How to run a school election online, step by step

Write down four things and get them signed off by the patron, dean or head teacher: which positions are being contested, who is eligible to stand, who is eligible to vote, and the exact opening and closing time of voting. Almost every election dispute traces back to one of these four being left vague.

Publish the rules where candidates can read them. If a candidate is disqualified later, you want to point at a rule rather than a decision.

Use a registration form rather than paper slips. Ask for the candidate's name, class or faculty, position sought, a photo and a short manifesto. Set a nomination deadline that is at least a week before voting so you have time to screen entries and let candidates correct their details.

Screen against your eligibility rules, then approve. Approved candidates become entries on the ballot with their own profile.

A credible election needs a defined roll: the list of people entitled to exactly one ballot per position. Export your class or membership register, remove duplicates, and agree how a student not on the list will be handled on the day — before the day.

Verification happens once per voter. After that, the platform enforces one ballot per position, so no supervisor has to remember who has already voted.

Run the project in election mode. Ballots are secret, running totals are hidden from everyone including you, and results are computed but not released until you publish them. This is the single most important setting: if organisers can watch the count, losing candidates will always claim someone intervened.

Review the result with the returning officer, publish it, then announce it. Because the announcement, the dashboard and the printed record come from the same figures, there is nothing to reconcile afterwards. Keep the project as your archive — turnout by position is genuinely useful when you plan next year's election.