An Introduction to Online Voting Websites

Online voting websites are software platforms that allow you to run secure, digital votes and elections.

The term “online voting website” is a bit of a misnomer. In reality, most online voting websites are web-apps, and commonly referred to as online voting systems.

These voting web apps are beneficial because they make it easy for all your voters to securely log into the voting application — without having to download an app. They simply run in your browser.

What’s involved with voting? Your voters will:

• Open a browser

• Log into the voting website app

• Vote

From there, and often times instantly, you'll get the results.

You'll want to make sure you understand the key components of building and managing a successful online vote.

Vote integrity

Free survey tools may be decent  for certain things (e.g. a poll asking coworkers  where to have lunch), but if you need to ensure your voting is fair — you’ll want to choose a software that was built to protect vote integrity.

A secure online voting system is a wonderful solution you can rely on to protect your vote’s integrity.

Voter authentication

A good voting software platforms lets you gather input for your decision-making process in a structured manner.

Many platforms lack a way to authenticate voters, and therefore are unable to prevent vote integrity breaches, such as voting multiple times from different browsers.

Easy vote administration

Using an online voting system, you (or your voting partner) will build ballots, alert your voters, and make decisions based on the voting outcomes.

You can do this yourself, use vendor services, or a combination of both.

Either way, the digital process should be secure, and relatively straightforward.

A pleasant voter experience

Your voters will receive email notifications and vote via their computer, tablet, or phone. These should be easy to set up for the person responsible for vote administration.

Security

Online voting websites will likely require you to upload at the very least, the email addresses of your voters. So, you should feel that you can trust them with your data.

Need to run an online vote or election?

1. Search for the top online voting providers

Review the different options they provide.

2. Talk with these companies

Ask them if they can help you accomplish what you're trying to do.

3. Get some help