?

There are many different electoral systems used in Australia and around the world. You may like to model your election on a federal or state electoral system (preferential) or use a simple first-past-the-post system.

You may need to elect several positions, each with different candidates or voters. To do this, you can run several elections simultaneously, using a different ballot paper for each.

The AEC can provide advice on what will work best for your school. For more information see Types of election or contact us.

5. How will the school community be involved?

Keeping the school community informed is an important part of the election. If possible, each class or homeroom teacher should spend some time discussing the election with students. School assemblies and newsletters are also a good way of raising the profile of the election.

For a whole school election, consult with colleagues to plan the involvement of each class. Use the Class voting timetable to schedule a time for each class to vote.