Create a new motion vote

MotionVoter: Create a New Motion Vote

Upon logging in to your MotionVoter account you will be presented with the Home window. From this window you can navigate to:

Support
Change Password
Account Setup
Voters tab
And for the purposes of this section of instructions, Motion Votes tab to manage motion details and votes

a) Motion Setup:

To setup a Motion Vote:

Click the Motion Votes tab

At the point of your account being brand new, the Motion Votes window will very much resemble the Home window, as no motion votes are in progress, nor have none been created. Over time, the Motion Votes window will fill with a list of past, present, and even future scheduled motion votes.

You can see that the Motion Votes tab is selected when it is slightly dark that its counterpart tabs.

Click New motion vote to create a motion:

A brief "working…" message may appear as the application works at presenting you with the New Motion Vote window.

Note: If you close out of the any of the New Motion Vote windows before completing the steps, the motion vote will not be saved (and you would have to start over). So, if you find you don't have all the details necessary for the motion vote you are creating, simply still follow the steps through, as you can always edit the motion vote after creating it, as long as you setup the motion vote for a future time or date (setting in Step 2).

Simply follow the steps presented in each of the New Motion vote windows:

Step 1: Motion Design:

Enter the motion's information of:

Moved by: The person who proposed or moved the motion; select the date from the date picker (or leave the default, which is the current date)

Seconded by: The person who seconded the motion, if applicable; select the date from the date picker (or leave at the default of the current date)

Enter the vote or motion details

Click Go to Step 2: Voting Setup

Note: You may click the Cancel this Motion on any step of creating the new motion vote, and it will not be saved or recorded in the archive.

Step 2: Voting Setup

Select from the options given how you would like to setup the voting process.

How will voting take place:
Select from:

Online - all voters will be emailed their own unique link to a ballot for this motion vote

In Person - all voters are voting in person, and an account manager will be entering the votes and results after this motion vote has been created. No email will be sent to the voters involved.

Both - allows for both online voting by voter as well as manual entry vote by account manager

Allow voters to post a comment with their vote: If checkmarked, the voter will see a comment field on their electronic ballot allowing for them to insert a comment at the same time as entering their voting choice

When will voting start: Defaults to current date and time. This can be changed by clicking into the field and selecting a different date and time from the picker. Note that the time zone is shown after the time field. (This comes from whatever is selected as a time zone in the Account Settings)

When will voting end: Defaults to a week from start time. This can be changed by clicking into the field and selecting a different date and time from the picker. Note again, that the time zone is shown after the time field.

Do you want to provide motion details and voting results on a webpage: If set to Yes, when voters receive their voting invitation email, in addition to be provided with their ballot link, they will also be provided with a link to view the results of the vote.
Also, if set to Yes, two more options will be available:

Show live voting results (leave unchecked to only publish results upon ending of voting): If checkmarked, when voters click on the results link in their voting invitation email, they will see results of any votes that have taken place before they cast their own vote and they of course, can return to this link anytime in the future to see the results as they happen. If this remains unchecked, voters will only be able to view the results of a vote after it is concluded and closed.

Show voter names, the way they voted, and their vote comment: If checkmarked, when voters click on the results link in their voting invitation email, they will not only see the results of motion vote, but they will see the name of the voter, how they voted, and any comments they entered (if the "Allow voters to post a comment with their vote" was selected above).

Click the Go to Step 3: Voting Choices button to continue (or click Back to Step 1: Motion Design if you want to change anything in the previous step)

Step 3: Voting Choices

Here you are able to accept, adjust or add up to 10 voting choices for the motion vote. Is the motion simply looking for votes on In Favor, Opposed, Abstained, or would you group like to offer, Yes, No, Unsure, or perhaps options of Names for an election type of motion votes of Smith, Jones, MacDonald, Fry, and White. Perhaps the motion is regarding a selection of a date. So options could be Nov 11, Nov 12, Nov 14, all work, none work. Perhaps you prefer the spelling of In Favor as In Favour.

Simply type in your voting choices and click the Go to Step 4: Voter Setup button (or Back to Step 2: Voting Setup, if you need to make a change on the previous step(s). Note that the selections you made here will not save and you will have to re-enter them upon to returning to this step.)

Step 4: Voter Setup

Any voter that has been entered into MotionVoter will be listed here and by default will be checkmarked as Active, meaning they will be included in the vote, and will receive the voting invitation email for this motion vote.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Voters can also be setup via the Voters tab before or after setting up motion votes. (If you were to click there now, you would lose the settings selected for this current motion vote and have to start setting it up again at a later time).

As more voters are added to MotionVoter, they will appear in future Step 4's of new motion votes. To add more voters to this motion vote (which will also add the voters to your MotionVoter account for future motion votes), click Add Voter.

Add an individual voter (up to 5 at one time):

NOTE: You may enter voters as a group using an import list function available in the Voters tab (but if you go there now you will have to restart creating this specific motion vote.)

You will be brought to a window asking for Name and email address of voter, and they will be default checkmarked as Active (which you can uncheck if you wish).

Upon adding new voters, they will then appear in Step 4: Voter Setup window of your current new motion vote:

Select all or Select none to set the entire list to active for this new motion vote or to set them all to inactive, respectively. You can also manually click on the Active checkbox for each voter to activate or inactive the voter.

