Ballots FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Ballots.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Ballots Overview.
Setup
Do I need to configure anything before Ballots works?
Yes. An administrator must enable Ballots from the Apps Marketplace, the tenant must hold a licence for it, and the app must be published to users — until it is, only admins and Ballots contributors can open Ballots, and the app shows a banner saying so. Once it is enabled, Ballots admins can create ballots straight away; members can vote on any ballot they are included in. Visit Settings inside the Ballots app to let members create ballots too, choose who can see Analytics, set vote-label wording, turn auto-approval on or off, and control which notifications are active.
Who can create ballots, and how do I restrict it?
By default, only Ballots admins and Ballots contributors can create ballots. In Settings → Who can create ballots?, choose Any member can create to open it to everyone, or Ballots admins, contributors and members of specific groups and pick one or more groups in the group picker that appears under that choice. If you save the group choice with no group selected, only Ballots admins and contributors can create — the save warns you, and the page then shows Only Ballots admins and contributors can create. Ballots admins (App Admins, Admins, and Super Admins) can always create regardless of this setting.
To let one person create ballots without giving them Ballots settings, a company admin makes them a Ballots contributor under Apps → Ballots → Admins & Contributors. A contributor can create ballots and manage the ones they created; they cannot open Ballots Settings or Analytics, or manage other people’s ballots. (Businesses that were already using Ballots before September 2026 keep the setting they had — any member — until an admin changes it.)
Permissions and access
Who can see which ballots?
Members see only ballots they are included in — ballots they created or ballots where they are on the voter roster. Ballots admins (App Admins, Admins, and Super Admins) see every ballot in the business, plus the Settings tab. The Analytics tab is shown to Ballots admins and to anyone the Analytics access setting adds.
Which roles can access Analytics and Settings?
Settings is for Ballots admins only: App Admin, Admin, and Super Admin. Analytics is for Ballots admins by default; in Settings → Analytics access you can also let members of specific groups see it. Each tab is hidden from the sidebar for everyone it isn’t open to, and the routes are guarded too, so a direct link sends them back to the Dashboard — for Analytics, with the message “You don’t have access to that section of Ballots.”
Day-to-day
What are the two ballot styles and when should I use each?
Yes/No presents Affirmative, Negative, and Abstain choices on a single document or person — use it for policy ratification, proposal approval, or a single-candidate appointment. Election lets voters select from up to 10 candidates or document options, with a configurable number of seats — use it for committee elections or multi-option selection. The style and subject type (document or person) can be changed while the ballot is a draft or scheduled; once voting opens they are locked.
What happens when a ballot’s close date passes?
Voting ends and the ballot moves to Closed – pending decision. If auto-approval is enabled and the ballot is Yes/No, the system checks whether the affirmative share meets the threshold. If it does, the ballot is automatically approved. Otherwise it stays pending until the ballot’s creator or a Ballots admin records the outcome in the Record the outcome panel on the Results tab — Approve or Reject for a Yes/No ballot, or Approve (declare winner) or Close with no winner for an election. Closing with no winner elects nobody, and the election then shows Closed – no winner. An election can’t be rejected. If nobody voted in an election, there is no winner to declare: re-open it for more voting, or close it with no winner. (An older election with no more candidates than seats can still be declared.) A ballot that closes without an outcome also puts a Record the outcome item in its creator’s Inbox (and sends an email); if the creator has left, the Ballots admins get it instead. The item clears as soon as anyone records an outcome.
How does the auto-approval threshold work?
The threshold is a percentage measured against all eligible voters, not just those who voted. A ballot with 1 affirmative vote out of 87 eligible voters reads roughly 1%, even if that one person is the only voter. The threshold is set in Settings → Auto-approval and applies to every Yes/No ballot at close — including ballots that are already open, so changing it changes how those ballots are decided. It accepts values from 1% to 100%; the default is 60%. The threshold box is greyed out while auto-approval is off, and its saved value is kept. Auto-approval does not apply to elections.
Can I customize the vote button labels?
Yes. Go to Settings → Vote labels. You can rename the Affirmative, Negative, and Abstain labels to whatever wording fits your use case — for example “Yes”, “No”, “Pass” — up to 40 characters each. The labels update on all existing Yes/No ballots.
What notifications does Ballots send, and which are on by default?
Ballots has six notification switches in Settings → Ballot notifications:
- When a ballot opens — on by default. Asks members who can vote to cast their vote.
- When a ballot is closing — on by default. Reminds members who haven’t voted yet, 24 hours before voting closes (or halfway through a voting window shorter than two days).
- When a ballot is edited — off by default. Tells everyone on the ballot.
- When a ballot is re-circulated — on by default. Asks members who can vote in the new round to vote again. If it is off, a round that opens straight away sends the usual “voting is open” request instead, as long as When a ballot opens is on.
