HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT GOVERNMENT/CLASS
OFFICER ELECTIONS

Qualifications to Run for Student Government Office

All students who are currently enrolled and meet the criteria below are eligible to seek any student council or class office (all Broward County Public School student body constitution must include these qualifications).

A. The candidate must have a 2.5 unweighted cumulative grade point average.

B. The candidate must not have received a disciplinary referral during the current school year (verified by advisor).

C. Current freshmen may not run for the office of Student Government Association President.

D. All other Student Council offices are open to any currently enrolled student.

E. Each student seeking elected office will present a petition containing the signature of:

a. 50 fellow students for Student Council office

b. the Administrator directly responsible for the student

c. the candidate's parent or guardian

d. meet any optional qualifications as stated in the student body constitution.

Optional Qualifications

A school may add the following qualifications if they are incorporated into the student body constitution.

A school may:

1. require the Student Government president to be a senior during his/her term of office.

2. require a written statement of a candidate's purpose for seeking office and goals for the following year

3. require membership in the Student Government Association for the semester prior to the election providing a student does not have to win an election to be a Student Government member.

4. require up to 40 hours of documented volunteer service prior to the end of the semester before the election.

Prohibited Qualifications

A school may not require any of the following as a “Qualification to Run” for office:

1. A GPA greater than an unweighted 2.5

2. Current membership in the leadership class

3. Holding a student leadership position

Qualifications to Run for Class Office

All students who are currently enrolled and meet the criteria below are eligible to seek any student council or class office.

A. The candidate must have a 2.5 unweighted cumulative grade point average.

B. The candidate must not have received a disciplinary referral during the current school year (verified by advisor).

C. To run for a grade level (class) office a student must be a member of the class in which he/she is seeking office.

D. Each student seeking elected office will present a petition containing the signature of:

a. 20 students of the class you intend to represent

b. the Administrator directly responsible for the student

c. the candidate's parent or guardian

Election Rules

Elections are won by the candidate who receives the most votes for that office. A school constitution may require a majority vote to win an election.

All students present in school the day of the election should be provided with a legitimate opportunity to vote. This can be achieved in the following ways:

1. Ballots can be delivered to classes with teachers assuming that only eligible students have the opportunity to vote.

2. Polling places can be established and opened before school, after school and at lunch hour. If this option is used the election process must take place over at least three (3) and no more than five(5) consecutive days.

3. If a combination of 1 and 2 are used outside of the class polling places must be open for at least two (2) consecutive days.

Schools must provide proper election security to insure the accuracy and validity of the election.

Provision should be made for students who are out of school on school field trips to cast absentee ballots.

All freshman are considered eligible to run for Freshman Class office if the election takes place prior to the end of the first marking period.

Ballots must be tabulated in the presence of the Student Council Advisor or Class Sponsor (or their designees). If voting machines are unavailable a student election committee shall tabulate the votes. Neither candidates or students who are eligible to vote may not be members of the election committee.

Students and their parents/guardians should have signed a candidacy form containing the job description of the office the student is seeking.

Schools must provide adequate time prior to the actual election for students to campaign for office, however, the period of time allowed for election campaigns should not exceed two (2) weeks per election.

Schools should set fair limitations on the amount of money that can be spent on a student campaign. In addition, a school may establish election rules that:

1. prohibits candidates from campaigning during class or disrupting classes in order to campaign.

2. limiting the number of posters, banners, handouts, etc. allowed to each candidate.

3. mandating attendance at candidate meetings.

4. require a candidate to clean up their campaign materials prior to the end of the election.

Each school may establish additional election rules that will insure a fair campaign.

Election rules and the penalty for violating these rules must be printed and each candidate must sign the sheet on which they are printed.

All election rules must be approved by the school's administration.

The school's administration must certify the results of any elections prior to the announcement of the results.

Election Timelines

1. Freshman class elections must be elected by November 1, of the current year.

2. Student Government/Student Council elections must be complete by March 15, of the school year.

3. Class officers must be elected by May 1, of the school year.