Candidate information

Build a Ballot is a non-partisan tool designed to help voters understand how their views align with parties and candidates in their electorate.

If you are running for election, this page outlines what to expect and how to participate.

Why engage with Build a Ballot?

Voting can be an overwhelming process for many people. We exist to help voters cut through the noise and make informed decisions based on their values.

At the 2025 federal election, 600,000 Australians used Build a Ballot to research and plan their vote. As we expand to state elections in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales across 2026 and 2027, we expect strong engagement from voters seeking clear, comparable information to help inform their voting decisions.

By responding to us, you help ensure:

• Your policy positions are clearly and accurately reflected in the tool
• Voters can better understand where you stand

What you can expect from the process

If you’re an incumbent

If you currently hold a seat in parliament, we will:

1. Review publicly available information about your policy positions (including voting records, official statements and policy documents)
2. Assign preliminary agreement ratings to a set of policy statements
3. Send you our assessment and provide two opportunities to review and respond before the tool goes live

If you do not respond and there is insufficient publicly available information:

• Major parties may have positions referenced from clearly aligned federal platforms (with disclosure)
• Minor parties and independent candidates will not be published in the tool until verified positions are provided

If you’re a non-incumbent

If you are not currently holding a parliamentary seat, we will:

1. Send you a questionnaire covering each policy statement
2. Ask you to indicate your level of support for each policy statement
3. Request supporting evidence (such as policy documents, public statements or endorsements)

We review all responses before publication and may contact you if clarification is required.

If you have not previously made a public statement on a policy, but want to respond to the questionnaire, your response will be published on our website and treated as a public statement. If you choose not to provide a response to a policy statement, it will be marked “N/A” and excluded from match calculations.

How are you matched with voters?

When a user completes the questionnaire, their agreement ratings are compared with each party’s or candidate’s agreement ratings in their electorate.

Each policy is allocated match points based on the level of agreement. These points are then used to calculate an overall match level — expressed as a percentage of total available match points.

To make results easy to interpret for users, match levels are colour-coded:

• 70% and above — Green
• 40–69% — Yellow
• Below 40% — Red
• Insufficient information — Grey

Importantly, users are encouraged to conduct additional research and rearrange their ballot to ensure their final vote reflects their priorities.

Their final ballot order remains entirely at the voter’s discretion.

Timings and updates

• All candidates are contacted at least twice before the tool goes live.
• Responses are uploaded on a rolling basis up until election day.
• You may contact us at any time to update or clarify your position.

How to get in contact

If you are a candidate and would like to:

• Review your assessment
• Complete the questionnaire
• Update your responses

Please contact us at tool@buildaballot.org.au