Election Day is

November 14, 2023

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who runs the NWTElection.ca website?

NWTElection.ca is a citizen-created election resource run by the volunteer efforts of David Wasylciw and Kyle Thomas and a number of other contributors.

More information can be found on our About Us page.

How do you determine who the candidates are?

Candidates are collected from the Elections NWT website listings. Elections NWT is the official Election authority for territorial elections in the NWT. Only those individuals listed on the Elections NWT list of candidates will be displayed in the appropriate electoral division on this website.

Some candidates may have announced their intended candidacy, but have not yet filled out the forms to register with Elections NWT. We will not post this candidate’s information until Elections NWT lists the candidate on its website.

Candidate names will be shown as the candidate advertises their name in promotional materials, except for use of salutations and post-nominal (designatory) letters. For instance, if a candidate chooses to promote their candidacy under their nick name, we will display the candidate card under the nick name used.

How do you decide what contact information / social media websites to list for candidates?

Each Electoral Division page display all candidates within that division so that potential voters have the opportunity to contact, read about, and evaluate their candidates. Each candidate has ‘candidate card’ displayed in random order. The order is reset every time the webpage is loaded.

The candidate card includes, if available, links to the candidate website, Facebook page, Twitter page, Youtube page, email address, and the campaign office phone number.

We want to make the information presented on our site easy to use and read, and to avoid too much clutter on candidate pages. We choose to feature Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube links because these are some of the most commonly used social media tools by electoral candidates in the NWT. We will revisit this discussion before every local election and, if warranted, other social media links could be featured in future elections. Please note that social media options are often featured on individual candidate webpages.

What processes are used to collect candidate information?

Detailed policies were determined (outlined below) to ensure that the candidate information is correct and is retrieved in a consistent manner.

Any webpage, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Youtube page link for a candidate must show some indication that the candidate is aware of and okay with the page’s existence.

If a candidate contacts OpenNWT to update any contact or website information, the candidate information on the NWTElection.ca website will be replaced with the information submitted by the candidate, so long as it follows the policies outlined below.

Candidate Websites: Websites are found in the following order:

  1. A search through the Google search engine with the candidate first and last name together in quotations along with the electoral division in quotations, or
  2. A link from the candidate Facebook ‘About’ page, or the candidate Twitter page.

If a candidate has two or more webpages, the one identified as the primary website will be used unless requested otherwise by the candidate.

Email Addresses and Phone Numbers: Email addresses are found in the following order:

  1. From the Elections NWT Candidate List,
  2. From the candidate webpage,
  3. From the candidate Facebook ‘About’ page, or
  4. From the candidate Twitter page.

If the candidate has two email addresses listed, the email address that is listed with Elections NWT will be used unless requested otherwise by the candidate.

Photos: Photos are found in the following order:

  1. Elections NWT Candidate List,
  2. Candidate webpage,
  3. Facebook page,
  4. Twitter page.

Headshots are used if at all possible, and photos will not be used if they show additional individuals other than the candidate or an advertisement embedded in the photo. If there are multiple headshot photos to select, the one that most closely resembles a headshot with neutral non-party background colour(s) will be selected.

Facebook Links: Facebook pages are found in the following order:

  1. Reviewing the candidate webpage for a Facebook link,
  2. Using the Facebook search bar for the candidate name,
  3. Entering candidate name in quotations, electoral division in quotations, and the word Facebook into the Google search engine.

In most cases, we link to candidate election page. If no candidate page exists we link to the candidate name Facebook ‘Group’ or candidate ‘Person’ profile where:

  1. In the case of a Facebook group:
    • The group is not a closed group, and
    • There is an indication in the group title, ‘Description’, photos, or ‘Discussion’ content that this group is intended to be used to publicly promote the candidate and/or engage potential voters.
  2. In the case of a Facebook ‘Person’ profile:
    • The ‘Timeline’ and ‘About’ pages are publicly viewable, and
    • There is no indication in the Timeline history that this profile was used solely for personal non-election purposes one year or more before the 2019 election date
    • There is an indication in the title, photos, ‘Timeline’ content, or ‘About’ page that this page is intended to be used to publicly promote the candidate and/or engage with potential voters.

If an incumbent is using their MLA page/group/profile to promote their candidacy, the MLA page/group/profile will be used until a candidate page/group/profile becomes available. Private profiles, or profiles that were previously used solely for personal purposes, will be linked to a candidate only if requested by the candidate.

Twitter Pages: Twitter pages are found in the following order:

  1. Reviewing the candidate webpage for a Twitter link,
  2. Reviewing the candidate Facebook page for a Twitter link,
  3. Using the Twitter search bar for the candidate name

If an incumbent is using their MLA Twitter page to promote their candidacy, the MLA page will be used until a candidate page becomes available.

Youtube Pages: Youtube pages are found in the following order:

  1. Reviewing the candidate webpage for a Youtube link,
  2. Reviewing the candidate Facebook page for a Youtube link on the candidate Facebook page,
  3. Searching for the candidate name and electoral division in the Youtube search bar

We link to candidate Youtube videos, rather than candidate Youtube accounts, unless the candidate requests otherwise.

How can a candidate have their candidate information updated?

Candidates can send us updated photos and information via email: info@opennwt.ca

Emails should be sent from the email address we have listed for a candidate if possible.

We will do our best to process all updates within 48 hours of their receipt.

How are the news articles collected?

Articles are automatically gathered from local news sources by searching for the names of the candidates, using the machine readable news syndication feeds.

For this election, we are gathering the news directly from the following local news sources: Cabin Radio, CBC North, CKLB, Moose FM, and NNSL. Candidate news mentions are news articles from the above listed sources that mention a candidate by name.

In order to treat all candidates equally, our news gathering is an automated process and we will not manually add news stories to a ward or candidate page; this prevents us from introducing subjective judgement calls. If a specific news article is not showing up on our website it is because it is awaiting moderation or because it has not be located through the search process described above. We will only remove news articles in cases where the candidate is mistaken for another person with the same name.

For the 2023 election period we will display candidate news articles published as far back as we can.

To report an article that has been incorrectly associated with a candidate please email us at info@opennwt.ca.

Are the operations of your website transparent?

This website was created in the spirit of openness, community and accountability.

The processes used to gather candidate information, and find candidate news mentions, can be found on this FAQ page.

This website is powered by a custom WordPress plugin developed by Open Democracy Manitoba. The source code for this plugin, and all election information used on this site, are released free and unencumbered into the public domain.

How is your website funded?

This is one of this “just for fun” website project that is support with donated time and effort from a host of characters.

How did you make this website?

This site was built with by the efforts of the OpenNWT and a lot of support from the kind folks at Open Democracy Manitoba. 

The website is powered by the following technologies: