Quick Start Guide
Get your first online vote up and running in minutes. This guide walks you through every step, from creating your organization to exporting certified results.
Before you begin: VoteAlly's free plan includes everything you need to run a vote with up to 50 voters. No credit card required. You can upgrade later if you need more capacity, custom branding, or SMS notifications.
Step 1: Create Your Organization
Start by registering a new account at voteally.com/register. During registration, you will:
- Choose a name for your organization (e.g., "Maple Ridge HOA" or "Metro District 4 Board").
- Pick a short web address that becomes your voter portal link. For example, choosing
maple-ridgegives your voters the linkvoteally.com/maple-ridge/vote. This name must be lowercase, use hyphens instead of spaces, and be unique across the platform. - Set up your admin account with an email and password. This becomes your Organization Owner login.
Once registered, you land in the Admin Portal where you manage all your voting sessions, voter lists, and organization settings.
Tip: You can customize your organization later with a logo, brand colors, and a welcome message that voters see when they access the portal. Find these options under Organization Settings.
Step 2: Create a Voting Session
A voting session is a container for all the questions (motions and elections) that voters will decide on. Click "New Session" from your admin dashboard to get started.
Choose Your Session Type
Best for AGMs, board meetings, and town halls. You open and close each question in real time while running your meeting. Supports early voting so members can vote before the meeting starts.
Best for board elections, bylaw amendments, and surveys. All questions open at the start time and close at the end time. Voters cast ballots at their own pace during the window.
Set the Schedule
Every session needs a start time, end time, and timezone. All times display to voters in the session's timezone, regardless of where they are located. For Live Meeting sessions, you can also set an optional early voting start time to let voters submit ballots before the meeting begins.
Add Questions
Once the session is created, add your questions from the session detail page. VoteAlly supports several question types:
- Yes/No motions for approving budgets, minutes, or policy changes.
- Multiple choice elections where voters select one or more candidates from a list.
- Ranked choice (STV) elections where voters rank candidates in order of preference.
Each question can have its own pass rule (e.g., simple majority, two-thirds majority) and you can configure how many selections voters are allowed to make.
Step 3: Add Your Voters
Navigate to the Voters tab on your session page. You can add voters in two ways:
Add voters one at a time by entering their email address, name, and optional member ID. Great for small groups or adding a few last-minute voters.
Upload a spreadsheet for bulk import. Perfect for importing your full membership roster from your existing records.
CSV Column Format
Your CSV file should include the following columns. Only email is required; all other columns are optional.
| Column | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Voter's email address (must be unique per session) | |
| name | No | Display name shown in the voter roster |
| memberId | No | Your internal member or unit number (must be unique per session) |
| phone | No | Phone number for SMS notifications (Pro plan and above) |
| accessCode | No | Custom access code (auto-generated if omitted) |
| weight | No | Vote weight for weighted voting (defaults to 1) |
Tip: If you re-upload a CSV with voters who already exist (matched by email), VoteAlly will update their name, phone, and member ID rather than creating duplicates. This makes it easy to correct mistakes or update your roster.
Each voter is automatically assigned a unique access code (e.g., T-101) that they can use to log in to the voter portal as an alternative to their magic link.
Step 4: Send Invitations
Once your voter list is ready, send bulk invitation emails from the Invitations tab. Each invitation email includes:
- A magic link that logs the voter in instantly with a single click (valid for 7 days).
- Their access code as a backup login method.
- The session schedule so voters know when voting opens and closes.
Invitations are sent as a background job, so you can close the page while emails are being delivered. The Voters tab shows real-time delivery status for each voter: pending, delivered, bounced, or opened.
Tip: You can resend invitations to individual voters who didn't receive theirs, or send reminder emails to voters who have not yet cast a ballot. Pro and Enterprise plans also support SMS notifications.
Important: Invitation emails require that your organization has a physical address and contact email configured in Organization Settings. This is required for anti-spam compliance (CAN-SPAM / CASL).
Step 5: Run Your Vote
How you run the vote depends on the session type you chose in Step 2.
- Click "Start Meeting" when your session begins.
- Open each question one at a time from the Live Control panel.
- Voters see the active question on their screens and cast their ballot.
- Close the question when voting is done. Results update in real time.
- Move to the next question and repeat.
- Click "End Session" when the meeting is finished.
- All questions open automatically at the scheduled start time.
- Voters log in and vote on all questions at their own pace.
- The admin dashboard shows participation stats in real time.
- Send reminder emails to voters who have not voted yet.
- Voting closes automatically at the scheduled end time.
- Review final results on the dashboard.
Tip: For Live Meeting sessions, consider enabling early voting to let members submit ballots on routine motions before the meeting. This saves meeting time and increases participation. See our Early Voting guide for details.
Step 6: Export Results
After your session ends, download official results for your records and compliance requirements. VoteAlly provides two export options:
- Results CSV with vote tallies, pass/fail outcomes, and participation statistics for each question.
- Ballot Audit Log with anonymized ballot records, receipt codes, and timestamps for compliance verification.
These exports are designed to meet the record-keeping requirements of HOAs, condo associations, and nonprofit boards. Each ballot includes a unique receipt code that voters can use to verify their vote was counted without revealing their identity.
What's Next
Now that you know the basics, explore these topics to get the most out of VoteAlly:
- Early Voting for Live Meeting sessions that let members vote before the meeting starts.
- Voter Help Center to share with your members so they know how to log in and vote.
- FAQ for answers to common questions about security, privacy, and plan limits.
- Pricing to compare plan features and upgrade when you need more capacity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a credit card to start using VoteAlly?
No. The free plan is fully functional with up to 50 voters per session. You can create sessions, add voters, send invitation emails, and run votes without entering payment information. Upgrade to a paid plan only when you need higher voter limits, custom email templates, SMS notifications, or other premium features.
How many voters can I have on the free plan?
The free plan supports up to 50 voters per session and up to 150 invitation emails per session (roughly 3 sends per voter for invites and reminders). The Pro plan increases the limit to 120 voters, and the Enterprise plan has no voter limit.
Can I test VoteAlly before running a real vote?
Absolutely. Create a session in DRAFT status and add yourself (or a few colleagues) as test voters. Send test invitations, open the voter portal, cast some ballots, and review the results. You can delete or archive the test session afterwards to free up your session slots. The free plan supports up to 2 active sessions at a time.
What is the difference between a Live Meeting and a Scheduled Election?
A Live Meeting gives the administrator real-time control over each question. You open and close questions one at a time during the meeting, which works well for AGMs and board sessions where discussion happens between votes. A Scheduled Election opens all questions at once and voters complete them on their own schedule within the voting window. Choose Scheduled Election for board elections, surveys, or any vote where real-time facilitation is not needed.
Are votes anonymous and secure?
Yes. VoteAlly encrypts all ballots and separates voter identity from ballot content. Administrators can verify participation (who voted) without seeing individual choices (what they voted for). Each ballot also receives a unique receipt code so voters can confirm their vote was recorded.
Last updated: April 2, 2026