Schools that have not yet moved to the d6 Communicator Vote component can run an SGB e-election from the School Management Portal, using a news item with a multiple-choice question as the ballot. This article is for system administrators and covers user rights, the voter group, the candidate list, and how to view the votes.
My School > Communication > Send a message > d6 app news items
Confirm with your District or Province that electronic voting is permitted. d6 is on the accredited list for SGB e-elections. If your school is on d6 Communicator, use the Vote component instead, as it is purpose-built for elections.
The system administrator or superuser assigns these rights under My School > Staff > Staff.
Select the relevant staff member and click Edit.
Assign the Communication roles so the user can publish Resources.
Set May use d6 App function to Yes to enable news items and push notifications.
Create an Own group containing only eligible voters, under My School > Communication > Communication setup > Communication groups.
Click Add group.
Enter the group name in both language fields, for example SGB Election.
Add all parents and staff members who are eligible to vote.
Click Submit.
First create a category under My School > Communication > Communication setup > Resource categories. Click Add, name it SGB e-elections, mark it for use with Resources, and save.
Then publish the list under My School > Communication > Share documents & information > Resources.
Click Add and select the SGB e-elections category.
Enter a title and description, and set the expiry date and time to match the close of voting.
Select the SGB election Own channel as the audience. A resource cannot be published to a Dynamic and an Own channel at the same time.
Attach the candidate list. Use PDF format so every parent can open it.
Select the options to send a news message and a push notification, then click Publish.
Go to My School > Communication > Send a message > d6 app news items and click New message.
Select the message type, enter the subject and the message body.
Tick the box to add a question and click Add.
Set the question Type to Multiple choice and Required to Yes.
Enter each candidate as an option.
Set Minimum selection to 1 and Maximum selection to 1, then click Add.
Deselect Allow multiple responses so each voter can submit only one vote.
Select Anonymise responses to keep the ballot secret.
Set the cutoff date and time for the close of voting.
Click Recipients, select the SGB election group, and click Save.
Click Send.
Go to My School > Communication > Send a message > d6 app news items and double-click the SGB news item. Click the question, then click View.
Summary tab: Shows the total votes cast and the total per candidate.
Answers tab: Lists each recipient and their answer, and can be exported to Excel using the Excel button.
The Messages Dashboard updates in real time. The % Read and % Replied figures show virtual attendance and voting progress against your required quorum, for example 15%.
Yes. When a parent joins a group they can see previously sent broadcast messages, and they remain eligible to vote even if they registered after the news item was sent.
Disable the message, which removes it from the user's feed, and create a new news item. Every voter must then vote again, because the recreated ballot is entirely new and no previous votes carry over.
The Known Recipients total on the Messages Dashboard is a hyperlink. Click it to view delivery status, including who has read the message and who has not.
Only if Anonymise responses was selected before the news item was sent. If it was not selected, the Answers tab will show each recipient's individual vote.
Last updated: September 2026 | Version 1.0