This allows your nominators to view and digitally endorse proposed candidates
- View the current status of the nominations live
- Nominators can easily correct their endorsement during the nomination process
- Election officers can quickly review and manage nominations in the Nomination Cockpit
The “Digital endorsement of nominations” feature gives your nominators the option to digitally endorse proposed candidates during or after the nomination process (supporting signatures). To book the feature, please contact our Support Team stating your project ID (support@polyas.de). You can find the project ID in your project overview in the POLYAS Online Voting Manager. The Support Team will activate the feature, which you can then set up for yourself.
1. Configuring the register of nominators
Switch to the “Nominators” tab and go to the “Attributes” section. You can add a new attribute here.
Under "Add new attribute" you can now select the attribute "Endorsement right" and define it as an attribute by clicking on "Add". The endorsement right is mandatory, and it has to be filled out in the register as follows:
- YES = nominator may endorse
- NO = nominator may not endorse
If you create your register of nominators using our Excel template, add another column with the title “Endorsement right” and, for each nominator, note whether they may or may not offer support. Then upload your register of nominators, assign the columns in the header to the respective attribute and click on "Save".
2. Combination with the “Searchable candidate list” feature
To make it easier for your nominators to enter candidates, you can add the searchable candidate list feature, which searches the register of nominators for people who are allowed to be nominated and hides those who are allowed to nominate themselves but are not allowed to be nominated.
To do this, select the attributes "Nominate" and "Be nominated" in the register settings and also note here which nomination rights the person has:
- YES = may nominate or be nominated
- NO = may not nominate or be nominated
In this way, you can also design nominations where nominators can endorse only or nominate only.
Note: In order to participate in a nomination or endorsement, nominators must have a YES in at least one of the two columns "Nominate" or "Endorsement right".
If nominators have neither of these but they do have a YES in the "Be nominated" column alone, then they have only the passive right to nomination. They will not receive an invitation to nominate, as they are not actively allowed to exercise any nomination rights.
If you have used the feature "Searchable candidate list and digital consent" to book a nomination with consent, passive nominators also receive access in order to give their digital consent to the candidacy.
3. Configure the invitation and set the time period
Booking the feature “Digital endorsement of nominations” results in a change to the standard text of your invitation. You can see this in the project overview under "Invitation". The start and end of the nomination phase are listed here along with the start and end of the endorsement phase. The access data listed below apply both to endorsement and nomination.
You can change the invitation text to your liking, but be careful not to remove the placeholders in the curly brackets. To find out what the placeholders stand for, look in the blue box under "Further information".
You can now specify the nomination period under the “Nominations period” tab. The invitations will be sent out at the start of the nomination period.
Using the “Endorsement phase” tab, you can optionally specify the period for the endorsement phase separately from the nomination period. By default, this runs parallel to the nomination phase and also ends with it. Operate the switch to activate the separate endorsement phase and enter the date and time of the start and end below. Finally, click on “Save“. In this case, your nominators with endorsement rights can only submit their digital support as of the time you have configured. This time window will also be specified separately in the invitation to the nomination.
4. Digital nomination and endorsement
As a nominator with endorsement rights, i.e. the right to view the digital endorsements, the Welcome page of your nomination platform features a tile that explains the process for digital endorsement (support signatures). Click on “Endorse now” to access the support area.
Nomination and endorsement rights on the nomination platform.
If a separate endorsement phase has been activated for your nomination, which means that endorsement is only possible after the nomination or for a period after starting the nomination, you will be informed of the timing of the endorsement phase in the tile for the digital endorsement(s). You can then log in again later to express your endorsements.
Caution: In the case of a separate endorsement phase, always pay attention to the nomination period. It is better to nominate directly and avoid losing your nomination rights due to a subsequent endorsement phase. Submitted nominations cannot be withdrawn after the end of the nomination phase.
A click on the respective nomination or committee that you are entitled to endorse will display the nominations received so far. Here you can choose the nominee whom you wish to endorse.
Note: Under "Show 25 nominations" you can increase the number of nominations shown. You can display up to 25, 50 or 100.
Once you have made your selection, click “Check endorsement(s)”. You will see all of the candidate proposals who you have endorsed. Under “Correct” you can make changes or submit your endorsement(s) under “Submit endorsement(s)”.
Once you have given your endorsement, you can either withdraw it below or go back to the overview page of your nomination platform. To do this, click on “Back to overview”. From the overview page you can, if authorized, make or withdraw nominations as well as withdraw any endorsements and submit new ones. You can log in again and modify your entries at any time during the nomination period.
Digital endorsement was submitted on the nomination platform.
