Attendance Check-In for Live Meetings
Last updated August 6, 2026
Require members to be checked in before they can vote, and leave with a timestamped record of who was present and how they got in.
What Is Attendance Check-In?
Attendance check-in is a session setting, checkInRequired, that requires each member to be checked in before they may cast a ballot. Members can check themselves in with a meeting code the chair announces, or be admitted by name at an administrator desk.
Turn it on when your meeting formally records attendance, or when your bylaws limit voting to members who are actually present. Check-in is available for Live Meeting sessions only. A Scheduled Election has no single point of entry to gate, so the setting does not apply there.
The Two Ways In
The chair announces a meeting code at the meeting, and members enter it themselves in their voter portal. Self-serve exists only if a meeting code is set on the session.
A staff member admits people by name from the check-in desk. The desk always works, with or without a meeting code set.
Setting a meeting code is what turns self-serve on. Without one, every attendee has to be admitted by hand at the desk, which does not scale past a small board.
The meeting code is announced by the chair at the meeting. It is not emailed, published, or included in any invitation or notice. If a member needs to be admitted and is not in the room to hear the code, the admin desk can check them in by name instead.
Rotating the Code and What Stays Open
The meeting code can be changed during the meeting. If it leaks or gets shared outside the room, rotate it and announce the new one.
This is a deliberate difference from proxy delegation. Proxy settings freeze the moment a session leaves DRAFT and goes live, and cannot be changed afterward. checkInRequired and the meeting code are not frozen the same way. You can turn the check-in gate on or off, and rotate the code, at any point while the meeting is in progress. See how proxy appointments freeze when a session opens for the contrast.
Running Check-In on Meeting Day
Before the meeting
Turn on checkInRequired in the session settings and decide whether you want self-serve check-in as well: if so, set a meeting code (you will announce it, not send it). Staff the admin desk with someone who has admin access. Unlike the proxy settings, checkInRequired is not frozen at launch, so you can leave it off and switch it on when the meeting starts. See the warning below if you are also running early voting.
At the door
The desk can start checking members in by name before the session goes live, so a registration table can open early. Once the meeting is under way, the chair announces the meeting code so members with a device can check themselves in instead of queueing at the desk.
During voting
A member must be checked in before their first ballot. If someone holds a proxy, the desk view shows their effective weight, their own vote plus everyone who appointed them, so staff can see that the member in front of them represents more than one vote.
After the meeting
Download the check-in report: who was admitted, when, and by which method. Hand it to the chair alongside the minutes. It is the record of presence; the chair still makes the quorum determination from it.
Check-In and Early Voting
The gate applies to early voting too. The check-in requirement is not limited to the live meeting. While it is on, every ballot needs a check-in first, including one cast during an early voting window. If you open early voting with check-in already on, advance voters are blocked until someone admits them at the desk, because the meeting code has not been announced yet.
This matters because the two features are often wanted on the same meeting: advance voting for members who cannot attend, and an attendance record for the meeting itself. They can be combined, but the order matters.
The practical sequence: leave check-in off while early voting runs, then turn it on when the live meeting starts. Unlike the proxy settings, checkInRequired and the meeting code are not frozen at launch, so this is a supported change to make mid-session. Ballots already cast early stand and are not affected. The gate applies to each new ballot, so a member who voted early still has to be checked in before voting on anything you open at the meeting itself.
If you genuinely want every voter admitted before any ballot, including advance ones, then leave check-in on and staff the desk for the whole early voting window. That is a real choice, just an expensive one. For how the proxy window interacts with early voting, which is a different rule, see the early voting guide.
Undoing a Check-In
Undoing a check-in prevents that member from casting any further ballots immediately.
It does not remove a ballot the member already cast while checked in. Reversing a check-in is a forward-only action on their ability to keep voting, not a retroactive edit to the tally. Treat it as closing the door, not rewinding what already happened through it.
Check-In and Proxy Delegation
A member holding one or more proxy appointments has an effective weight equal to their own weight plus the weight of everyone who appointed them. They check in once and cast one ballot carrying that combined weight.
The desk view shows effective weight so the person admitting them can see at a glance that the member in front of them represents more than one vote. Use "represented" when talking about proxy figures; a proxy holder does not cast several separate votes, they cast one that carries the weight of everyone they represent.
The Check-In Report
The check-in report is a CSV export listing who was admitted, when, and by which method (self-serve with the meeting code, or the admin desk). It is one of several session exports covered in Reports and Exports, alongside the proxy register, the ballot audit, and the results export.
