Proxy Voting Setup Guide
Last updated August 9, 2026
Proxy voting in VoteAlly lets a member who cannot attend appoint another member to cast their vote, with a full audit trail instead of a paper form. The holder generates a code from their voter portal; the delegator enters it. Appointments are available on Meeting sessions only, and close when voting opens or at the cutoff you set, whichever comes first.
What Proxy Voting Is
Proxy voting lets a member who cannot attend an AGM or board meeting appoint another member to cast their vote for them. It is digital delegation with an audit trail, not a paper proxy form that gets collected, transcribed, and eventually mislaid.
It is turned on per session with the proxyEnabled setting and is available on Meeting sessions only. Scheduled Election sessions do not offer it, because there is no live meeting for a proxy to attend on someone's behalf. This is different from split vote allocation, which works on both session types.
How a Delegation Is Actually Made
This surprises most admins the first time, so it is worth leading with: the holder starts it, not the delegator. The member who will hold the proxy generates a proxy code from their own voter portal and shares it with the person who wants to delegate to them. The delegator then enters that code in their own portal to appoint them.
Signs in to their own voter portal and generates a proxy code to share with the person who wants to appoint them.
Signs in to their own voter portal and enters the code to confirm the appointment. Nothing happens until they do.
The holder initiates, the delegator confirms. Neither side can appoint on the other's behalf without both steps happening.
Appointing a designated proxy
Most associations do not want every member chasing a different neighbour for a code. If your bylaws let members appoint a default holder, such as the chair, you can set that person's proxy code yourself instead of waiting for them to generate one.
On the Voters page, open the proxy action on that member's row and choose a code of 6 to 12 letters and numbers. Pick something that survives being read aloud, for example "AGM2026". Print it on the meeting notice. Any number of members can enter the same code, and each one who does appoints that holder, up to the per-holder cap if you have set one.
A designated proxy who holds no unit of their own should be added with a voter weight of 0. They then carry only what members delegate to them, and nothing of their own. The roster shows this as "No own vote".
Changing or removing the code later does not cancel appointments already made with it. The code is only how members enrol; the proxy register is the record. To undo an appointment, void it on the register.
Administrator-Recorded Appointments
There is a third way an appointment gets made, alongside the holder-initiated flow and the designated proxy code above. On the session's Proxies tab, a Record a proxy button appears whenever delegation is active on the session and voting has not yet opened. It lets an administrator enter an appointment that was lodged outside the platform: a signed paper form, an email, a phone call, or a request made in person.
This does not grant a new capability. An administrator could already read a member's access code, sign in as them, and self-appoint a proxy, and the audit trail would then report that as member-initiated. The whole value of Record a proxy is that it labels the same action instead of letting it pass as something the member did themselves.
- The member delegating their vote
- The proxy holder who will cast it
- A required basis: signed paper form, emailed request, phone request, in-person request, or other
- An optional reference note, for example "form 2026-08-03-014"
- "Recorded by the association"
- The administrator who entered it
- The stated basis and the reference note
- A flag if it was recorded after the cutoff
The reference note appears on the proxy register and in its CSV export, so the office can trace a row back to the physical form or email it came from. It is never included in any email sent to a member.
Two guardrails carry no override, the same as the holder-initiated path: delegation must be active on the session, and voting must not have opened yet. A member cannot be recorded as their own proxy holder, and the per-holder cap still applies.
The cutoff behaves differently here. On this path it is a confirmation, not a block. The deadline governs when the member had to lodge the instrument, not when the office gets around to keying it in, so a form signed before the cutoff can legitimately reach the register after it. Recording an appointment past the cutoff asks the administrator to confirm in the dialog, and the row is then stamped as recorded after the deadline on the row itself, on the register, and in the audit log.
The usual delegator receipt and holder notification emails are still sent, worded to name the association as the party that recorded the appointment and to state the basis. If the delegating member has published their own designated proxy code, a warning appears: once they delegate their own vote away, they can no longer carry proxies for anyone else, and any notice printed with that code stops working.
Be honest with your board about the limit here: recording an appointment does not prove the member signed anything. The register records what the office entered and on what stated basis. Retain the paper form or the email as the underlying evidence; VoteAlly is not that evidence.
The Proxy Window
The window closes when voting actually opens, or at the cutoff, whichever comes first. Voting opens when an item is opened for casting, not when you launch the session.
