Run an Anonymous (Secret) Vote in Just 5 Easy Steps

Anonymous votes are perfect for times when you need to run a vote where who voted for what needs to remain secret. An online voting software helps your voters trust that the votes are truly anonymous.

But with so many voting tools offering a slew of options - where should you start? And how can you ensure that your anonymous vote is a success?

This guide will tell you exactly how to run a fair, effective anonymous vote.

Step 1: Find a trustworthy voting software that supports anonymity options

Since you need anonymity as a feature, you’ll likely find the most value in a secure online voting platform.

There are many different types of survey, polling, and voting software. Honestly, it can be difficult to wrap your head around all the options!

Some don’t prevent double voting from different IP addresses or private browsers. Others sell your data (like the names and email addresses of your voters).

As a side note, we’ve helped support all kinds of votes and elections for 20+ years, so it’s worth having a look around our site to see if we’d be a good fit.

But, in any case, once you choose a software - you’re ready to start building your ballot.

Step 2: Build an online ballot to your specifications

Your voting platform should seamlessly take you through this process. At this point, you’ll verify your setup with customizations relevant to a couple different items.

Ballot Questions

• Write the questions you want people to vote on. Are you electing your new leader from a selection of people? Are you voting on a preferred work schedule? What do you want people to vote on?

• When writing questions, make sure you’re following survey best practices.

Ballot Settings

• Determine when your vote opens and closes. Do you want people to be able to vote on it this coming Monday and through the work week? Is it a one-day event?

• Modify ballot options to ensure it’s set to anonymous. That way, nobody -- not even the person setting up the vote -- will be able to know who voted for what.

Step 3: Promote your vote by sending notifications out to your candidates

This step is all about alerting your voters of an upcoming vote.

You’ll also want to send them the details of exactly how and when to vote. Don’t forget to follow up with those that haven’t voted after a certain amount of time! More often than not, people appreciate a reminder.

An email automation platform that lets you send tens, hundreds, or thousands of emails at a time works well for this. Finding an email software that incorporates merge fields will save you precious time.

Step 4: Review your results and key metrics

Since you’ve opted to run an anonymous vote, you won’t be able to see who voted for what.

But there are other important metrics to track.

Look at your voting results:

• Who (or what) won out over others?

• Is there an order of preference?

Review your overall turnout to get a sense of your voters’ behavior:

• Who decided to vote?

• Who didn’t?

• When did they cast their votes?

All of this is useful information to keep in mind. Especially if this isn’t just a one-off vote and you plan on having more votes in the future.

Step 5: Take action on those results!

Share the results with your voters. Your voters will very much appreciate having their voices heard.

All that’s left to do at this point is to start making decisions based on the results of your vote!

Run anonymous votes, manage the voting process, send voter notifications, and more. Plan your anonymous vote today.