Party Candidate Handbooks are useful for detailing the processes that will be applied by voting operations staff and the actions, responsibilities, and rights of political participants during this phase of the election. Providing political parties/candidates with this information minimizes the potential for conflict or tension at the voting station.
It is good practice to have these handbooks available to political participants well before the commencement of the period for nominating candidates or party groups for election.
(Similar handbooks on other issues affecting political parties and candidates, such as party registration and the framework for party funding and expenditure, are also useful.)
Content of Handbooks
• contact details for officials who can provide further clarification or assistance;
• participation of parties and candidates in the voting operations process;
• correct presentation of party and candidate nominations;
• checking processes for nominations and criteria for acceptance or rejection;
• determination of candidate or party order on ballots (where "mark choice" ballots are used);
• codes of conduct for political participants and election officials;
• media access rules;
• campaign rules;
• election security measures;
• provision and accessibility of election materials, including any rights of political participants to distribute these to voters;
• voting station sitting and layout;
• eligibility of voters;
• voting procedures, including those for any special voting facilities such as absentee voting, mail voting, mobile voting stations, voting abroad;
• roles, responsibilities, and authority of voting operations administrators and voting station officials;
• roles, rights, and responsibilities of party officials, candidates, and their representatives in relation to voting procedures, voting locations, and voting operations administration;
• procedures for the counting process, including criteria for determining validity of ballots and interpreting marks made by voters on ballots, aggregation of counts, and announcement of results;
• roles, rights, and responsibilities of party officials, candidates, and their observers in relation to counts, result determination, and announcement;
• rights, methods, and procedures with regard to challenging decisions made by voting operations administrators, voting station officials, and counting staff.
