The council election ballot may have been drawn on Thursday but the topic of conversation at local returning offices centred around new COVID-19 polling booth restrictions.
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The usual "six metre rule" for volunteers to distribute election material is being extended to 100 metres from the entrance to a polling place or a pre-polling venue in public areas.
Posters displayed in those areas must be put out before 7am and can't be adjusted or moved again until after 7pm.
The NSW Electoral Commission said the decision was made to "reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission between electors, election officials and candidate/political party volunteers".
The decision has left candidates weighing up if and how to campaign around the booths.
Newcastle's Labor team said it was seeking clarification from the electoral commission about the "ambiguous" rules.
The direction says "no electoral material is to be handed out, or left out for collection, in a publicly owned or occupied area (such as on the footpath) that is within 100 metres of the entrance to a polling place or a pre-polling venue on polling days".
The wording of the guidelines suggests party volunteers can stand inside 100 metres as long as they are not handing out election material.
Labor candidate and deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen said the inclusion of the term "publicly owned or occupied area" was also open to interpretation.
"We're waiting for some clarity from the Electoral Commissioner about the rules. They're a bit ambiguous," he said. "At the moment only some activities have been restricted.
"I think the most important thing is that we all understand and play by the same rules, and I'd be disappointed in candidates that aren't complying both with the written order but also the spirit of the rules given that we're running an election campaign in the midst of a global pandemic."
Unvaccinated people will be allowed to vote in person, even though the NSW government announced this week that the unvaccinated would stay in lockdown until December 15.
Cr Clausen said Labor would advise voters by other means how to vote in the lord mayoral and ward elections.
Newcastle Independents lord mayoral and ward one candidate John Church said it was difficult to say whether the rules would favour one candidate or party over another.
"It may be difficult for non-branded independents who don't have that natural policy following," he said.
"I think if there are no how-to-vote cards at the polling booth, preferences will become less important and people will vote for the party they favour or the candidate they know and recognise".
He said the Newcastle Independents would look at other ways to "get that information out to people", including using social media.
"We believe in past elections 20 per cent of people often turn up without knowing which way they're going to vote, and that's why in the past it's been so important to put how-to-vote cards in people's hands, so they can look at the policies and think about which candidates they want to support."
Lake Macquarie mayor and Labor candidate Kay Fraser said she was "really concerned" the rule could mean some residents don't turn up to vote.
"Because normally there's a lot of activity around the polling places and that won't be happening this year," she said. "So if you're out on a Saturday morning driving around or doing other things, you might forget there's an election. Normally you'll see a lot of people around a polling place to remind you."
She also believed the change could impact how people voted.
"I think we'll have a lower voter turnout rate and I think there may be some more voters who are unsure, so there may be more informal votes as well," she said.
Lake Mac Independents mayoral candidate Cr Luke Cubis said it would "still be legally possible, but functionally impossible" to hand out material.
"It makes it functionally not really possible to get the flyers into people's hands," he said. "Most of the booths in Lake Macquarie City Council area have car parks within the 100 metre radius anyway, so people will drive past the people handing out the flyers to go in and vote."
Pre-poll and iVote voting start on November 22. Applications have opened for postal voting, which could play an important role in this year's elections.