SOUNDS GREAT, BUT I WANT TO KNOW MORE!

Click on our FAQs below to learn more about how SparkleVote makes it easy to run your voting events online!

• How do voting events work?
• Setting up your voting event is easy! The easiest way to see how it works is by watching the video below on this page, but here's the basic flow of how it works:
  
  1. Click Get Started above. Tell us how many voters there are, how many questions you're asking and the country you're in.
  2. We'll provide you a quote (or confirm your free trial if up to three voters and up to three questions).
  3. We'll then ask you some questions to register your account. You'll confirm your email via a link.
  4. You now have an account! Log into your Election Dashboard at www.sparklevote.com/dashboard.
  5. Pick the dates/times that you want voting to open and close.
  6. Tell us the questions to ask. Add the options for each question for voters to choose from.
  7. Add your list of voters.
  8. Pay (if required) - and then your voting event is in countdown to open!
  9. At the correct time, we open voting. Each voter will receive a link to vote and their VoteCode.
  10. Voters vote! If voting is open for more than one week, we'll also send a reminder email if someone hasn't voted.
  11. When it's time to close voting, we close off voting.
  12. Instantly view results from your Election Dashboard, and download an auditable list of votes cast.
  
  It's that easy!
• Is there a maximum number of voters?
• Currently, the maximum is 20,000 voters for one voting event. If you want to do more, simply let us know by contacting us through the form at the bottom of this page.
• How do voters vote?
• At the time that you specify, we open voting. At this time, we email voters with a link that allows them to vote. The link contains a randomly-generated VoteCode, which identifies the voter. By clicking the link (or visiting www.sparklevote.com/vote and entering their VoteCode manually), voters will be presented with the voting ballot paper listing the questions you are asking, and the options that they can select from. They then submit their vote.
• What types of voting do you support?
• For each question that you want voters to answer, we offer a range of voting types for you to choose from. The simplest option requires voters to pick their one most preferred option for the question (e.g. "yes" or "no"). However, SparkleVote also allows you to setup questions where the voters can pick more than one option. You can either require that voters pick exactly X number of options (e.g. "2" or "5" options) from the list, or you can allow voters to select any number of options up to the limit that you specify (e.g. from 0-4 options). Each individual question can be set up differently, so it's very flexible!
• Do you offer preferential (instant run-off) voting?
• Not yet :( We're working on it though. Watch this space!
• Do you check that voters have voted correctly before accepting the vote?
• Yes. The "Submit Vote" button will not appear unless the voter has completed the vote in accordance with the instructions. Like most of the web, we use JavaScript to control this automatic validation. However, our server also checks votes when they come in to ensure that they are valid, so even if voters do not have JavaScript turned on for the browser, we will ensure that the vote is valid before we process it.
• Are the votes cast by voters secret?
• Up to you. When you set up the voting event, you tell us whether you want the voting event to be a "Show of Hands" (not secret) or a "Secret Ballot" (secret).
  
  Show of Hands - If you select "Show of Hands", you will be able to see exactly how individual electors voted by downloading a file of individual votes from the "Audit Votes" function within your election dashboard. This means that you can exactly reconcile voting results back to the person who voted.
  
  Secret Ballot - If you select "Secret Ballot", we will mark off voters' names from the list of voters (so you can see who voted and who did not), but you will not ever be able to see how individual voters voted. If you download the list of votes from the "Audit Votes" page in your election dashboard, you will be able to see the individual votes and the times they were cast, but there will not be anything that identifies which voter cast the vote. This is closest to how real-world elections run.
• Can I test out the system before I run my event?
• Of course! We would love you to try the system out. You can access a free trial simply by running an voting event with up to three questions, and a maximum of three voters. The system will automatically put you on a free trial. The system will be completely fully-functional, so you can try everything out.
• Can I customise the voting emails?
• You can change the title of your voting event, which is what goes out on all the ballot papers and the invitation to vote emails. We're working on more customisation options soon, including putting your own logos at the top of any emails.
• Can I see how voting is going during the election?
• Yes! Simply log into your Election Dashboard at https://www.sparklevote.com/dashboard. From there, you can see exactly how many people have voted, as well as the full list of voter email addresses. The Dashboard will tell you which of the voters have voted, and which ones haven't. This means that you can easily chase people up offline if needed!
• How do I get the results?
• When voting is due to close, we'll stop accepting votes and we'll send you an email (as organiser) stating that voting has closed. You can immediately log into your Election Dashboard and see the results. You will be able to see the full voter list, including who voted and who didn't.
  
  You will see the actual voting results for each question, as well as a graph. From the page, you can also click "Audit Votes" and download a CSV file containing the information of every vote cast - so it's fully auditable.
• Do you declare a winner of the voting event?
• We give you voting results, but we do not declare a winner. This is because you may have offline rules relating to your voting event that invalidates an option in the voting results. We give you the vote tally - it's up to you to celebrate the winner!
• My voting event is important and I need to be able to audit individual votes. Can I do this?
• Absolutely. You can download a CSV file directly pulled from our voting system which shows you all of the individual votes so that you can verify that voting has happened correctly.
  
  Need an official declaration? If you need a formal official declaration document from us, we can manually check the results of your voting event and email/mail an official declaration certificate hand-signed by our Chief Electoral Officer. This service costs USD $99.00. If you would like this, simply fill in the form at the bottom of this page, and we'll arrange for one to be prepared at the end of your election.
• How about your systems? Are they reliable?
• Our system is run on servers with 99.9% uptime with regular backups. We regularly run web vulnerability tests on our web application to ensure that threats are minimised.
• How much does it cost?
• We've made the pricing cheap so that SparkleVote compares favourably with our competitors. In fact, if you check similar voting system prices, you will find that we are much less expensive!
  
  We quote in major currencies around the world, but the costs are broadly just conversions of our US dollar prices. We charge based on the number of voters as follows:
  
  0-3 voters - US $0.00 - Free trial!
  4-20 voters - US $8.99
  21-50 voters - US $18.99
  51-100 voters - US $39.99
  101-200 voters - US $69.99
  201-500 voters - US $129.99
  501-1,000 voters - US $249.99
  1,001-5,000 voters - US $499.99
  5,001-2,0000 voters - US $1,299.00
  
  Each voting event allows up to three (3) polling questions for free. Additional questions are charged at around US $1.00 extra per question irrespective of the number of voters.
  
  If tax is due in your country, we collect this on top of the amount charged.