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Bristol BIG YOUTH VOTE 2009

United Kingdom Youth Parliament (UKYP)


and
Bristol Youth Select Committee (YSC)
Elections 2009

ELECTION GUIDELINES
Important changes to voting! …..Please note!
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New Structure:-

• For the first time in 2009, Bristol will elect SIX members of the United Kingdom Youth Parliament. To
ensure all areas of the city are represented. Each of the three city areas, North, South and East/Central,
will have their own unique election to elect their own Member and Deputy member to represent them.
Areas of the city are represented on the map below. (South –Pink, East Central – Yellow, North – Blue).

• For the first time in 2009, Bristol will also elect TWENTY members of the Bristol Youth Select Committee.
To ensure all areas of the city are represented, localities will elect their own locality Member and Deputy
member. This is based upon the ‘Change for Children’ locality structure. There are 10 Localities in Bristol
which are represented on the map, (N1, N2, N3, EC1, EC2, EC3, S1, S2, S3, S4)
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• For the first time in 2009, each young person who is aged 11 to 18, living in Bristol,
If they wish, have TWO votes that they may cast.

• Elections will run for both UKYP and BYSC at the same time. Please assist young people in being clear
about what each role involves which is:-

UKYP Candidates elected represent Bristol young people at a national and a regional level. Please visit
www.ukyouthparliament.org for further information.

BYSC Candidates elected represent Bristol young people at a local level, in the area of Bristol.

• Young people have ONE VOTE in EACH ELECTION.

• ONE VOTE only for their:-

United Kingdom Youth Parliament


(UKYP) representative
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and

• ONE VOTE only for their

Bristol Youth Select Committee representative (BYSC)

Election Period

• Voting may take place at any time during the election period. In 2009, all voting must take place
between
Monday 19th January and Friday 6th February inclusive

Voting must finish by 4PM on Friday 6th February.

Polling Stations

• Only polling stations registered with Bristol Youth Work Participation Team, Youth and Play,
Integrated Youth Support and Development Services, as taking part in the Election 2009 will be
officially counted. If other venues would like to register as a polling station, please email:-
zaena.barnard@bristol.gov.uk

• One person at each election venue will have overall responsibility for their election process.
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Candidate Manifestos

• Venues will ensure that information is made available on all candidates


equally and fairly. If a polling station only displays certain manifestos or focus
upon certain candidates, this will be discriminatory practice to other young
people standing in the election and must not be supported.

• In 2009, all candidates manifestos are displayed equally, in a ‘short’ version. This ‘short’ version
has candidates name, age and their three campaign bullet points. They explain to their peers, the
key topics upon which they would work and why their peers should vote for them.

• In 2009 we do not have video manifesto, as young people decided that audio clips were better.
Young people told us that this would stop young people voting for candidates based upon what they
looked like. This year, audio clips are approximately 1 minute in length for each candidate.

• Young peoples’ SHORT manifestos and their audio clips must be made accessible to young
people before any voting takes place. Written manifestos may be displayed and the Audio clips
could be played as a group.

• Some candidates decided to write a ‘long’ manifesto. We have also provided these, but do not
make ‘long’ manifestos part of any display to ensure all candidates information is made
available equally.
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Voting

• Only young people aged 11 – 18 living in the city of Bristol are eligible to vote.

• On each ballot paper they may only vote for one person.

• Any ballot paper with a vote for more than one young person will be considered as ‘spoilt’ and will not
be counted. Don’t waste it!

• Encourage young people to consider issues each candidate is standing for.

• Encourage all young people to vote.

• Each young person should be given TWO ballot papers, on which to cast their votes. The ballot papers
will differ in colour according details such as, which election the ballot is for and what area of the city. It
will be clearly marked as illustrated below:-

The UKYP ballot paper will have the logo and be clearly identified at the top of the
ballot paper, like this:-
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Example UKYP Ballot Paper:-

or

Example BYSC Ballot Paper

Like this:-
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Ballot Boxes

• In 2009, you will need TWO separate ballot boxes that are clearly labelled. One for the UKYP
election and one for the BYSC election. Votes cannot be in the same ballot box or they are spoiled!

• Ballot boxes must be made secure before any voting takes place. Ballot boxes may be made from
any container that can be made obviously secure. For example, using cable ties to lock a container
lid. Once voting starts a ballot box may not be opened for any reason.

• Any ballot boxes considered to be tampered with will redeem votes within as ‘spoilt’ and not counted.

• Ballot boxes must be supervised at all times, stored securely, and locked away when not in use.

Lastly, Bristol Youth Work Participation Team would like to wish you well in your election process. Again in
2009, resources are available as downloads from the web page for the Bristol Big Youth Vote elections.
You will be kept up to date with information as the elections progresses, such as a list of all polling
stations across the city. Please visit
www.bristol.gov.uk/bristolbigyouthvote
If you need any further assistance, please contact:- Telephone us: 0117 377 3673
Bristol Youth Work Participation Team
Email: ywparticipation@bristol.gov.uk

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