Click the Go to Step 5: Review button to continue (or click Back to Step 3: Voting Choices to change a setting on a previous step. Note that settings on this window will be lost and you will have to redo any changes to the default settings.)

Step 5: Review

The first part of Step 5 will present on one window all the selections and settings you made throughout the steps of creating this new motion vote.

Should you wish to make any changes, you may click the Back button, noting however that you will lose any settings of the latter windows and you will have to re-enter your selections. However, you can also, Finish this new motion vote setup and edit it after clicking the Finish button.

The bottom part of the Step 5 window presents a draft of the voting invitation email to be sent to active voters. You may change any and all the text that you like. However, note that by using the codes within the text of your message it will auto fill with important information for your voters like:

#NAME# - will fill with the individual voter's name as listed when they were added as a voter

#VOTINGURL# - will provide the individual voter with their unique voting ballot

#VOTERESULTURL# - will provide all the voters in their voting invitation email a link to the results webpage (if it was selected for this specific motion vote that results will be provided to the voters, during or after the vote.)

You may click Finish at this point to end the new motion vote setup OR you may click the Email me a sample voting invitation button, so you can see what your voting invitation message will look like when sent to active voters. Upon reviewing the sample voting invitation in your email inbox (while leaving this Step 5 window open), you may make any further changes to the message (send it to yourself again) and click Finish when done.

You will be brought to a confirmation window, offering you some choices for what you might like to do next:

You may wish to Review the motion vote just created, and make any necessary changes. Note that after the first vote is made the choice selected by that voter will no longer be editable. Otherwise, the motion vote details remain editable before and during a motion vote.

b) Motion Review:

To review the setup of a Motion Vote, you may click Review the motion vote just created, which is an option presented after you click Finish on the setup of a new motion vote:

OR

you may simply click the Motion Votes tab, and click Review Motion for the motion vote you'd like to review:

Either way, you will be brought to the motion vote details window where you may review and edit motion vote details IF none of the voters have yet submitted a vote. (Upon submission of the first vote the motion vote details will be locked and the Edit feature will no longer be available).

The motion is presented at the top of the window, along with the Voting Status, and voting results to date for each of the voting choices.

Beneath that are the steps you went through during the motion setup as menu choices in the left hand column. Whichever item is selected will appear as a darker blue:

You may select any one of the steps in the left hand column and click Edit to change information or settings.

a) Design:

Click Design on the left column to review the motion text. To change text, click Edit:

You will be brought to an editable window. Upon making changes, you may click Update Design, or if you wish not to save any changes, simply navigate to another item, tab, or button that you wish to work with. You may click Delete Motion, to permanently delete the motion and its voting process from the system. (If a voting invitation email has already been sent to voters, when they click on their ballot link they will simply be unable to vote.)

b) Voting Setup:

Click Voting Setup on the left column to review or change settings and entries. Note that there is now a link provided to the results webpage. As well you have the option here to email a sample voting invitation message to yourself to see what it will look like to voters.

To change features click Edit:

The Edit mode of the Voting Setup window will allow you to change the settings. If the changes made affect what the voter sees on the ballot, it will change for those voters who have not yet accessed their ballot (via the voting invitation email) and voted.

Click Save to save your changes:

c) Voting Choices:

Click Voting Choices on the left column to review choices. To change, add or delete choices click Edit:

You may change existing voting choices by clicking Edit beside each choice, or you may create a New Voting Choice by clicking its button:

d) Voters Setup:

ClickVoters Setup on the left column to review voters or to Add a Plan to your account based on the voters setup changes you are about to make.

From this window you can Resend the voting invitation email or manually Enter a vote on the voters behalf.

To change voter information click Edit:

You are now able to Add Voter, inactivate/activate a voter in the list, click Save to save changes.

To Add a Plan to reflect the number of voters you are adding, click Add a Plan:

You will be presented with Plan options. Select your plan and click Continue:

Follow the steps to add a new plan for this motion vote and to your account, if applicable.

e) Results:

To review Results on a past, present, or future motion vote, click Results from the left column. From this window you can View Results Webpage and a Voting Summary.

The Motion Result can only be entered by a voter who has the Motions (all or own -depending on if they created this motion) management feature. The result can be entered during, or more realistically after the end of a vote. It can be entered as Carried or Failed based on a typical motion vote. However, if your motion vote result does not apply to such options as Carried or Failed, click Other. An Other text field will appear to allow for entry of an alternative result. For example, if Smith won the vote out of 5 possible names, "Smith" can be typed in the Other text field. If a date of Nov 14 was the result of a date vote, then Nov 14 could be entered in the Other text field.

TheDate Carried/Failed is for entering the date the Motion Result was decided upon. It default fills with the current date. This can be changed by clicking in the field and choosing from the date picker.

After entering the Motion Result and Date Carried/Failed, click Update Results to save your selections.

The Results webpage will reflect the Motion Result as well as provide further information on the Voting Summary. The motion detail at the top of the Motion Votes tab window will also reflect the Motion Result entry (even if the vote is still in progress).

Voters will view the same Results webpage (via their voting invitation email) in the event that the motion vote setup included making the results viewable (including or not including the voter names and comments) to the voter.