What Check-In Does Not Do: Quorum
VoteAlly does not calculate, enforce, check, or report quorum. There is no quorum indicator and no "quorum met" status anywhere in the product.
What check-in gives the chair is an accurate, timestamped record of who is present, which is the input a quorum determination needs. The chair makes that determination, against the organization's own bylaws. The check-in report does not satisfy a bylaw requirement on its own; it records what the bylaw asks about, and the organization decides whether quorum was met.
Worked Example
Cedar Ridge Homeowners Association has 210 members and an AGM scheduled for February 4, 2027. The board expects a mix of members who attend in person, members who authorize a neighbor to vote on their behalf, and a handful who cannot make it at all.
In DRAFT, the secretary turns on checkInRequired and sets a meeting code. Two board members staff the registration table starting 30 minutes early, checking early arrivals in by name at the desk even though the meeting has not gone live. When the chair opens the AGM, they announce the meeting code so members with a phone can check themselves in instead of queueing.
One member holding two proxy appointments checks in and shows an effective weight of 3 at the desk (their own vote plus the two they represent). Partway through the meeting a member is accidentally checked in twice under different spellings of their name; the desk undoes the duplicate entry, which stops it from being used again but leaves the one ballot already cast untouched. After the meeting, the secretary downloads the check-in report and hands it to the chair, who confirms quorum was met against the association's bylaws.
Common Mistakes
- Turning on checkInRequired with no meeting code set and no one staffing the desk. Every attendee is then stuck at the door with no way in.
- Assuming that undoing a check-in retracts a ballot that member already cast. It does not; it only stops further voting.
- Expecting a quorum number from the check-in report. VoteAlly does not calculate quorum; the report is an input, not a verdict.
- Opening the registration desk right at the meeting start time instead of early, creating a line while the chair is trying to call the meeting to order.
- Announcing the meeting code before the room is actually ready to accept check-ins, so members try the code and are told the session is not yet open.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to check-in if I change the session type?
It is kept, not cleared. Attendance check-in is a Live Meeting feature, so switching a session to a Scheduled Election pauses it: the setting stays saved, nobody is asked to check in, and no ballot is held up. Switching back to a Live Meeting resumes it, along with your meeting code. If members are already checked in, the session type cannot change until you check them out from the desk, which deletes those records and frees it again.
What is attendance check-in in VoteAlly?
Attendance check-in is a session setting (checkInRequired) that requires a member to be checked in before they may cast a ballot. Members check themselves in with a meeting code the chair announces, or are admitted by name at an administrator desk. It is available for Live Meeting sessions only.
Which session types support check-in?
Live Meeting sessions only. A Scheduled Election has no single point of entry to gate, so check-in does not apply to that session type.
Is the meeting code emailed to members?
No. The meeting code is announced by the chair at the meeting itself, not emailed, published, or included in any invitation. A member enters it in their voter portal to check themselves in. If the code needs to reach someone outside the room, the administrator desk can check them in by name instead.
What happens if I undo a check-in by mistake?
Undoing a check-in stops that member from casting any further ballots immediately. It does not remove a ballot they already cast while checked in. If the ballot itself needs to be addressed, that is a separate decision for the chair, not something the check-in toggle does for you.
Does VoteAlly calculate or enforce quorum?
No. VoteAlly does not calculate, enforce, check, or report quorum. Check-in gives the chair an accurate, timestamped record of who is present and by which method, which is an input to a quorum determination. The organization makes that determination itself, against its own bylaws.
Can I change the meeting code or turn check-in on mid-meeting?
Yes. Unlike proxy delegation settings, checkInRequired and the meeting code are not frozen when the session goes live. You can rotate the meeting code during the meeting, for example if it leaks, and you can turn the check-in gate on or off while the meeting is in progress.
Does check-in also apply during early voting?
Yes, and this catches people out. The requirement is not limited to the live meeting: while it is on, every ballot needs a check-in first, including one cast during an early voting window. If you open early voting with check-in already on, advance voters are blocked, because the meeting code has not been announced yet. Leave check-in off while early voting runs and switch it on when the meeting starts. It is not frozen at launch, so that change is allowed.
Can the desk check members in before the meeting officially opens?
Yes. The administrator desk can check members in ahead of time, even while the check-in gate is switched off, which is useful for a registration table that opens before the session goes live. Self-serve check-in is not restricted to the live meeting either: anyone who has the meeting code and can reach their portal can use it, which is the practical reason the chair announces the code in the room rather than sending it out.