VoteAlly

Early Voting for Live Meetings

Let voters cast ballots before the meeting starts. Reduce meeting time, increase participation, and keep your AGM running on schedule.

What is Early Voting?

Early voting creates a pre-meeting voting window for Live Meeting sessions. Instead of waiting until the meeting to open each question, you can allow voters to review and cast their ballots ahead of time.

Early votes and live meeting votes are combined into the same results. There is no separate tally. A voter who votes early sees their vote as already cast when the meeting begins.

This feature is only available for Live Meeting sessions. Scheduled Elections already let voters vote at any time during the open window, so early voting does not apply.

How the Session Lifecycle Works

With early voting enabled, your session moves through four stages:

DRAFT→EARLY VOTING→LIVE→ENDED
  1. DRAFT: You set up your questions, add voters, and configure the early voting start time. Voters cannot vote yet. If they visit the voter portal, they see a branded holding page.
  2. EARLY VOTING: All eligible questions open at once. Voters see the full list of questions and can vote on any that have "Allow Early Voting" enabled. Ineligible questions appear greyed out.
  3. LIVE: You click "Start Meeting" to begin the live session. All open questions return to STANDBY, and you control them one at a time from the Live Control panel, just like a normal meeting. Voters who already voted early see those questions as completed.
  4. ENDED: The session is closed. Results reflect all votes, both early and live, combined.

Setting Up Early Voting

1

Create a Live Meeting session

Early voting is only available for Live Meeting sessions. When creating your session, choose "Live Meeting" as the session type.

2

Set the early voting start time

In the Session Schedule card, set the "Early Voting Opens" date and time. This is when voters will be able to start casting ballots. The "Start" time becomes your meeting start time (displayed to voters as the AGM start time).

3

Choose which questions allow early voting

Each question has an "Allow Early Voting" toggle, enabled by default. Turn it off for questions you want to present and discuss live before opening the vote. For example, you might allow early voting on routine motions but require live discussion for contested items.

4

Add voters and send invitations

Import your voter list and send invitations. Invitation emails include the early voting start time so voters know when they can begin. You can also send reminder emails during the early voting window.

5

Open early voting

When the early voting start time arrives, click "Open Early Voting" (or let the scheduled auto-transition handle it). All eligible questions open at once and voters can start casting ballots.

6

Start your meeting

When it is time for the live meeting, click "Start Meeting." Questions return to STANDBY and you control them one at a time from the Live Control panel, as usual. Early votes are already recorded.

Per-Question Control

Not every question needs early voting. Each question has an "Allow Early Voting" toggle (enabled by default). Here is how it works:

Early Voting Enabled
  • Question opens during early voting window
  • Voters can cast ballots before the meeting
  • Returns to STANDBY when the live meeting starts
Early Voting Disabled
  • Shown as greyed out during early voting
  • Voters cannot vote until the live meeting
  • Admin opens it manually during the meeting

Tip: Use this to separate routine motions (budget approval, minutes) from items that benefit from live discussion (bylaw changes, contested elections). Let voters handle the routine items early so meeting time is spent on what matters.

Ballot Integrity and Safeguards

Once early voting begins, VoteAlly locks several fields to protect the integrity of ballots that have already been cast:

Locked during early voting:

  • Question title, description, and type
  • Candidate names and details
  • Vote-count settings (max selections, pass rules)
  • Session schedule (early voting start, meeting start/end, timezone)

Still editable during early voting:

  • Question display order
  • "Allow Early Voting" toggle per question
  • Adding new voters to the roster
  • Sending invitation and reminder emails

No double voting: Each voter can only vote once per question. If a voter casts a ballot during early voting, they cannot vote again on the same question during the live meeting. The system enforces this automatically.

What Voters See

Before early voting opens (DRAFT)

Voters who visit the portal see a branded holding page showing the session name and the early voting start time.

During early voting

Voters see the full list of questions. Eligible questions show ballot options and accept votes. Questions with early voting disabled appear greyed out with a note that they will be available during the live meeting.

During the live meeting

The experience returns to the standard Live Meeting flow: voters see one question at a time as the admin opens them. Questions they already voted on during early voting show as completed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I start early voting manually instead of scheduling it?

Yes. You can click "Open Early Voting" at any time while the session is in DRAFT status. The scheduled time is optional. If you set a scheduled time, the transition happens automatically.

What happens to early votes when I start the live meeting?

Early votes are preserved. When you click "Start Meeting," questions return to STANDBY for live control, but all early votes remain in the system. When you open a question during the meeting, voters who already voted see it as completed. The final results combine early and live votes.

Can I send reminder emails during the early voting window?

Yes. Reminder emails are enabled for Meeting sessions with early voting configured. You can send reminders to voters who have not yet voted to encourage participation before the meeting.

Can I send SMS notifications during early voting?

Yes. Both bulk and individual SMS sends are available during the EARLY VOTING status, just like during a LIVE session.

Does early voting work with weighted voting?

Yes. Vote weights are applied the same way regardless of when the ballot was cast. An early vote with a weight of 3 counts the same as a live vote with a weight of 3.

Is there a separate results view for early votes vs. live votes?

No. Early votes and live votes are combined into a single tally. There is no phase marker on individual ballots. The results reflect the total participation from both windows.