Comprehensive Guide to Setting up Voting Events – OneFeather

Welcome to OneFeather's Comprehensive Guide to Setting up Voting Events!

In this guide, you will discover how to log in and configure your community, including adding team members. You'll learn the steps to create a voting event and tailor it to your specific voting code, including how to enable or disable digital voting features. Additionally, the guide provides instructions on how to enter your vote count and generate results once your event concludes.

Log In

Head to https://www.onefeather.ca/admin to log in.

You will land on your communities home page.
As your Nation’s Account Administrator, you can manage your community here.
Use the Actions menu to access community settings.

Setting Up Your Community

To set up your Nation or Tribal Council on OneFeather you need to create your Team, Public Landing Page and your Membership List.

Step 1: Create and Manage Your Team

At top right of your communities page, click the Actions menu.
In drop-down menu, click Manage Team.
At the top right of the Manage Team page, click the Invite New Member button.
Input the new team member's information and select their team Role from the drop-down menu.
Next, select or unselect the checkboxes to manage the team member's email settings (this controls their email notifications.)
Click Send Invite.
An email invitation will be sent to your new team member.

You will receive an email notification when the team members you have invited have accepted their invitations to join the team.

Manage Team Members

On the Manage Team page, scroll down to Current Team where you will see a list of your team members.
Click the '•••' next to the team members name.
Select Edit Member to make changes, or Delete Member to remove them from the community team.

Step 2: Create Your Communities Public Landing Page

Your Nation or Tribal Council's landing page will serve as a central hub for community members to access vital information, including voting event details, contact information, and event updates.

On the home page, click the Actions menu in the top right corner.
In the dropdown menu, click Settings.
Here you can input (or edit) the necessary information for your communities public landing page.
Enter the following information:

URL - If the Nation, Community, or Tribal Council has a website, enter it here.
Socials - Links to the communities social (facebook, X - formally Twitter, Instagram) accounts
Logo - Add the communities logo to the public page by clicking Choose file.
Cover Image - Upload a banner photo to customize the communities public page by clicking Choose file.
Slug - The text entered here will be used for the last part of the communities public page's URL. This is typically the communities name.
Default Voting Age - The minimum age a member needs to be to vote. This can be configured in voting event setup if different than the default.
About - A place to provide important information for members - this will display on the public landing page.
Phone Numbers - Any phone numbers entered here will be visible on the communities public landing page.
Address Information - Any address information will be visible on the communities public landing page.
Time Zone - Set the time zone of your community so voting events run at accurate times.
Registry Number Term - If the community uses another term for membership numbers, for eg. 'Citizenship Number' as used in many Métis communities, enter the correct term here.
Share membership list with Tribal Council - If the community is part of a Tribal Council, you can allow a connection to the membership list by checking/unchecking this box.
Once complete, click Save.
To view the updated public landing page, click the URL in your nation's Home page.

Step 3: Create and Manage your Membership List

Click Members on the top panel.
You will be taken to the Members Page where you can view, search and manage current members.

Uploading Members From CSV File (Excel Spreadsheet)

To convert a different file format in Excel, simply select Save As, and choose the file format .CSV. You can then use the file to upload your membership list into OneFeather.

On the Members Page, click the Actions button and select Import members from CSV.

Upload member list CSV.svg

In order for your import to work, your CSV file must include the following column labels and formats specified below:

- First name(s) (all given names)
- Last name (family name)
- Email
- Birthday - Required format eg: January 1, 1971 (Month, 1, 2000)
  See: How to format your CSV here
- Registration ID (status number / membership number / citizenship number)
- Membership type - can be one of the following: standard, non voter, transferring, or other

Example:

CSV Format.svg

Follow the instructions on the page, and click Choose File to upload your CSV.
Then click, Create CSV Upload.
If your file has difficulty uploading, please check the date format of your CSV. You may need to change it to: month, day, year.
Map column labels - make sure the column labels in your CSV match the OneFeather labels.
Example:
Once everything is mapped correctly, click Continue.
Finally, you need to review a small preview of your upload to ensure there are no errors.
If the information has errors, click the Back link and make any necessary changes.
If the information is correct, click Confirm.
When the upload is complete, you will be brought to an report page overviewing your import details.

