Elections, Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings: Advice 

Annual General Meetings vs. Extraordinary General Meetings 

An Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a compulsory meeting that Committee must organise with its members, which usually takes place during York SU's re-ratification period. The focus of this meeting is to summarise your society's year, and to vote upon any proposed constitutional changes, and to elect your committee for the year ahead.

An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) is a meeting that can take place at any point of the year. EGMs can take place if a committee member has resigned and their role needs filling via. a by-election, or if there is a constitutional amendment that you wish to implement sooner than your AGM (for example, the addition of a new committee position).

The exact same electoral rules and procedures apply for an EGM as they do an AGM. If you have any questions, email your link staff contact.

Before Your AGM, Your Committee Must... 

Review Your Constitution 

You should be familiar with your group’s constitution. It sets out your group’s aims and objectives, your committee structure, your democratic processes and code of practice. The purpose of the constitution is to give your group direction, tell members what your group’s purpose is and how you operate. Before you start to plan your AGM, the group’s committee and members should have the opportunity to review the constitution and submit any proposed amendments. Amendments might be:



You must ensure that any rules introduced do not exclude any members. Collect any suggested amendments and decide how these will be voted upon. If nobody has any proposals, the group’s constitution will remain the same for the next year.


Amendments to your constitution must be passed by a two thirds majority vote of those present at your AGM– see your constitution for more details!

Plan and Announce Your AGM

An AGM has three main purposes:


You may decide that it isn’t possible for your group to complete all three of these items in one session, or that you need to use different processes for each section. This is completely up to you; as a committee you can decide how you want to manage each process. 

Hosting An AGM 

AGM Rules 📜


Once you’ve decided a date (or set of dates) for your AGM process, inform all your members as soon as you can, and no later than one week in advance. Be sure to clearly explain how all the different processes will work and how and why they should get involved. You do not need to inform York SU of the date or format of your AGM unless you require our support, which is always available.

Summarise Your Year 

You should include a summary of your group’s year at your AGM. You might choose to do this through a document or social media post, a presentation to members over Zoom, or something different.


Include statistics like membership numbers, an overview of the group’s finances, and key highlights from the year. You might want to hand out some awards or personalised thank-yous to your committee members.

Vote on Constitutional Amendments 

Outline any proposed constitutional amendments to your membership. You may choose to do this on a Zoom call or through a Google Form, where members can vote. Mention the reasons why this amendment has been put forward, and any relevant arguments against it so members can make a fair choice.


Clearly outline to members how they can vote on the amendments and the timeline. For example, members can vote in real-time during the Zoom call, or you’ll leave a form open for a set amount of time (e.g. 48 hours, one week) to take votes. 


Constitutional amendments require a two thirds majority to pass. Voters can vote yes or no to the amendment, or they can choose to abstain. Once the allotted time has passed, you can announce the results and inform the incoming committee of the changes so the amendments can be written into the constitution - or you can do this yourselves. 

Elect Your Committee 

Typically we encourage groups to meet in person and elect their Committee at a hustings-style event, however this may not be suitable for your group. Always consider what is most appropriate for your group-- online elections through Zoom or Google Meet are a good alternative to gathering in person. If you do choose to meet in person, please ensure you follow relevant University guidelines.


No matter which choice you go with, ensure that the rules for elections are followed– you must advertise the elections at last 7 days in advance; quorum should be reached; only those with membership of the group and York SU can stand for election or vote; and you must have Re-Open Nominations as a candidate.


Candidates can campaign for their role if they wish, for example through social media. However, the current committee should not contact group members to endorse individuals or suggest who they would vote for, to keep the election as fair as possible.

Running An Election 🗳️

Appoint a Returning Officer

The first thing to do is decide who your Returning Officer will be. Typically this is the President/Chair of the outgoing committee, but they must be impartial, so if they are running for another position they cannot take on this role. The Returning Officer cannot vote in the election. The Returning Officer decides the rules of the election and how it will be organised.

Decide Upon the Format of Your Elections

Choose Your Voting System

First Past the Post (FPTP)

Single Transferable Vote (STV)

I Want to Hold An AGM Outside of York SU's Reratification Period. Is This Allowed?

If you are not holding an AGM during the re-ratification window, that is absolutely fine, however...

We Have Received No Interest During Our Elections. What Do We Do?

If you have held your AGM and there is no interest form your members to run in committee elections, firstly gain some feedback and try to hold by-elections in a different format, and advertise this across all channels possible before holding an EGM. 

If you still do not have any interest to be on committee, contact your link staff member for advice. If there are still no members who wish to fill your committee roles, then you can put your group up for adoption with our 'Adopt an Activity' scheme, meaning that students in the future can adopt your group if they are interested in this.

It is important that you still provide a handover and save this in your group's Google Drive, so that future committees can pick up where you left the group. 

Questions?

Contact your link staff member or our Societies Team (societies@yorksu.org)