Set Up an Election — Positions, Candidates, and Scheduling
Build an election in the standalone Elections Portal by choosing an audience, adding positions and candidates, then scheduling to snapshot eligible voters and open voting.
For School administrators. Updated 2026-09-18.
Overview
The Elections feature must be enabled for the school before it appears. Only users with the “manage election” permission (school administrators) can build and run elections; anyone with election:vote can only cast a ballot.
An election has an audience (all students, all staff, all parents, or selected classes), an opens/closes window, and one or more positions. Each position sets how many candidates a voter may select, how many seats it has, and an optional required winning share (e.g. 50%+1) that forces a runoff if nobody clears it.
Candidates can be linked to an existing user or entered as a custom name, with an optional photo and a rich-text manifesto; students can also self-nominate for review before the election opens. Two election-wide toggles matter: allow write-in candidates, and allow voters to abstain.
Scheduling snapshots the eligible voter list at that moment — anyone who joins the audience afterward is not automatically added — and either opens voting immediately or queues it for the configured start time.
Before you start
- Enable the Elections feature for the school
- Have the “manage election” permission permission
- Add at least one position with at least one candidate before scheduling
Steps
- Open the Elections Portal and select Manage
- Select New election and choose the audience and opens/closes dates
- Add each position: name, how many candidates a voter may select, number of seats, and an optional winning threshold
- Add candidates to each position — pick an existing user or enter a custom name, with an optional photo and manifesto — or review and approve self-nominations
- Turn on Allow write-in candidates and/or Allow abstain if the school wants either
- If running in-person kiosk voting, enable kiosk mode (see the kiosk mode article)
- Select Schedule to snapshot eligible voters and open voting immediately or at the configured start time
Common problems
Schedule is blocked
Every position needs at least one candidate before an election can be scheduled — add candidates or remove the empty position.
No eligible voters were found for this audience
The audience resolved to zero users — for a class-scoped audience, confirm the right classes were selected and that those classes have active student enrollments.
Positions or candidates can no longer be edited
Positions and candidates lock once the election has opened for voting. Only disqualifying or reinstating a candidate remains available, and only until the election closes.