Public voting lets your audience vote for their favorite submissions. This guide shows you how to switch it on, set it up, open and close voting, manage votes, and announce your winners.
I. Turn on public voting
You turn on public voting round by round:
Open your program and select the round.
Go to Settings → Evaluation Settings.
Tick Enable public voting.
Click Save Settings.
A Voting tab now appears for the round. Its left sidebar has these sections: Settings, Phases, Featured, Winners, Messages, Listing View, Votes and Comments. A Single View section is added once you enable single view (see below).
II. Voting settings
Voting Experience
Default layout, for example Comfortable grid.
"Closing soon" window (hours): how long before the end the page shows "closing soon".
Ballot tray, Ranked results and Confirm before voting.
Basics
Voting Start / Voting End: when voting opens and closes. These are separate from your evaluation dates.
Voting Method: for example Yes/No.
Voting Type: Public Voting (anyone with the link can see the voting page) or Private Voting (only logged-in users can see it: "Private voting is only visible to logged-in users").
Votes Limit: the maximum number of votes a participant can cast in total. A participant can vote only once per submission.
IP Votes Limit: the maximum number of votes from a single IP address. Avoid it when many voters share one network, such as a school or office.
Advanced settings
Submission Experience
Enable single view: gives every submission its own page with more of its answers, and adds a Single View section to the sidebar where you lay that page out (see section IV).
Shuffle submissions randomly
Enable submission tracks view (when the round uses tracks)
Voting
Enable voting on the single view only (shown when single view is on): voters open a submission before they can vote for it.
Enable voting questions (to ask voters for extra information)
Require users to log in to vote
Enable manual approval of votes
Show total vote count
Engagement
Enable comments (shown when single view is on): voters can comment on a submission's page. Moderate them in Comments.
Enable social sharing options
Your settings save automatically. When you're ready, click Publish to make the voting page available.
III. Voting phases
Open Phases to move voting through its life cycle:
Draft: not visible yet.
Open: public voting is live.
Closing soon: the final hours.
Closed: voting has ended.
Results: winners are published.
Click Advance to Open to move on now, or set Auto-open at and Auto-close at and then click Save phase. Use Preview public page to see exactly what voters will see. Remember that the program itself must be published for the voting page to be visible.
IV. Messages and display
Voter messages (Messages)
Confirmation email: edit the email voters receive after they vote.
Personalization: use Short Codes, for example the submission title.
Auto Send: send the confirmation automatically.
Listing View: the voting page cards
The voting page shows every submission as a card. In Listing View you choose what each card shows:
In Choose Model, pick a template (for example Default Template).
Under Submission Fields, click Submission Form : Add Field in each box (Image or Video, Submission Title, Submission Description) and pick the form question to show there.
Choose whether to show the participant's name in Display username.
Click Save. Use View to preview the cards.
Single View: a full page per submission
Cards only have room for an image, a title and a short description. If voters should see more, for example the team, the problem statement or a pitch video, give each submission its own page:
In Settings → Advanced settings, tick Enable single view. A Single View section appears in the sidebar.
Open Single View. It starts with the same three boxes as the cards: Image or Video, Submission Title and Submission Description. Click the pencil next to a box to rename it.
Click + Add field location, type a Location title (for example "The team" or "Pitch video") and click Add. A new box appears. Add as many as you need.
In each box, click Submission Form : Add Field, pick the form question, and click Add.
Choose Display username, click Save, and use View to check the page.
With single view on, two more options appear in Advanced settings: Enable voting on the single view only, so voters open a submission before voting, and Enable comments, so voters can leave comments on the page.
Featured
Use Featured to highlight the submissions you choose at the top of the voting page.
V. Manage votes
Open Votes to see Total votes, Accepted, Pending and Canceled, plus a table with each vote's submission, voter name, email, IP address, date, time, status and type.
Select votes and use the toolbar to Approve Vote, Cancel Vote, set back to Pending, Export, IP Block or Remove.
Search and filter by submission, voter, email, status and more.
If manual approval is on, only approved votes count.
VI. Announce your winners
Open Winners.
Click Auto-fill from standings, or choose the Grand winner, Runner-ups and Community favorite yourself. Only qualified submissions can be chosen.
Add custom awards if you need them.
Decide whether to Show vote counts on the public results page.
Click Save draft.
Click Publish results. You'll need a grand winner and runner-ups to publish.
VII. Vote totals in Round Scores
In the round's Submissions tab, switch the view selector to Round Scores, then use Table settings to show the Total Votes and Voting Score columns. Filter as needed and export. See Reviewing Round Scores and Evaluations.
Tips for public voting
Choose your audience: use Private Voting for closed audiences, and Public Voting when you're promoting widely.
Keep votes fair: combine Votes Limit and IP Votes Limit with Require users to log in to vote, and consider manual approval.
Reduce bias: turn on Shuffle submissions randomly so the first submissions don't get an advantage.
Comments: moderate them in Comments, or across your whole platform in Gear icon → Comments.
Common questions
Can someone vote for the same submission more than once?
No. By default, a participant can vote only once per submission. Votes Limit sets how many votes they can cast in total, across different submissions.
How do I keep submissions hidden until people sign up?
Open the round's Voting area and go to Settings.
Under Basics, set Voting Type to Private Voting.
Private voting is only visible to logged-in users, so visitors need to sign up or log in to see the submissions and vote.
Want everyone to see the submissions, but only signed-in people to vote? Keep Public Voting and turn on Require users to log in to vote under Advanced instead.
How do I show more than an image, a title and a description?
Turn on Enable single view in the voting Settings, then open the Single View section and use + Add field location to add a box for each extra form question you want voters to see. The cards on the voting page keep the three basic fields; the full set shows when a voter opens a submission.
How do I share the voting page?
Share your program link. Voters reach the voting page from your program page once voting is open. To copy the link, click the share icon at the top of your program in the dashboard, then click Copy under Copy and Share URL.
Before you share, check that the program is published, the voting is published, and the phase is Open.
How do I remove the Winners tab from my program page?
The winners appear on the public page once you click Publish results. To take them down, open Winners in the round's Voting area and unpublish the results. Don't switch off Enable public voting for this. That's not the way to hide the winners.
If something isn't working
What you see | What to do |
No Voting area in the round | Make sure Enable public voting is ticked in Evaluation Settings and that you clicked Save Settings. |
The voting page isn't visible | Publish the program, click Publish in the voting Settings, and move the phase to Open. |
No Single View section in the sidebar | Tick Enable single view under Settings → Advanced settings. It saves automatically and the section appears. |
Votes aren't counting | If manual approval is on, approve pending votes in Votes. |
The public can't vote | Check that Voting Type is Public Voting, and whether Require users to log in to vote is on. |
A submission can't be picked as a winner | Only qualified submissions can win. Qualify your finalists first. |
Evaluators see "evaluation ended" while voting is still open | Extend the evaluation Deadline under Evaluation Dates in the round's Settings → General Settings. Voting dates don't affect evaluators. |
What's next?
Next, take a look at Enabling Initial Filtration.