Gunnedah Shire Council has asked the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to allow it to run its own elections but with an option to "phone a friend" for help.
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The council proposes to keep running its own elections, but with the ability to outsource some parts of it to the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC).
This would include a training and certification course for returning officers and use of the commission's vote counting software platform.
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The council submitted its thoughts to IPART on May 10 in response to IPART's questions in its review of local government election running costs.
Details of the council's submission were provided in the last week's ordinary meeting business paper and passed by councillors.
In the paper, council's corporate and community services director Colin Formann wrote it would be "cost-prohibitive" for the council to build its own custom voting software for the 2020 elections as would be required under the "fully in-house option", making that "unworkable".
The other option available to councils is to fully outsource the elections.
IPART will release a draft report on June 25, with the final review expected on August 30.