Adding a Single New Member

If you only need to add a single member and not a group of members:

Starting from the Members page.
Click the Add new member button.
Fill in all required member details.
Note: if this member is non-voting, please indicate in the drop-down menu under Member Type.

Membership type.svg

Click Create Membership to complete.
You will be redirected to your new member's completed profile.

Manage Members

To view Member Details, Member history, or to Edit a members profile.

Head to the Members Page.
Scroll down to the Members List and select the '•••' next to member you wish to manage.
Select View Details in the dropdown menu.
Tip: Members can be edited from both the Members List (if you select Edit from the '•••' menu) or on their member profile.
While on the member profile, select the Actions menu.
From the dropdown options you can Edit Member information or Leave a Note on their profile.

Member History

On a members profile you can also view historical timeline of any activity related to the member. Member History is an uneditable record of member activity, including what activity has taken place, the authorship, and timestamp.
Member History.svg

Add or remove Tags from an individual member:

Starting on the Members page, scroll down to the Search Members List.
Use the search functionality to find a member or browse the members list to find them manually.
Click the '•••" beside the members name and info.
Select 'Edit' from the dropdown options.
Scroll down the form to find the Tags section.
Select or deselect that tags you want associated with the member.
Click Update Membership to continue.

Add or remove tags from multiple members (bulk add/remove):

Starting on the Members page, scroll down to the Search Members List.
Here you can search your members list by filter members with specific details.
Click Search.
The members list will update to display your search results.
To add or remove tags from the members contained in your search results, click the Edit Tags button in the Members List section.
Use Add Tags or Remove Tags to apply or remove tags from the group of members in your search criteria.
Click, Submit to save changes.
After you click 'submit' you will see a green success banner at the top of the screen - please wait a few minutes for the tags to be updated.

Creating a Voting Event

A Voting Event with OneFeather is any event where members cast a vote.

Creating a Voting Event Process:

- Step 1: Voting Event Setup
- Step 2: Import Voters
- Step 3: Adding Issues
- Step 4: Polling Stations
- Step 5: Check Details
- Step 6: Publish Event

Step 1: Voting Event Setup

Click Voting Events on the menu at the top of the screen.
You will now see a list of all of your communities voting events.

To create a new Voting Event, click Add New Voting Event button in the top right.

General Event Information

Enter the required information to setup the initial details for the event.
- Title - This is the name of the event
- Description - General event info for voters - this will be visible on the event's public landing page.
- Public Link - Create the event link. This link will be publicly available for voters to find event details.
- Appeal Period - Days of which event team can finalize the vote and correct any inconsistencies.
- Legal Voting Age - The age of which all members will need to be to vote.
- Voting Opens/Closes at - The dates and time determining when the event, digital (if applicable) and in-person voting, will be open for.
- Ratification (or Electoral) Officer - Select the primary officer in charge of your voting event.
  Learn more on how to invite team members here.
Enter all required information and click the red Create Voting Event button, located at the bottom of the section.

Once the event is created, you will have ability to add other details, such as event staff or digital voting configuration, available in the left panel of the page.

Event Staff

Click Event Staff in the 'Event Management' section (left side)
Here you can adjust the titles of the officers running the voting event.
Assign the correct team member(s) to the titled roles you have determined.
Click Save Voting Event before continuing to the next section.

Voting Event Setup-2.svg

Digital Voting

Dependent on your event code, here you can turn on/off the ability to allow digital voting. Digital voting allows members to be verified online and cast their vote using a device that has access to the internet without having to attend a physical polling station.

Disallowing Digital Voting

If the voting event does not allow digital voting - uncheck the box labelled Allow Digital Voting.
Click Save Voting Event.
Note: Physical polling stations (i.e. regular polls and advance polls) are set up in Step 4.

