The number of pre-poll venues will increase from one to two, with polling sites to be established at the Bathurst Girl Guides Hall and the Catholic Parish Centre.

This means council candidates will have to find a way to have a presence at two venues, or risk missing out on appealing to hundreds or thousands of voters.

Adding to the challenges is a new rule about handing out election material.

Due to COVID-19, a person must not hand out tangible electoral material in or on a polling place, pre-polling office, or relevant premises within 100 metres of a polling place or a pre-polling office.

Current mayor Ian North, who will lead a ticket at the election, said he is concerned about how candidates can get information to voters under the new arrangements.

"It's definitely difficult to man [a pre-poll venue] in normal circumstances of a six-metre rule, but with a 100-metre rule, it virtually rules out pre-poll for handing out," he said.

"... I'm not really sure how the candidates could hand out at a polling booth. I look at the one at St Michaels and St Johns, it's a fair distance when you have an arc of 100m around it.

"It's going to be hard and it's definitely harder for new candidates."

Cr North said he will be relying on a letterbox drop to get information out to voters, and is considering getting placards, a promotional tool he has avoided in the past.

Candidate Catherine Strods, who will not have a ticket, is now considering door-knocking as a way to get her message out to voters.

As a solo candidate, she won't have a team of people behind her to man two polling booths, and will struggle more than others with the 100-metre rule.

"Having this new rule in place, it's just going to make it harder for us that really do want to make a change," she said.

"... I think it's making it harder and harder for below the line [candidates] to succeed."

One new candidate who isn't concerned, though, is Geoff Fry.

He will be running a ticket, and said the decision to have two pre-poll venues is a good idea.

He believes the Cathedral Parish Centre will be more popular among voters and will concentrate more of his efforts on this venue.

"The challenge for me is that you can't have anything within 100m of the polling booth. A-frames are allowed, so I've been working up doing some A-frames. It just means I'll need the A-frames at two sites instead of one," Mr Fry said.

Pre-poll voting starts on November 22.

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