Frequently Asked Questions
General FAQs
What 'electorates' does Election Central cover?
How can I have my electorate included at Election Central?
FAQs for Candidates
How will Election Central be promoted to voters?
How much does it cost for Candidates to participate?
How do I add my information and pictures to the site?
Can I update my information or add more during the course of my campaign?
Can I be represented on behalf of my political party? Can I include my party logo?
If I participate later, am I still able to respond to previously answered questions?
Can I respond to questions/suggestions without having a 'profile page', picture gallery, etc?
Can I edit my response to questions/suggestions after it is published?
Can I include my 'How to Vote' card with my profile?
FAQs for Voters
What 'electorates' does Election Central cover?
Why do I need to register to participate in 'ask Candidates a question'?
If I register, will my personal details be made public?
General FAQs
What elections and electorates does Election Central cover?
Electional Central has been designed to cover all federal, state and local government elections and electorates within Australia. Election and 'Electorate sites' are created within Election Central as they are required and/or as requested by Candidates. Initially, sites will be created for Victorian Local Government by-elections and 2008 elections.
How can I have my electorate included at Election Central?
Simply contact us and we will include it.
FAQs for Candidates
How will Election Central be promoted to voters?
We will undertake regular advertising in the most popular newspapers read by voters within a particular electorate once that electoral site has opened. We also distribute media releases regularly to both local and major newspapers concerning our news. Online promotion is undertaken in various areas. Election Central is also 'search engine optimised' so that the site is indexed in the best possible way by major search engines. The aim of all of these activities is to bring voters to the site.
How much does it cost for Candidates to participate?
See: Info for Candidates
How do I add my information and pictures to the site?
All your information and pictures are emailed to us. We then add it to Election Central. This allows us to (for the present) better manage the content being added to Election Central. Once added, you will receive notice of this by return email.
See the Quick Start Guide at the Info for Candidates page.
Can I update my information or add more during the course of my campaign?
Yes - at any time however within reason - once a week is fine. Regularly each 2-3 days would be unreasonable. See the question/answer above.
Can I be represented on behalf of my political party? Can I include my party logo?
If your party provide you with these permissions, then yes, this will be prominantly displayed within your 'candidate pages' at Election Central.
If I participate later, am I still able to respond to previously answered questions?
Yes you can but this is conditional. If a Candidate chooses to participate at the site greater than 30 days after our own newspaper advertising has commenced in their Electorate about the site OR their participation is greater than 30 days after being personally invited by us to participate at the site, then if responses have already been published at the site by other 'earlier participating' Candidates, Election Central reserves the right to bill the requesting participant an $11 fee for each response they request to be published to earlier published questions/suggestions. If this is likely to effect you, please contact us first. However all future responses after confirming participation at the site are free as part of the Participation Fee.
This therefore means if Candidates participate within 30 days of the two situations mentioned above, they can respond to previously published questions/suggestions at no additional cost.
The reason for this ruling is that additional production costs are incurred by Election Central when Candidates wish to aggregate say 3 months of campaign content into a shorter number of weeks. Election Central needs to bring in its ‘support staff’ to handle these ‘archive’ requests, update one or more pages at the web site, communicate with the Candidate concerned, proof the updates and distribute ‘News Service’ email updates concerning the new site additions.
Can I respond to questions/suggestions without having a 'profile page', picture gallery, etc?
Yes you can given you are happy to pay the normal Participation Fee. Your name would also be added to the Candidate list for your Electorate at the site but no link to a profile page would be present. If at a later time you choose to add your profile pages, then a link would then be added to these pages and at no additional cost.
Can I edit my response to questions/suggestions after it is published?
Yes you can however as a disincentive, there is a $5.50 fee to do so each time a response is edited. Consider that if you provided a response to a print media publication such as a newspaper, you would not be able to edit it after publication.
Can I include my 'How to Vote' card with my profile?
Yes you can provided it is registered by your relevant Returning Officer. Your electronic How to Vote card must be supplied as a PDF file – no other file formats are acceptable. This will be added to your 'profile' page and made available for downloading. When requesting quotes from your chosen Printer(s), be sure to include you require they provide a 'low resolution' PDF that is 'web ready'. You can then email this to Election Central (it must be emailed by you – not the Printer) together with confirmation the file is 'registered by your relevant Returning Officer'. We then add this to your profile.
FAQs for Voters
What elections and electorates does Election Central cover?
Electional Central has been designed to cover all state and local government elections and electorates within Australia. Election and 'Electorate sites' are created within Election Central as they are required and/or as requested by Candidates. Initially, sites will be created for Victorian Local Government byelections and 2008 elections.
Why do I need to register to participate in 'ask Candidates a question'?
We need to check that registrants are representing themself and not someone else and then we require agreement with our Code of Conduct. Without registration, an identity cannot be confirmed and therefore no Code of Conduct agreement can be confirmed. This also prevents provocative behaviour.
If I register, will my personal details be made public?
Your name, street address and town will be published along with your question. This is a requirement of the Local Government Act 1989. Your phone number will not be published.