Multilingual Voting Setup
Serve voters in their preferred language. VoteAlly translates the voter portal and emails so every member can participate with confidence.
Supported Languages
VoteAlly currently supports four languages for the voter-facing experience:
What Gets Translated
The language setting controls all voter-facing platform text. Your custom content (question titles, candidate names) is always displayed exactly as you entered it.
- Voter login page (labels, buttons, errors)
- Voting booth interface (status badges, progress, confirmations)
- Vote receipt text and confirmation messages
- Invitation emails (subject, greeting, CTA button)
- Reminder emails (subject, body, CTA button)
- Notice emails (subject, labels, footer)
- Email footer text (compliance lines)
- Admin dashboard (English only)
- Question titles and descriptions
- Candidate names and bios
- Session names
- Custom email body text you write
- Organization name and branding
Tip: If your voters need ballot content in multiple languages, you can enter both languages in the question title or description when creating the question. For example: "Approve the 2026 Budget / Aprobar el presupuesto 2026".
Setting the Default Language
Open your Organization Settings
Navigate to your organization's Settings page from the admin dashboard.
Find the "Default Voter Portal Language" selector
Under the Portal Settings section, you will see a dropdown labelled "Default Voter Portal Language". This controls the default language for all voter-facing pages and emails.
Select your language and save
Choose from English (US), Español, ภาษาไทย (Thai), or Français (Canada). The setting auto-saves when you select a new value. All future voter emails and portal pages will use this language by default.
Note: This setting is available on all plans, including the Free plan. You do not need to upgrade to use multilingual voting.
How Emails Use the Language Setting
All three types of voter emails (invitations, reminders, and notices) are sent in your organization's default language. The email subject line, greeting, call-to-action button text, and footer are all translated.
When sending invitations or reminders, VoteAlly reads your organization's Default Voter Portal Language from the database and applies the matching translation to every email in the batch.
If you change the default language between email sends, the new language applies to all future emails. Previously sent emails are not affected.
How Voters Change Their Language
Every voter portal page displays a language switcher in the header. It appears as a small globe icon with a two-letter language code (EN, ES, TH, or FR).
When a voter selects a different language, the page reloads immediately in their chosen language. Their preference is saved in a browser cookie (NEXT_LOCALE) that lasts for one year.
This means the voter's language choice persists across page reloads and future voting sessions on the same device. The cookie takes the highest priority in locale resolution, overriding both the organization default and any other setting.
- Voter's cookie (set via the language switcher)
- Organization default (set by admin in Settings)
- English (fallback if no other setting is found)
Magic Links and Language
When a voter clicks their magic link from an invitation email, VoteAlly automatically detects the organization and renders the page in the correct default language. A Thai organization's voters will see the Thai voter portal immediately, with no manual language selection needed.
If the voter has previously selected a different language via the language switcher on the same device, their saved cookie preference takes priority over the organization default.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I preview how emails look in different languages?
Yes. Super Admins can preview all localized email templates across all supported languages via the locale switcher on the email preview page. Org Admins can preview session-specific templates in their organization's configured default language from the Communications tab on the session setup page.
Do I need to be on a paid plan to use multilingual voting?
No. The Default Voter Portal Language setting is available on all plans, including the Free plan. All four languages are available at no extra cost.
Will the voter portal language affect how results are displayed to admins?
No. The admin dashboard, including results, reports, and audit logs, is always in English regardless of the voter portal language setting.
Can different voters in the same session use different languages?
Yes. The organization default sets the starting language for all voters, but each voter can switch to any of the four supported languages using the language switcher in the voter portal header. Each voter's choice is independent.
What happens if I change the default language after sending invitations?
Already-sent emails are not affected. Any new emails (reminders, notices, or re-sent invitations) will use the new default language. Voters who click their existing magic links will see the voter portal in the new default language, unless they have a saved language preference.