I. Enabling and Settings
1. Enabling Public Voting
Public voting is enabled per round within the Evaluation Settings:
Access Round Settings: Open your Program → Select the relevant Round tab → Settings → Evaluation Settings.
Enable Feature: Check Enable public voting then Click Save Settings.
After saving, a new Voting tab will appear in the round header.
2. Basic Voting Settings
The Settings tab (located in the Voting left sidebar) controls the rules of your voting round:
Voting Start / Voting End: Define the exact public open and close dates for voting.
Voting Method: Choose the scoring method (e.g., Yes/No, Yes & Like Only, 5-Star Rating).
Voting Type: Choose Public Voting (anyone with the link) or Private Voting (logged-in users only).
Votes Limit / IP Votes Limit: Set caps on votes per user and/or per IP address to control duplicate voting.
Number of Winners, Runner-ups and Finalists: Set how many results to display.
Publish: Switch the voting page on/off.
Reveal Voting Results: Show voting results.
3. Advanced Voting Settings
Enable single view
Enable voting on the single view only
Enable voting questions
Enable force login to vote
Enable manual approval of votes
Enable submissions random shuffling
Enable advanced search
Enable submission tracks view
Show total voting numbers
Enable social sharing options
Enable flags and reports
Enable comments
Enable comment replies
Enable public comments
Enable automatic approval of comments
Note: When you enable Add Voting Questions under the Advanced Settings, a Voting Questions tab appears. This allows you to collect extra data from voters, add questions, and set required fields and visibility.
II. Communication and Display Customization
1. Customizing Voter Messages (Messages Tab)
Customize Confirmation Email: Edit the confirmation email voters receive after casting their vote.
Personalization: Use Short Codes to personalize the email (e.g., insertion of submission title).
Auto Send: Enable Auto Send if you want the confirmation to go out automatically on successful vote.
2. Customizing Submission Display
Use the Listing View and Single View tabs to design how entries appear on the public voting page(s).
Listing View: Choose which fields to show (e.g., image/video, title, description) on the main list. You can also set Share options and Display username format.
Single View: If enabled, arrange detailed sections (e.g., Title, Image or Video, Description, More Details) and add/remove fields per section.
III. Monitoring Votes and Rankings
1. Manage Votes
All incoming votes are moderated and managed from the Votes sub-tab:
Use the row menu to Approve Vote, Cancel Vote, set Pending, IP Block, or Remove any vote.
Search and filter by submission, voter, email, status, and more.
2. View Total Votes and Rankings (Round Scores)
To see how entries performed at a glance, you will use the Round Scores view:
Go to Submissions: Navigate to the Submissions tab.
Switch View: Switch to Round Scores view from the dropdown menu in the action bar.
Display Metrics: In the Round Scores view, use the Columns or Metrics options to show:
Total Votes
Voting Score
Export: Filter by track/status as needed, then click Export if you want a CSV snapshot of the data.
Tip: If you don’t see Total Votes or Voting Score, confirm that voting has started, votes have been submitted/approved, and columns are enabled in the Round Scores view.
Best Practices for Public Voting
Audience Control: Use Private Voting for closed audiences, and switch to Public when promoting widely.
Preventing Fraud: Combine Votes Limit and/or IP Votes Limit with Force Login to reduce duplicate voting and ensure fair results.
Minimize Bias: Turn on Random shuffling of submissions to ensure that ordering bias (where users tend to choose the first items they see) is minimized.
Comment Moderation: If comments are enabled, decide whether automatic approval is appropriate for your community.
Troubleshooting Public Voting Issues
Problem | Solution |
Voting tab missing? | Confirm Enable public voting is turned ON in Evaluation Settings and you clicked Save. |
No Single View controls? | Turn on Enable single view in Advanced Settings. |
Votes are not counting? | If manual approval is enabled, you must approve the pending votes from the Votes tab. |
Public users can’t vote? | Check the Voting Type (it should be set to Public), or confirm whether you have unintentionally restricted access with the Force login to vote setting. |
What's Next?
With public voting configured, the next step is to explore initial filteration of entries.