Campaigning can occur two weeks before the election. 

Candidates/nominees for Staff Senate can campaign, but must adhere to the Carolinian Creed. Candidates will be responsible for their own campaign, should they wish to campaign. Candidates may let personal contacts know he/she/they are running for office and encourage colleagues to vote for them. Candidates can conduct outreach via email, social media, listserv, etc., but must follow their unit’s expectations and standards regarding listserv and policies of other social media sites. Candidates are to provide direct links to the Staff Senate website in their correspondence.   

All USC full-time, part-time, research grant, time-limited and temporary staff members are eligible to vote in the election.

Your organizational unit will be determined based on who manages your employee performance management system. Each staff member will vote for senator candidates on the organizational unit ballot in which they work. The number of candidates they can vote for will be determined by the number of senators in their organizational unit. Please see the Staff Senate breakdown chart below for more information. 

Most staff members will vote electronically using a Staff Voting Module. 

The Staff Voting Module has closed and will open again in spring 2025.

If you have any questions about using the voting module, please contact the DoIT Service Desk at 803-777-1800 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday-Friday.

If staff members do not have access to a computer, they can vote at the Carolina Tech Zone located on the first floor of the Byrnes building at 901 Sumter Street, Suite 119 — right across from the Horseshoe. They are open Monday-Friday,  9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Paper ballots have been issued for select organizational units that requested them in advance. Your organizational unit Staff Senate point of contact will notify you if your area is using paper ballots.

Senator election results will be announced no later than June each year.

Staff Senate nominations open each year. 2025 nominations open in the new year.
Nominees are notified, and those accepting their nomination and verified as eligible will appear on the slate.

• Senators must be Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) (full-time or part-time) or Research Grant Position (RGP) employees of the university.
• Senators must been employed at the university for a minimum of one consecutive year before their election dates.
• At the time of the election, the employee must be a member of the specified organizational unit.
• Senators must be in good standing with the university upon election and remain in such standing during their terms.
• As outlined in the Staff Senate Bylaws (hyperlink) Article III: Membership, Section 1: Representation 

Your organizational unit will be determined based on who manages your employee performance management system (EPMS).

Plan to commit four to six hours each month to Staff Senate responsibilities. Any hours worked that would cause a nonexempt employee to incur overtime or compensatory time must receive preapproval by the employee’s supervisor and should only occur on an infrequent basis.

The full Staff Senate will meet monthly. Senators are also encouraged to join Staff Senate committees. Committee meeting frequency will be set by committee leadership. 

Staff Senate committees include, but are not limited to, the Membership Committee, Communications Committee, Staff Policy and Welfare Committee, Professional Development Committee, and By Laws Committee. Senators may also be invited to participate in university-level committees per the request of the executive committee.

The senator nomination and election process will take place between March and June. The Staff Senate is expected to be fully functional by July:

• March-April: Senator nominations open
• Mid-April: Senator elections occur
• Early May: Elected senators and run-offs announced 
• Mid-May: Runoff elections occur
• June: Full slate of senators announced  
• July: Staff Senate holds first monthly meeting

The staff senator breakdown was developed based on the USC Organizational Summary Chart and number of staff members in units.

The Staff Senate is organized by the University Summary Organizational Chart. It was important to start the Staff Senate in a way that would allow the organization to be effective and successful. Based on the research done by the bylaws committee, the recommendations to keep the organization at the university organizational level allowed there to be representation across all areas of the university.

Staff Senate is organized by organizational unit to allow for it to be a manageable and effective group. The goal is that all individuals will have the opportunity to run for a senator seat and serve as a voice for their organizational unit.

The senator numbers will be recalculated annually before senator elections occur. The details of this process are outlined in the bylaws, Article III: Section 1: Representation: F.