Elections with candidates

When voting closes, Assembley ranks the candidates and the chair declares who is elected.

Before you start

• Elections are included on every plan, and so are secret ballots.
• Free allocation (splitting a vote across candidates) comes with the Advanced voting add-on, which adds weighted votes. Without weighted votes, every voter has one vote.
• Free allocation is never offered at a self-registration meeting, because everyone there has one vote.
• Decide the method before voting opens. The seats, the method, the count settings, the candidate list and the secret-ballot setting all lock once voting opens on the item.

Add an election

1. Open the assembly and click Add agenda item.
2. Under Item type, choose Election ("Vote for candidates").
3. Enter a Title, for example "Election of board of directors", and a Description if you want one.
4. Choose a Voting method (see the table below) and set the Number of seats.
5. Under Candidates, click + Add candidate once per candidate and fill in each row:
   1. the candidate's name
   2. a line under the candidate's name (optional, at most 80 characters), for example "Chair since 2023"
   3. Incumbent, if the candidate holds the post today
   4. Add photo (optional; PNG, JPEG or WebP). Only add a photo the candidate has agreed to.
6. If you chose Ranked (STV), fill in The count (below).
7. Tick Secret ballot if voters' choices must not be linked to their names.
8. Click Add item.

To change an election later, open the item and use Edit agenda item, then Save changes. Candidates appear on the ballot in the order you added them. There is no control to reorder them, so add them in the order you want.

The three voting methods

Method	What the voter does	Use it when
Single choice (default)	Picks one candidate, or up to as many candidates as there are seats	You fill one seat, or several seats with one vote per candidate
Free allocation	Shares out their votes across candidates, any way they like	Voters have weighted votes they may split, for example by shares
Ranked (STV)	Ranks the candidates in order of preference	You want a single transferable vote count

To elect several people with one vote each per candidate, choose Single choice and set Number of seats above 1. Free allocation is a different thing: it splits one voter's weight between candidates.

Settings and what each does

Setting	Values	What it does
Voting method	Single choice · Free allocation · Ranked (STV)	Sets the ballot and the count (table above)
Number of seats	A whole number, 1 or more	How many places are filled. It cannot exceed the number of candidates
Transfer value precision (STV only)	Exact · Truncated to a number of decimal places (0–12)	How transfer values are rounded in the count. No default: you must choose
Secret ballot	On · off	Hides who voted for whom. Not available with Free allocation

For an STV election, The count also shows two fixed rules: transfers use the Weighted Inclusive Gregory method, and a tie stops the count until the chair resolves it.

Elections have no majority setting and no blank option. A voter who does not want to choose a candidate simply does not vote on the item. With Free allocation, votes a voter leaves unallocated are counted as abstaining.

What voters see

• Single choice, one seat: the voter selects a candidate, then confirms.
• Single choice, several seats: the voter chooses up to the number of seats, and sees how many they have chosen. Each chosen candidate gets the voter's full vote weight.
• Free allocation: the voter types a number of votes beside each candidate and sees what remains. They cannot submit more votes than they hold.
• Ranked (STV): the voter puts candidates in order by dragging or with the arrows. They can rank as many or as few as they like. Candidates they leave unranked get no preference from that ballot.

On every method the voter confirms before the vote is recorded, and a recorded vote cannot be undone.

Results and the declaration

• Single choice and Free allocation: the Results tab ranks candidates by votes and draws a line at the number of seats. If the line falls inside a tie, the tied candidates are marked "tied at the line" and the decision is left to the chair. Assembley never breaks a tie by itself.
• Ranked (STV): the count runs when voting on the item closes. The Results tab shows how the count proceeded round by round, with the quota. For a secret STV election, only the outcome is shown, not the per-round transfers.
• STV ties: the count stops and the chair chooses the candidate to exclude: click Record the resolution, then Record it. This is possible only after the item has closed and before an outcome is declared, and once per round.
• Declaring the result: the chair clicks Record outcome and chooses Declared elected (ticking up to as many names as there are seats) or No decision. The result then reads "Declared elected by the chair:" followed by the names. A declaration cannot be edited; a new declaration supersedes it, and both stay in the record.

The minutes show each election's result: a ranked table for Single choice and Free allocation, and a summary for STV. The full round-by-round STV count and any tie resolutions are in the evidence package.

Common mistakes

• Choosing Free allocation to elect several people. Free allocation splits a vote. For several winners, use Single choice with more than one seat.
• More seats than candidates. Saving is refused, for example: "This election fills 3 seats but has 2 candidates. Add candidates or lower the number of seats."
• An STV election without its count settings. Saving is refused until you set the number of seats and the transfer value precision.
• Editing candidates after voting has opened. The candidate list is frozen once voting opens on the item, and the change is refused. Check names and spelling before you open voting.
• Planning a secret ballot with Free allocation. The two cannot be combined; Assembley turns the secret ballot off.
• A candidate row without a name. Every candidate needs a name before the item can be added.

For how secrecy works on an election, see Secret ballots. A proxy holder cannot cast a Free allocation ballot for the member they represent: see Registering proxies. What each plan includes is on Pricing.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and your articles of association may differ, so check the current rules or ask an adviser before you rely on it.