Elections

Election to the Senate

Information on the Senate Elections

From January 16 to 18, 2024, all eligible students at Hochschule Geisenheim University had the opportunity to elect their representatives for the Senate online via Polyas. Elections were held in accordance with the Hessian Higher Education Act (HessHG) and the HGU election regulations.

The announcement of the preliminary election results of the Senate elections 2023/2024 can be found in the bar under information & form templates for the election.
The Senate, as the central University Committee, advises on matters of research, teaching and studies that affect the entire University or are of fundamental importance.
It also supervises the Management of the Presidium. This is why the Senate constitutes an important body at HGU alongside the University Council and the Presidium.

According to § 42 of the Hessian Higher Education Act (HessHG), the Senate of Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU) consists of 17 members:

·         nine professors,
·         three students,
·         three academic and scientific staff members
·         two administrative and technical staff members

Information & form templates for the election

Who can vote and who can be elected?

According to § 5 of the election regulations of the HGU, every member of the university (cf. § 37, HessHG) is entitled to the active and passive right to vote for his or her group.

 

Election Principles

General information

Election regulations:
For the conduct of the HGU Senate elections in winter semester 2023/24 the HGU election regulations
of January 23, 2013, last amended on December 15, 2020 (Official Notice 07/2020), based on the Hessian Higher Education Act, apply.

Election Principles: 
The representatives of the member groups in the Senate shall be elected in free, equal, secret and direct elections by the respective member group according to the principles of proportional representation (list election). The form of election shall be determined by whether one or more nominations are submitted per group of members.

Proportional representation:
If there are several approved nominations for election in a group, the election is conducted according to the rules of proportional representation. Each person entitled to vote has one vote. He or she can assign this vote to a list of nominations.

Direct election:
If only one nomination for election or one list of candidates has been accepted in a group, it will be elected according to the rules of direct election. Each eligible voter has as many votes as there are seats in the Senate to be filled by the respective group.
If, in addition to a nomination for election that has already been submitted to the election office, at least one further list proposal is submitted within the same group of members, the election shall be conducted according to the principles of proportional representation. In this case, the order of the candidates indicated is decisive. 

The lists of candidates should contain a sufficient number of candidates to enable sufficient substitutes to be appointed to the expanded Senate. Each applicant may only be named on one suggestion list. 

Substitutes: In the elections to the Senate (proportional representation), substitutes for the Senate members are also determined. Substitutes shall be the list members listed in the order of the list of candidates after the members of the Senate according to the number of mandates allocated to the list. If only one nomination is submitted for a group (direct election), the candidates who have not been allocated a seat on the basis of the election results and who have the next highest number of votes are substitutes. If a list of candidates contains fewer candidates than the maximum number of seats it would be entitled to, the remaining seats shall remain vacant.

Term of office:
The term of office begins on the first day of the semester following the election, 
on April 1
The term of office of the representatives from the group of students is one year. The representatives from the other groups are each in office for two years
 

 

Electoral Committee for the Senate election in the winter semester 2023/2024

For the conduct of the elections, the Senate elected the election commitee in its session on July 11, 2023.
The election commitee has five members and five deputies. The following members belong to it:

from the group professors:

Prof. Dr. Kai Velten
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kurth
Prof. Dr. Linda Muskat (Deputy)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Holzapfel (Deputy)

from the group of scientific staff:

Mr. Alexander Peters
Dr. Bastian Leander Franzisky (Deputy)

from the group of administrative and technical staff:

Mrs. Tabea Dietrich 
Mr. Peter Nensel (Deputy)

from the group of students:

Mr. Manuel Wendling
Mrs. Jana Woff (Deputy)

We would like to thank all candidates for their willingness to serve on the election committee for the HGU Senate elections.

The election committee remains in office until the new election committee is constituted. The election manager is Chancellor Mrs. Marion Waldeck. The meetings of the election committee are open to the public. The dates and locations of the meetings as well as the resolutions of the election committee are announced on the website of the University of Geisenheim and on a notice board.

 

Postal vote

If you are unable to vote online on the election days, please apply for a postal vote in good time.

You also have the option to file a request for postal voting by January 2, 2024, 12:00 noon. Please use the form “Request for Postal Voting”, which is available online on the website under the heading postal voting. The completed and signed form has to be send to the election office: wahlbuero(at)hs-gm.de.

  • The requested postal voting documents are expected to be sent in week 1.

 Postal votes must be received at the election office by January 15, 2024, noon.

Online Election

Senate and Student Parliament election from January 16 – 18, 2024 - Online voting using Polyas

Dear electorate,

Your invitation to take part in the election was send to your HGU email account on January 16, 2024. The invitation contains information on the upcoming election as well as your personal login data.

The subject of the email is:
Ihre Wahleinladung: Senats- und StuPa-Wahl WS 2023/2024 von Hochschule Geisenheim University. The email is signed by: voting(at)polyas.com
From January 16, 2024, 0:00 to January 18, 2024 23:59 you may vote.

1. Login
To enter the online voting system you need two pieces of login data: a personalized ID and a one-time password. Please pay attention to the upper and lower case of your access data when loggin in.

2. Confirmation of login
The system checks whether the data is in the electoral roll. Only eligible voters are granted access to the online voting system and the internal checking system sets up a token (digital ballot paper) for these voters, which will then be used when voting. This token prevents interference with the identity of the voter as the vote is cast anonymously after they have logged in. More about secure voter authentication.

3. Online voting
The ballot can only be accessed if the voter hasn't already voted. You can cast all available votes on lists or single candidates at the click of a button, and there's also the option to cast an “invalid” vote.

4. Double checking the vote
The filled out ballot slip is shown to the voter again for confirmation. This allows voters to double check their choices and change any mistakes they may have made before the vote is sent to the online ballot box and made official.

5. Completion of voting 
Logging out of the online voting system is required to complete the voting process. Only then is the ballot transferred to the online ballot box and your token deleted. You cannot re-use your login data and the ballot remains anonymous inside the digital ballot box. 

Link to video

CONTACT THE ELECTION OFFICE FOR SENATE ELECTIONS

Katharina Fouquet
Katharina Fouquet
Building 5901
Room 116
Phone +49 6722 502 275
Katharina.Fouquet(at)hs-gm.de Details