What this means in practice: launching a Live Meeting does not close appointments. Agenda items sit on standby until the chair opens each one, so you can launch a week early to finish setting up and members can still appoint proxies. The chair opening the first item is what freezes them. Early voting is the exception: it opens every eligible item at once, so it freezes appointments the moment it starts.
Word the deadline for members the same way VoteAlly's own emails do: "before voting opens, no later than {cutoff}". That phrasing states both conditions instead of implying the cutoff is the only one that matters.
The proxy window is a different mechanism from early voting. Early voting opens the ballot ahead of the meeting so members can cast their own vote in advance. The proxy window opens delegation ahead of the meeting so absent members can hand their vote to someone attending. If you use both, opening early voting ends the proxy window, because every eligible item opens for casting at that moment.
Setting Up Proxy Voting
Create a Meeting session
Proxy delegation is only available for Meeting sessions. When creating your session, choose a Meeting session, not a Scheduled Election.
Turn on proxy delegation while the session is in DRAFT
Enable proxyEnabled in the session settings. This setting, and the cap below, can only be changed while the session is in DRAFT. The cutoff is the one you can still correct after launch.
Set a cap if your bylaws impose one
maxProxiesPerHolder limits how many other members one person may represent. Set it to match your bylaws. Leave it unset only if the bylaws genuinely place no limit on how many proxies one member can hold.
Set a cutoff, if you want one
proxyCutoff is an optional deadline for new appointments. Set it before the first item opens for voting, and before early voting starts if you use it, or the deadline is never reached. You can still correct it after launch, up until voting opens.
Give members time to appoint
Send the meeting notice and let holders and delegators exchange proxy codes. Launching does not cut this short on an ordinary meeting, but opening early voting does, so if you use early voting, let appointments settle first.
Open the first item
Opening any item for voting, or starting early voting, freezes all proxy appointments. From this point, a delegator can no longer revoke their own appointment; only an administrator can void one.
Proxy Settings at a Glance
| Setting | What it controls | When it can change |
|---|---|---|
proxyEnabled | Turns proxy delegation on for this session | DRAFT only |
proxyCutoff | Optional deadline for new appointments | Until voting opens |
maxProxiesPerHolder | Optional cap on how many members one person may represent | DRAFT only |
proxyEmailInstructions | Whether invitations, reminders and notices explain how to appoint a proxy | Any time |
Whether delegation runs at all, and the per-holder cap, freeze when the session leaves DRAFT, so settle those two before you launch. The cutoff stays editable until voting opens, because it governs a window that outlives launch: a deadline typed into the wrong day has to be fixable while it still governs anything. The email setting never freezes, because it only changes what an unsent email says.
Chains Are Refused
Each delegator may have one active delegation at a time. VoteAlly refuses a proxy chain: you cannot delegate to someone who has themselves delegated their vote away, and a member who currently holds a proxy cannot turn around and delegate their own vote to someone else.
In practice this means the person a member appoints must be someone who plans to attend and vote directly, not another absent member.
Revoke, Decline, or Admin Void
This is a real support question, so it is worth stating plainly: there are three ways an appointment ends, and which one applies depends on who is acting and whether voting has opened.
A member can withdraw their own delegation until voting opens, even if your cutoff has passed. A deadline closes new appointments; it never traps someone inside one they can no longer undo.
The named holder has a separate way out: they can decline the appointment from their own voter portal. That window is deliberately wider than the appointment window itself: it stays open until voting opens, even past a passed cutoff, so a deadline can never trap someone inside an appointment they never agreed to hold. After voting opens, the decline option is replaced with a closed-window message. Declining releases the delegating member, who can appoint someone else while the window is still open, and the decline is written to the audit trail as its own outcome, distinct from a revoke or a void, because it is the strongest signal available that something was recorded wrongly.
Switching proxy delegation off is a different case, and nobody needs to withdraw anything. Existing appointments go inert: no member votes on anyone else's behalf, and everyone votes for themselves. Nothing is lost, and the appointments become active again if you turn the setting back on.
