Managing a Vote
After creating a vote, you can manage it through its entire lifecycle — from enabling it to send to committee members, to editing, extending, and viewing participation. This page covers all the actions available to vote administrators.
For instructions on creating a new vote, see Creating a Vote.
Vote Lifecycle
Every vote moves through a predictable lifecycle:
Draft — The vote is created but not yet active. Committee members have not been notified.
Active — The vote is live. Committee members receive an email notification and can cast their votes.
Ended — The close date has passed. No more votes can be submitted. Results are finalized.
Vote Statuses and Available Actions
The actions available to you depend on the vote's current status. Use the overflow menu (three dots) under the Manage column to access these actions.
Enable
Yes (if close date is in the future)
—
—
Edit
Yes
—
—
Clone
Yes
Yes
Yes
Extend
—
Yes
Yes
Send Reminder
—
Yes
—
View Voters
—
Yes
Yes
Cancel
—
Yes
—
Delete
Yes
—
—
Enable a Vote
Enabling a vote activates it and sends email notifications to all eligible committee members with the selected voting status.
Prerequisites
The vote must be in Draft status.
The close date must be in the future.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the draft vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Enable.
A confirmation dialog appears:
"Are you sure you want to enable {vote name}? Enabling this vote will notify all committee members with the selected voting status."
Click Enable to confirm.
Once enabled, the vote status changes to Active and all eligible committee members receive an email with voting instructions. There is no email preview before sending.
Edit a Vote
You can modify a vote's details before it has been enabled. Once a vote is active, it cannot be edited.
Prerequisites
The vote must be in Draft status.
What You Can Edit
Name
Description
Close date
Committee
Voting status filters
Questions and options
Allow Abstain option
Pseudo-Anonymity
Majority settings (quorum percentage, winning threshold) — if the voting type is Majority
What You Cannot Edit
Voting type — The voting type is locked after creation. If you need a different voting type, clone the vote instead.
Number of winners — For Meek STV votes, the number of winners cannot be changed after creation.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the draft vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Edit.
The vote form opens with the existing details pre-filled. Modify the fields as needed.
Click Save.
The voting type dropdown is disabled during editing. To change the voting type, clone the vote and select a new type on the cloned copy.
Clone a Vote
Cloning creates a new copy of an existing vote. This is useful when you want to reuse the structure of a previous vote or need to change the voting type (which cannot be edited on an existing vote).
Availability
Available for votes in any status — Draft, Active, or Ended.
What Happens When You Clone
The new vote is named "Copy Of {original vote name}".
The close date is set to 7 days from today (or the original close date, whichever is later).
All questions, options, committee selection, and settings are copied.
The voting type can be changed on the cloned vote (unlike Edit).
The cloned vote is created in Draft status.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the vote you want to clone.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Clone.
The vote form opens with the copied details. Modify any fields as needed — including the voting type.
Click Save.
Cloning does not affect the original vote. The clone is an independent new vote in Draft status.
Extend a Vote
You can extend the close date of a vote to give committee members more time to vote. This works even after the vote has ended.
Availability
Available for Active and Ended votes.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Extend.
The Extend Vote dialog appears with a date picker.
Select a new close date (must be at least 1 day from today).
Click Save to confirm.
You cannot shorten a vote's close date — only extend it. If you need the vote to close sooner, consider canceling it and creating a new one.
Send Reminder
Send email reminders to committee members who have not yet voted on an active vote.
Availability
Available for Active votes only.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the active vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Send Reminder.
The Send Vote Reminder dialog appears, showing members who have not yet voted.
Select the members you want to remind.
Click Send.
Reminders are only sent to members who have not voted. Members who have already voted or abstained will not appear in the reminder list, as they are considered to have participated.
View Voters
View which committee members have voted, abstained, or not yet responded.
Availability
Available for Active and Ended votes.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select View Voters.
A drawer opens showing voter details including member name, organization, role, voting status, and timestamp.
When Hide Voter Answers (pseudo-anonymity) is enabled, individual voter identities are hidden in the PCC interface. Vote data remains linked to users via the API for auditing purposes.
Cancel a Vote
Canceling an active vote permanently removes it along with all submitted responses.
Availability
Available for Active votes only.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the active vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Cancel.
A confirmation dialog appears:
"Are you sure you want to cancel {vote name}? This will delete all responses and delete the vote from {project name}."
Click Confirm to cancel the vote.
This action is irreversible. Canceling a vote deletes all submitted responses and the vote itself. If you may need the vote again, consider cloning it before canceling.
Delete a Vote
Delete a draft vote that has not yet been enabled.
Availability
Available for Draft votes only.
Steps
Navigate to Collaboration > Voting in the PCC.
Locate the draft vote in the table.
Click the overflow menu under Manage and select Delete.
A confirmation dialog appears asking you to confirm the deletion.
Click Confirm to delete the vote.
Since draft votes have not been enabled, no responses have been cast and no committee members have been notified. Deleting a draft vote has no impact on committee members.
Add or Remove Voters from an Active Vote
Voters are determined by the selected Committee and Voting Status of the vote. You cannot change the attached committee or the voting status criteria after the vote has been enabled.
To add or remove voters from an active vote, update the member's status within the committee:
Navigate to the Committee associated with the vote.
Update the member's Voting Status (e.g., change from Observer to Voting Rep, or vice versa).
The voter list updates automatically based on the new status. Refresh the page to see the updated list.
Members who are removed based on a Voting Status change will receive an email notification informing them they are no longer eligible to vote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I change the voting type after creating a vote? A: No, the voting type is locked after creation. If you need a different voting type, clone the vote and select the new type on the cloned copy.
Q: Can I close a vote early? A: No, you can only extend a vote's close date. If you need to stop voting immediately, cancel the vote. Note that canceling deletes all responses.
Q: What happens when I cancel an active vote? A: All submitted responses are permanently deleted and the vote is removed. This action cannot be undone.
Q: Can I re-enable a canceled vote? A: No. Once a vote is canceled, it is permanently deleted. To recreate it, clone the vote before canceling, or create a new vote.
Q: Who receives the email notification when I enable a vote? A: All committee members with the voting statuses selected during vote creation (e.g., Voting Rep, Alternate Voting Rep) receive an email with voting instructions.
Q: Can I edit a vote after enabling it? A: No. Once a vote is active, it cannot be edited. You can only extend the close date or send reminders. For other changes, cancel the vote and create a new one, or clone it.
Q: What is the difference between Cancel and Delete? A: Delete is for draft votes that have not been enabled — no responses exist, so nothing is lost. Cancel is for active votes — it stops voting and permanently deletes all submitted responses.
Q: Can I extend a vote that has already ended? A: Yes. Extending an ended vote reopens it, allowing committee members to submit or change their votes until the new close date.
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