Publications

Election 2023: Election rules and guidance

Rules and procedures relating to the 2023 election for a new chair of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network.

By
Civil Service LGBT+ Network
Published
24 April 2023

About this document

An election for the chair of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network has been called, following the resignation of the incumbent chair.

This document explains:

  1. the timeline for the election
  2. the process for nominations
  3. the rules for the campaign period
  4. who is eligible to vote and how voting will take place
  5. how you can raise a concern about the election process

Election timeline

Activity Date Time
Nominations open 14 April 2023 09:00
Nominations close 12 May 2023 23:59
Announcement of candidates 16 May 2023 09:00
Deadline for networks to confirm their voting process 16 May 2023 09:00
Voting opens 16 May 2023 09:00
Candidate Q&A (hustings) #1 30 May 2023 10:00
Candidate Q&A (hustings) #2 1 June 2023 16:00
Voting closes 9 June 2023 17:00
Announcement of results to candidates 12 June 2023  
Announcement of results to membership June 20231  
New chair takes over 1 July 2023  

Returning officer

The returning officer for this election will be the outgoing chair of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network.

The returning officer is responsible for ensuring the fair and proper conduct of the election.

The returning officer will be advised by the Civil Service Inclusive Practice team, who will also act as an escalation route for complaints about the election process.

Nominations

Eligibility

In order to stand as chair in this election, you must:

  1. be a civil servant employed directly by a UK Civil Service department, agency or arm’s length body
  2. have a minority sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or a variation in sex characteristics – or otherwise define yourself as LGBT+
  3. be registered as a member of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network before the nomination deadline2

Contractors, temporary or agency workers, or those in the wider public sector are not eligible to stand in this election.

If you are unsure if you are eligible and you are considering standing in this election, please email election@civilservice.lgbt for advice.

Submitting a nomination

If you wish to stand in the the election, you must send an email to election@civilservice.lgbt before the close of nominations on 12 May 2023 at 23:59.

Your email must be sent from your current Civil Service email address. The email must include:

  • your full name
  • your current Civil Service employer
  • the name of at least one sponsor for your nomination – they must also be copied into the email and be eligible to act as a sponsor
  • a personal statement of no more than 500 words – this statement will be published on the Civil Service LGBT+ Network website
  • a portrait photograph that will be published alongside your statement on the Civil Service LGBT+ Network website

A nomination is only valid if all of these criteria are met. A nomination will not be accepted after the nomination deadline.

Your sponsor

All nominations must be sponsored by at least one other person.

In order to act as a sponsor, the person must:

  1. be a civil servant employed directly by a UK Civil Service department, agency or arm’s length body
  2. have a minority sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or a variation in sex characteristics – or otherwise define yourself as LGBT+
  3. be registered as a member of the Civil Service LGBT+ Network before the nomination deadline2

Your sponsor must be copied into your nomination email when you submit it.

Your personal statement

Your personal statement should set out your pitch and plan as the future chair of the network. You should ensure that the statement does not contravene Civil Service Code; it must be politically impartial and must not comment on wider government policy.

The returning officer may ask you to amend your statement if they believe the statement does not meet these standards. The returning officer may decide not to publish your statement, or to publish the statement after the intended date for announcing the candidates, if the statement is not amended when a request is made.

Except for your portrait photograph, you may not include any other images in your personal statement.

Campaign period

The campaign period officially begins when the full list of candidates is announced on 16 May 2023 at 09:00. The campaign period officially ends once voting has closed on 9 June 2023 at 17:00.

General campaign conduct

Candidates may advertise their candidacy through any appropriate means, ensuring they operate within the Civil Service Code and usual departmental conduct policies at all times.

If a candidate is an existing volunteer for the Civil Service LGBT+ Network, with access to mailing lists or other network resources, they may not use these to assist their campaign.

Candidate Q&A events (hustings)

Candidates will be invited to take part in 2 ‘hustings’ events; on 29 May 2023 at 11:00 to 12:00, and 1 June 2023 at 16:00 to 17:00.

These events will be an opportunity for network members to ask questions about the plans, proposals and platforms of each candidate. The event will be moderated by the returning officer.

Register for the Q&A events

Voting

In line with the Civil Service LGBT+ Network’s constitution, voting in this election will be based on an electoral college system, with each network’s vote having equal weighting.

Individual staff may be eligible to vote via their departmental or agency LGBT+ networks. You should contact your departmental network to ask them how they will be organising their internal vote.

Eligibility to vote

A department is eligible to vote in the election if:

  1. it is a UK Civil Service employer and listed on GOV.UK – devolved administrations, crown bodies, or other entities are not eligible to vote in this election.
  2. it has an active LGBT+ network
  3. we hold a recently confirmed email address for either a shared mailbox or the network chair

We have published a list of government departments that are eligible to vote. If you are a departmental network chair, check that your network is on the list before the deadline.

If your network is not listed on the list of eligible networks, please contact election@civilservice.lgbt before 16 May 2023 at 09:00.

Re-open nominations

‘Re-open nominations’ (or ‘R.O.N’) will be a candidate in this election. Networks must include ‘Re-open nominations’ as an option in their internal ballot.

If ‘R.O.N’ is the first placed candidate in the election, receiving more than 50% of the vote, the election will be suspended and nominations will be re-opened over the summer.

Voting process

This election will take place under a first-past-the-post system: the candidate who receives the largest number votes will be elected.

Each network may cast 1 vote and may vote for one candidate only.

A department’s vote is valid if:

  1. the departmental LGBT+ network has conducted an internal vote of its membership or its committee to determine which candidate it is supporting
  2. the outcome of the vote, and other required information, is submitted from the network’s shared mailbox or chair’s email address before the voting deadline

We have produced guidance on how to conduct an internal vote in a separate guidance document.

Networks can find out how to submit their vote in our separate guidance document.

Raising a concern

If you wish to raise a concern about the conduct of the election, you can contact the returning officer by emailing election@civilservice.lgbt.

  1. We are currently planning to hold a special election event to coincide with our 20th anniversary celebrations. Dates will be confirmed in due course. ↩

  2. You can register as a member by visiting www.civilservice.lgbt/join-us. ↩ ↩2