Referendums

Voting

The voting for the Referendum is open between 9.00am on  Tuesday 27 January and 8.00pm on on Wednesday 28 January.   You will be able to vote between 11.00am and 3.00pm and 5.30pm and 8.00pm on own phone/electronic device, simply click the vote now button above.  Outside of these times you will be able to attend an in person Voting Station we will be located at:-

• Gees between 9.00am to 11.00am and 3.00pm and 6.00pm
• Library between 3.00pm and 6.00pm 

To Vote on your own Device

• Log into the Students’ Union website as a student.
• Go back to www.leicesterunion.com/voice/referendum
• Click on Vote Now
• Review the relevant campaign materials (if at any stage you are on a screen and wish to go back to the voting page click the blue ‘Back’ button (near the top of the screen)
• In the Vote Now box click on the option you wish to vote for either
  • yes (for)
  • no (against)
  • or abstain.
• Once you have clicked on an option a pop up box will appear saying you are about to submit your vote.
  • Click on ok to submit your vote or cancel to review your choice made.
• Once you click ok – your vote has been cast and you will be returned to the Referendum Page
• If you have any issues voting then please email su-elections@leicester.ac.uk 

'Yes' and 'No' Campaign Teams

The Yes campaign and No Campaign have prepared a 250 word summary and a 3 page key messages to outline their view-points on the referendum. We would encourage you to read these prior to casting your vote in the referendum, they can be accessed below.

• 'Yes' Campaign Campaign Materials 
• 'No' Campaign Team Materials

An independent fact checker has confirmed that they have read through all the documents and reviewed the citations provided by both campaigns. In addition, they have completed external research and review of the information provided to verify the information in both campaign material and the citations given. 

Key Dates, Rules and Complaints

Click here for the Referenda Regulations and here for the Timetable, if you wish to make a complaint regarding the Referendum click here to complete the online complaint form.

What will happen if the Referendum Passes?

If the referendum passes, the Students' Union will take the actions as outlined in the actions section of the proposal:

1. The Students’ Union to issue a statement that condemns the University’s continued work, and promotion of companies producing armaments. This statement should highlight those companies found to be supporting what has been ruled a plausible genocide. This statement should urge the university to ban arms companies from careers fairs and events, to disallow staff to promote these companies when acting as a representative for the University and to commit to cutting all research and enterprise relationships with companies involved in the arms trade upon the end of those contracts. It should be highlighted that the continued work being undertaken with arms companies has had a substantial effect on the University of Leicester’s reputation, with several articles on reputable news sites being published online.

2. The Students’ Union should organise regular meetings to talk with upper management and the careers department on this issue to voice student’s concerns. These meetings should also be used to defend students’ rights to protest against this.

3. To pressure the University to change, the Students’ Union should refuse to work with the careers department for any future events or the University on any unnecessary events until actions are implemented to ban these companies from campus and to cut research contracts with these companies in due time. This could involve not using and SU staff hours on these events, and if possible, not allowing these events to go ahead inside the Students’ Union building.

You can read the full policy here