Advanced Computer Systems

Opening OneVote
   From the administrator page, click on Components -> OneVote!

Creating an election
   The OneVote opening screen will display existing elections on the right (there won't be any until you create one). Existing elections can be edited by clicking on or deleted by clicking .

On the left is the "Add/Edit" screen, ready for you to add an election.  Just fill in the fields:

The first field is the Election Name.  This should be a simple description of the election, such as "Annual Club Officers Election". 

Next is Description, which allows a more elaborate description of what the election is about.

The "Pro" version allows you to enable nominations by the participants and to set the date range that nominations are allowed.  Nominations can be limited to only members allowed to participate in the election (such as club members) or to allow "write in" candidates.  Nominees will be emailed to notify them they have been nominated. In addition, you can enter a date/time when the polls open.

In all versions you can set the "polls close" date and time. NOTE: Check the timezone setting just above "Existing Elections" and make sure the timezone is correct so nominations/polls open and close at the proper time.

Anonymous voting is just that, we only log that a person voted, not HOW they voted. If anonymous voting is turned off the participant will be warned their vote is not secret. 

Groups Allowed provides a way for you to group participants into their own usergroup(s) and limit voting to just them. For instance, your site may allow anyone to register, but only a subset of those registered users may be members of a usergroup eligible to vote (such as dues paying club members). Usergroups are a part of Joomla and not managed within this program (Click Users from the Joomla menu to see your options there). Note: If you select "Public" then anyone may vote, logged in or not, as a result, there is no enforcement of one vote per person.

Show Results allows real-time display of votes.  You can set a threshold so that results only show up after a certain number of ballots have been cast.

Show Total Votes displays the total number of ballots cast (but not actual election results) at the bottom of the ballot page the participants see.

Email Nominations To, if filled in, will cause the system to send an email to the specified address anytime a nomination is made (only functional in the PRO version).

Email Votes To, if filled in, will cause the system to send an email to the specified address with the votes cast by a participant.  If anonymous voting is set to YES then the identity of the voter is not provided.  If this is filled in and anonymous voting is turned OFF the voter will be notified prior to casting their ballot that their vote is not secret and is being emailed.

Active, when checked, enables the election.  If not checked then, even if the polls are open, the election will not be visible.

Click "Add" to add the new election. You will automatically be taken to the "Ballot Management" screen, where you can add, change, or remove ballot items. A ballot item is, for instance, an officer position or a question that may have multiple candidates or responses.

Managing Ballot Items
   Upon clicking "Add" to add an election, or clicking the icon next to an Existing Election, you'll be taken to the Ballot Item Management page, where ballot items can be added, removed (), or changed.()  You will also have the option of adding candidates for offices and/or answers to ballot questions.

   From the Ballot Item Management screen you can perform several functions.  You can actually make changes to the election information and click "Update" (which replaced the Add button since we're editing, Clicking Back takes you to the main page).

   You may also add ballot items.  In this case you can fill in the "Ballot Title", which could be an office (President, Vice-President, etc) or a question ("Shall the meeting night be moved from the first Tuesday to the third Thursday?").

   A Description can provide additional detail for the participant. The Type pull-down allows you to indicate if this is an election or a ballot question.

   In the PRO version you have the option of allowing the participants to make nominations (YES and NO) and also if write-in candidates are allowed (YES or NO).  If Write-in candidates are enabled then a participant may nominate a person who is not a participant in the election, otherwise the participants can only nominate other participants from a pull-down menu (referred to later as the "members" option).

   Click Add to add the ballot item. You will then be taken to the Ballot Answer page to add the candidates running for the office or answers to a ballot question.

Ballot Answer Page
After adding a ballot item or clicking by an existing ballot item, you'll be taken to the ballot nomination/answer page where nominees or answers to a ballot question may be added.

If the ballot item is an election then you will be taken to the nominations page.  A pull-down menu will allow you to select from all allowed to participate in the election to select a nominee.  You may also manually specify the name and email address of the nominee.

If the ballot item is a question then you will be prompted for an answer (such as Yes or No).

After filling in the information you may click the Add Nominee button. You will then be prompted to enter additional nominees/answers.  As responses are added they will be listed along with the option to edit or remove them.

You also have the option of editing the ballot item and clicking Update Ballot Item.  Clicking "Back" will take you to the page where you may enter the next Ballot Item (other offices up for election, more ballot questions, etc.).

Adding Elections To User Menu
From the Joomla Administrator page, click Menus and the menu you wish to add the elections option to.  Click New. Click Select for menu item type of onevote->OneVote!. (See image to the right) Enter a menu title and click "Save & Close".

From the site, the user clicks on menu item and OneVote will check for available elections.  If only one election is available the ballot will be displayed.  If there is more than one then a list to select from will be offered. The ballot will look similar to the image to the left.  The user simply selects the radio button for each candidate and clicks "Vote!" at the bottom of the ballot.

Viewing Election Results
One of the options under Existing Elections in the Administration Screen is viewing election results (even while underway). Just click on the icon. The admin will see election results similar to the results the participants see upon close of election (see below). The View Participants tab will show members who have voted already. Clicking Back will return to the main administrative page.