The Highland & Islands Students’ Association has election rules in place to ensure that it’s Student Elections are fair and open.
All candidates and their campaign team members are expected and required to conduct their campaigns and all their campaign activities within the Students' Assocation's election rules.
A copy of HISA’s current elections rules can be found here.
HISA’s election rules are reviewed and approved annually by the Students’ Association’s Senior Management Team (SMT) and Board of Trustees.
Elections Returning Officers
HISA’s election rules are interpreted and enforced by the Student's Association's Returning Officer (RO) and Deputy Returning Officer (DRO).
The Returning Officer is responsible for dealing with all election appeals, including election complaints appeals and appeals against rulings issued the Deputy Returning Officer.
The Deputy Returning Officer is responsible for the day-to-day running of the elections, including dealing with requests for rulings and requests for clarifications or interprettions of the election rules. The Deputy Returning Officer is also responsible for dealing with election complaints and issuing rulings or warnings to candidates where appropriate.
Both the Returning Officer and Deputy Returning Officer are (re)appointed annually by HISA's Board of Trustees in-line with the Students' Association's Elections Schedule.
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The Students' Association's Returning Officer for Student Elections during the 2025-26 academic year is Peter Robertson, Charity Director at the National Union of Students (NUS).
The Students' Association's Deputy Returning Officer for Student Elections during the 2025-26 academic year is Simon Varwell, HISA's Director of Student Engagement & Representation.
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The Returning Officers can be contacted via email at elections.hisa@uhi.ac.uk.
Clarifications, Interpretations, & Rulings
During the course of an election the Returning Officers may need to issue clarifications or interpretations to help further define the election rules, as well as issue rulings to address something that is not currently covered by the rules.
Any clarifications, interpretations or rulings issued by the Returning Officers during the course of an election will be posted on the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) Updates Board below.
Candidates and prospective candidates can request a clarification or interpretation of the election rules, or an election rules ruling from the Returning Officers anytime during the course of an election via email.
Election Complaints
Complaints about election candidates and/ or members of their campaign team can only be submitted via our online Student Elections Candidates Complaints Form.
All complaints about election candidates and/ or members of their campaign teams must be submitted before the close of voting and must contain the following information:
- Details of what election rule(s) and/or ruling(s) you believe was broken.
- Details of where and when you believe the election rule(s) was broken.
- A copy of any evidence you have to support your complaint that an election rule(s) was broken.
Any complaints and concerns about the election rules and elections process should be emailed to the Deputy Returning Officer via elections.hisa@uhi.ac.uk.