Write-in Candidates

In this article, you will learn about Write-In Candidates option.

Enable Write-in Candidates

To enable the feature, go to the System Settings and set the option as Yes for Allow Write-in Candidates.

Click on the OK button to save the changes

Add Write-in Option for Candidate Position

Select the Position for which you would like to provide a Write-in Candidate
Select the Candidate from the dropdown list.
Click on the Add button.

If the System Setting for Allow Write-in Candidates is set to Yes, then on the Candidates screen you will now see a Write-In Option button next to your candidate list.

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Write-In Option in Election

Depending on the Layout you selected when setting up your election, you will then see the Write-in Candidate option in your candidate list.

When a student votes they will be prompted to either choose from a list if there are candidates to choose from or write-in an option

Total Votes

At the end of your election, on the Total Votes report, any unlinked candidates will be grouped together under the Write-in Candidates label.

By design, all Write-in candidates under this label will be listed.

You can click on the label (which is also a link) to open up the full list of write-in entries.

Write-in Candidate Report

You can also access this report by clicking the Link Write-in Candidates tab.

The system will try to match the write-in options to candidates if the exact name exists.

As you can see in the image above, there are candidates named Alan and Sergio who are the actual students in the database. System matched the write-in names as entered by the voters with the students' names stored in the system.

Filters

You can use the filters at the top to search by a specific name, a specific position or display write-in students who have not yet been linked yet.

Link Students

Select the checkboxes for all the candidates that you wish to link to the Student.
Select the Student from the list.
Click the Link button. If you want to unlink a write-in candidate, select the candidates to unlink and click the Unlink button.

To link a Write-in candidate, you must have the student option already in your main student database. To link, follow the steps below.