How do you include a variable?

[kau]

I have this statement;

ob_start();
include('../footer.php');
$externalwebfooter = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();

That works but I need to pass it a variable like this;

ob_start();
include('../footer.php?FUNCTION=TODAYVOTES');
$externalwebfooter = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();

This however will not work. No errors, it just doesn't like the ?FUNCTION=TODAYVOTES.

Is there a workaround for this?