Sending a vote announcement is effective in providing clear and concise information about an upcoming election, including important details such as the date, eligibility criteria, nomination process, and any relevant instructions for potential candidates or voters. It can also be used as a call for candidates to collect nominations in advance of the formal vote.
ElectionBuddy has a feature specifically for the nomination or registration process before a vote, called the "Announcement" feature. Announcements are not included with a vote, and a vote does not come with an announcement; they are independent so are each priced accordingly (i.e. if running a nomination and a vote with ElectionBuddy, you pay for the announcement and then you pay for the vote).
How to Setup
This option can be found on the Details Page of a vote setup. When selected, you will need to enter three different dates and times.
Scheduled Start Date and Time - The Start Date and TIme are when the notices will be sent to the voters. The End Date and Time are included in the notice as well, so voters know the deadline to respond.
Election Date and Time - This will be included in the announcement notices to inform voters when the election being announced opens.
The Ballot Page setup is different from a regular vote setup, as only 4 question-type options are offered. Nominations, Referendums or Polls, Registration, and Star with a blank question. Choose the question type that meets your requirements.
Nominations
When you create a "Nomination" question, enter a Position Title and select the number of candidates that a voter can nominate, then select "Continue".
There is also an option to "Show nominees to voters". When enabled, it will show the nominations that have been received during the vote on the ballot so future voters can see them, and select them if they wish.
Referendums or Polls
When you create a "Referendums or Polls" question, enter your Question title, enter the options voters will be choosing from, then select "Continue".
Registrations
When you create a "Registration" question, the information will automatically populate with ElectionBuddys defaults. You can edit the Question Title, and Choices as needed, and once done, select "Continue".
This question can be used in advance of your meeting/election to determine who is planning on attending. You can then use the responses to help create your voter list for your meeting/election. Important: If you need voters’ choices to be made available to the administrator, you will want to select "Poll" for Voter Anonymity.
Start with a Blank Question
This will allow you to manually configure the ballot question details yourself, without ElectionBuddy populating the voting methods, and choices. It is recommended to only select this if you have previously used ElectionBuddy.
The rest of the setup is the same. you will select notice methods, add your voter List, review the setup, and then start the setup.
For any questions, please send us a chat using our Buddy Messenger in the bottom right of the screen