- When a ballot’s outcome is recorded — on by default. Tells everyone on the ballot when a ballot is approved (automatically, or by its creator or a Ballots admin) or rejected, or when an election’s winner is declared or it is closed with no winner. It says what the outcome is, never who won or the tally — members open the ballot to see results they are allowed to see.
- When a member is added as a voter — on by default. Tells a member when they are given a vote on a scheduled or open ballot.
A few notices are always sent and have no switch: a member is told when someone else changes their recorded vote, or removes it along with their voting rights; and when voting closes without an outcome, the ballot’s creator — or a Ballots admin, if the creator has left — is asked to record one.
Each notice sends one email and an item in the member’s Inbox; voting requests also send a push notification to the mobile app. Members who have already voted are never asked to vote again, and a member’s voting request moves out of their Inbox’s Needs-you list (and off the badge) as soon as they vote — a member normally has just one open voting request per ballot. Dates in these notices include the time and time zone. Each person can turn Ballots email and push on or off under Account Settings → Notifications → Ballots.
What happens when I re-circulate a ballot?
Re-circulate ballot (in the ballot’s ⋮ Actions menu) starts a fresh voting round on a closed or resolved ballot. It is available to the ballot’s creator and to Ballots admins, and a creator also needs permission to create ballots. You pick who can vote and a new close date. All previous votes are permanently deleted, the voter roster is re-snapshotted from the current audience (so membership changes since the first publish are now reflected), and the new round opens straight away. The prior winner flags on election items are also cleared. When the re-circulate notice is on, everyone on the new roster who can vote gets one request to vote again, and any open voting requests from the previous round are cleared from members’ Inboxes.
When something looks wrong
I can’t find a ballot I’m supposed to vote on
Three common causes: (1) you are not on the voter roster — the roster is frozen when the ballot is published, so joining the group afterward does not add you; (2) the ballot is still in Scheduled status and has not opened yet — check with the creator for the open date; (3) the ballot is in Draft and has not been published. Ask the ballot’s creator or a Ballots admin to check the voter list with Manage voters in the ballot’s ⋮ Actions menu.
I voted but want to change my answer — can I?
Only if revoting is enabled on that ballot. The creator sets Allow revoting while open when creating it; new ballots start from the Allow voters to change their vote before close default in Settings, which is on. If revoting is off, the vote is final once cast. When a revote is allowed, the previous vote is superseded but kept in the audit history — only the latest vote counts in the tally.
I can’t see the results — it just says they’re hidden
The ballot’s Who can view results setting controls who can see tallies. Options are Everyone, Voters only, or Admins only. Additionally, Result availability can be set to After ballot closes, which hides the tally from everyone — admins and the ballot’s creator included — until voting ends. (The ballot’s creator and Ballots admins can still see each member’s recorded vote in Change votes — or View votes — in the ballot’s ⋮ Actions menu.) New ballots use After ballot closes unless an admin has turned on Show live results to members while a ballot is open in Settings or the creator picks Real-time. Ask your admin which setting is in place.
A ballot is still showing “Scheduled” even though its open time has passed
The lifecycle job that transitions scheduled ballots to open runs every 10 minutes, so there can be a short delay. Opening the ballot’s list or detail page also triggers the transition immediately, so navigating to the ballot resolves it. If it persists, check that the open date and time zone are set correctly on the ballot.
How do I correct someone’s recorded vote?
Open the ballot, choose Change votes from the ⋮ Actions menu, find the voter, select the new choice, and enter a required comment explaining the correction. The change is logged in the ballot’s history with the comment, the modifier’s name, and a timestamp. If revoting is disabled on the ballot, you can record a first-time vote for a voter who hasn’t voted, but you cannot change an existing vote. Votes can be changed only on a Yes/No ballot that is open or closed but not yet decided; on an election, a draft, a scheduled ballot or a decided ballot the window is read-only and the menu calls it View votes.
Licensing and limits
Does Ballots require a licence?
Yes. Ballots requires a per-tenant licence and is disabled by default. An administrator enables it from the Apps Marketplace.
What are the limits I should know about?
- Candidates or document options per ballot: up to 10
- Ballot title: up to 100 characters
- Vote labels: up to 40 characters each
- Auto-approval threshold: 1% to 100% of eligible voters
- Election seats: Pick 1 (the default) or up to 9 selections, always fewer than the number of options
- Comment policy per choice: Optional, Required, or Not allowed — set per choice (Affirmative, Negative, Abstain) or for the election as a whole
- Result visibility: Everyone, Voters only, or Admins only
- Export format: Excel workbook (.xlsx)
- Analytics window: all-time only; no period filter
- Votes are not anonymous — every vote is attributable with the voter’s name and timestamp in the audit trail
More help
- Ballots Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Ballots questions from these articles.