- The delegator revokes their own appointment
- Done from the delegator's own voter portal
- No administrator involvement needed
- Open even after the cutoff has passed
- The named holder refuses the appointment
- Done from the holder's own voter portal
- No administrator involvement needed
- Open even after the cutoff has passed
- Only an administrator can void it
- The delegator can no longer act on their own
- The void is recorded with a reason
Effective Weight and Turnout
A proxy holder's effective weight is their own weight plus the weight of everyone who appointed them. They cast a ballot once, carrying the combined weight. Every member they represent is recorded as having participated, so turnout figures count people represented, not just people who clicked a link.
On a proxy session, the results export includes a Proxy Attribution block that reports weight and voters represented directly versus by proxy, always using the word "represented" rather than "voted", because it reflects each voter's current weight rather than the weight frozen onto their ballot at cast time. Details on reading that export are in the reports and exports guide.
A Delegator Cannot Also Vote
Once a member has appointed a proxy holder, they cannot cast their own ballot as well. VoteAlly refuses the attempt. Their holder votes on their behalf, and that single cast carries the combined weight described above.
Emails and Signing In
Voters who have delegated their vote are excluded from invitation and reminder emails, since their holder votes for them and there is nothing left for them to do. They always receive the formal meeting notice, though. That is deliberate: notice is owed to the whole roster, delegated or not.
Members can sign in during the proxy window with either their emailed magic link or their access code, so a long gap between sending notice and holding the meeting is safe. Nobody is locked out of appointing a proxy just because their original link has aged. For a full walkthrough of what members see, share the voter help guide.
Worked Example
Harbourview Condominium Corporation, 140 units, is holding its AGM on November 12, 2026. The bylaws cap any one owner's proxy holdings at three units besides their own, so the board sets maxProxiesPerHolder to 3. The board also sets proxyCutoff to November 5, 2026, and tells owners "appoint your proxy before voting opens, no later than November 5."
Notice goes out on October 15. Owners who cannot attend ask a neighbour who is attending to generate a proxy code, and exchange codes over the following weeks. The board opens early voting on November 8, three days after the cutoff. Because the cutoff falls first, November 5 is the date that actually closes appointments, and the quoted deadline holds. Had the board instead launched on November 3, appointments would have closed that day and the November 5 date quoted to owners would never have taken effect.
After the meeting, the board exports the proxy register to confirm no single owner ended up representing more than three others, and keeps it with the minutes.
Common Mistakes
- Setting a cutoff later than early voting opens. Early voting opens the ballot, which freezes appointments, so a deadline after it is never reached. A cutoff date quoted to members is meaningless if advance voting starts first.
- Forgetting to set a cap. Without
maxProxiesPerHolder, one member can hold an unlimited number of proxies. Set a cap if your bylaws impose one, and check whether they do before leaving it unset. - Opening the first item before members have had time to appoint each other. Once voting has opened, no new appointments can be made, and only an administrator can void an existing one.
- Expecting the delegator to initiate the appointment. The holder generates the code. An admin telling a delegator to "go set up your proxy" without the holder's code first will send that member to a dead end.
- Treating the proxy register as a live tally. Revoked and voided appointments stay in the register as history. Filter or read the status column rather than assuming every row is currently active.
What This Does Not Solve
Digital proxy delegation does not prevent proxy harvesting. A holder cap, an appointment deadline, self-revocation, and a full audit register make concentration visible and bounded, but none of them stop an organizer from soliciting appointments in the first place. If a board is worried about one person collecting a large block of proxies, the cap and the register are tools for spotting and limiting that, not a guarantee it will not be attempted.
VoteAlly also does not determine whether your proxy setup satisfies a bylaw requirement. It records what the bylaws typically ask about, an appointment window, a cap, a deadline, and an auditable history. Whether that specific configuration meets your governing documents is a determination your board or association counsel needs to make.
What You Can Show the Auditor
The proxy register export (CSV) lists every appointment made on the session along with its status, including appointments that were later revoked or voided. It is a history, not just a snapshot of what is active right now, so it can answer "who appointed whom, and when did that change" after the meeting is over.
Download it, along with the check-in report and results export, from the reports and exports guide, which also covers the check-in record produced by attendance check-in.
Proxy delegation is a session-level feature; see VoteAlly's pricing page for current plan details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is proxy voting in VoteAlly?
Proxy voting lets a member who cannot attend appoint another member to cast their vote for them. It is digital delegation with a full audit trail, not a paper proxy form. It is turned on per session with the proxyEnabled setting and is available on Meeting sessions only.
Does the delegator or the holder start the appointment?
The holder starts it. The member who will hold the proxy generates a proxy code from their own voter portal and shares it with the person delegating. The delegator then enters that code in their own portal to appoint them. This is the reverse of what most admins expect.
When exactly does the proxy window close?
The window closes when voting actually opens, or at the cutoff you set, whichever comes first. Voting opens when the first item is opened for casting, not when you launch the session: launching a meeting leaves every item on standby until the chair opens it, so appointments keep running through launch. The exception is early voting, which opens every eligible item at once and therefore freezes appointments immediately.
What happens to my proxy settings if I change the session type?
They are kept, not cleared. Proxy delegation is a Meeting feature, so switching a session to a Scheduled Election pauses it: the setting stays saved and nothing runs, and no member can appoint a proxy. Switching back to a Live Meeting resumes exactly what you saved, including your cutoff and your cap. You can change the type back and forth while the session is a draft without losing your configuration. Switching back counts as turning the feature on, so it needs to be available on your plan at that moment.
Can a session stop being a Live Meeting once members have appointed proxies?
No, and this one is permanent. As soon as a single member has appointed a proxy, the session stays a Live Meeting for good. Revoking or voiding the appointment does not release it, because the record is deliberately kept: the proxy register and the results attribution describe what happened, and deleting that history would remove the audit trail. Attendance check-in is different, because checking members out really does delete those rows and frees the session type again.
Can I change the proxy cap or cutoff after the session has launched?
The cap, no. proxyEnabled and maxProxiesPerHolder can only be changed while the session is in DRAFT, so settle them before you launch. The cutoff is different: you can still correct it after launch, right up until voting opens, because it governs a window that outlives launch. If you mistyped the date or got the timezone wrong, you can fix it while members are still appointing proxies.
What is the difference between revoking and voiding a proxy appointment?
Before the window freezes, the delegator can revoke their own appointment from their voter portal at any time. After the freeze, the delegator can no longer act; only an administrator can void the appointment, and the void is recorded with a reason. The named holder has a separate option, unaffected by the cutoff though not by the freeze: they can decline the appointment from their own voter portal any time before voting opens, even after the cutoff has passed, which releases the delegator to appoint someone else. Once voting opens, an administrator void is the only route left for any of the three.
Can a member who has delegated their vote also vote themselves?
No. Once a member has appointed a proxy holder, VoteAlly refuses a ballot submitted under their own login. Their holder casts on their behalf, carrying their weight along with everyone else who appointed them.
Does digital proxy delegation stop proxy harvesting?
No, and VoteAlly does not claim it does. A holder cap, an appointment deadline, self-revocation, and a full audit register make concentration visible and bounded. They do not stop an organizer from soliciting appointments in the first place. Set a cap if your bylaws allow one and review the register after the meeting.
Can an administrator appoint a proxy on a member's behalf?
Yes, using Record a proxy on the Proxies tab. An administrator could already read a member's access code, sign in as them, and self-appoint, and the audit trail would then report that as member-initiated. Recording it converts that into a labelled, audited path: it captures who is delegating, who holds the proxy, a required basis such as a signed paper form or a phoned request, and an optional reference note. The register shows the appointment as recorded by the association, names the administrator who entered it, and shows the basis. This does not prove the member signed anything. It records what the office entered and on what stated basis, so retain the paper or the email as the underlying evidence.
Can a proxy be recorded after the cutoff has passed?
Yes, with confirmation. On the admin-recorded path, the cutoff is a confirmation rather than a block, because it governs when the member had to lodge the instrument, not when the office keys it in. The dialog asks the administrator to confirm before proceeding, and the appointment is then stamped as recorded after the deadline on the row, on the register, and in the audit log. The two arms that protect ballot integrity have no such override: delegation must still be active on the session, and voting must not have opened yet.
What happens if the named holder does not agree to hold the appointment?
The holder can decline it from their own voter portal. That window is deliberately wider than the appointment window itself: it stays open until voting opens, even if the cutoff has passed, so a passed deadline can never trap someone inside an appointment they never agreed to. Declining releases the delegating member, who can appoint someone else while the window is still open. Declined is its own outcome, distinct from a member revoking or an administrator voiding, and it is written to the audit trail, because a decline is the strongest signal available that something was recorded wrongly.