Allowing and configuring digital voting

If the voting event allows for digital voting - check the box labelled Allow Digital Voting.
If you need to restrict certain members/or demographics from voting digitally, you can do so by selecting/deselecting tags under the label Voters Restricted From Digital Voting.
Based on the date and time in which the event was configured, available digital voting times will be calculated and displayed under Digital Voting Open.
Note: Restrictions or pauses to digital voting can be configured in the Stations tab on your event once setup is complete.

Mail-in Voting

To allow mail-in voting on your event, check the Allow Mail-In Votes checkbox. This will create a digital ballot box in which to count mail-in votes from the event.
If you would like members to be able to request a mail-in ballots online through OneFeather, select Allow Mail-In Ballot Requests.
Configure the dates from when mail-in ballot requests will be accepted. Allow extra time before the event closes to send and receive mail-in ballots. (We suggest closing requests at least 1.5-2 weeks before event closes.)
Click Save Voting Event.

Step 2: Import Voters

Head to the voting event admin page - click the back link or navigate to 'Voting Events', then select your events name.

Select the Voters List tab.
Click the Add Voters button.
Select how you would like to add voters to the voters list, either by .CSV (converted excel file) or from the existing membership list if your community manages its list with OneFeather.
Continue the process of your import method until the upload is complete.
Once complete, the voters list may take a few minutes to load.
See detailed instructions on how to add voters to the voters list here.

When your voter list has finished loading, it will look like this:

Step 3: Adding Issues

Create the ballot(s) for your voting event.

On the voting event admin page, click the Issues tab.
You will see an icon with an exclamation point if no issues have been added yet.
Click the Add New Issue button.

The right side of the screen displays a live 'preview' of the digital ballot - use this to double check for errors before saving the issue.
Enter the Issue Title.
Next, enter the issue Question.
If this ballot is only available to be voted on by members with specific tags, check or uncheck Issue Tags.
In the dropdown, select the Issue Type.
(Chief = only one selection can be made, Council = more than one selection can be made, Referendum = either/or selection, Survey = more than one selection can be made, with a custom answer option available.)
If applicable, add selections to your ballot issue by clicking Add Option.
The term Option 1 and Option 2 would typically refer to YES and NO respectively as answers to your referendum ballot question.
When you are done, click Save & Continue.
Your ballot issue will be included in your new Voting Event.

Step 4: Polling Stations

If you do not have any physical polling locations for a voting event then you can disregard this step

Select Stations on the voting events admin page
Scroll to the Polling Stations section.
Click '+ Add location' to create a polling station.
Note: As a default Mail-in Ballots display as a 'Polling Station'.
Fill in the Location Details.
Select an Assigned Officer to run the polling station.
Note: Deputy Officers can only effect the polling station to which they are assigned.
Enter Date and Time
Note: Time uses 24hr clock.
When complete, click 'Create Polling Station'.

Tip: If you need to pause digital voting while a physical polling station is open click 'Add digital Voting Pause' and enter the required information.

Step 5: Check Details

Now that voting event setup is complete, the event can be published making information available for voters. It's important to double check the event information is correct before publishing.

Double check for any mistakes in Voters List, Issues, and Polling Stations.
To ensure all details are correct, click the Public URL link on your Voting Event Admin page. Review the public page for your community as well as for the event to ensure voters have the information they will need to participate.
Check for errors. If you spot any, click 'Edit Details' to make changes.
If your event is ready for voting click 'Publish' in the event setup section.
Note: Once published, the event will be queued up according to the dates you have set.
If you are unable to fix errors, seek assistance from support@onefeather.ca

Step 6: Publish Event

Publishing the event makes all configured details about your voting event—such as available voting methods, polling station locations, and times—publicly accessible to your voters. It also ensures that your event can start as scheduled on the specified opening date and time. You can choose to publish at any stage during the event setup process.

To publish your event go to Edit Details on the voting event admin page.
Click the Publish button on the right hand side.
Note: If the publish button is unavailable, you might be missing required information. Go over the voting event setup again to find what is missing.
Once published, you will have the ability to show/hide the event on the public events list page located at https://www.onefeather.ca/elections.

Managing the Voting Process

The Voters List

First, navigate to your Voting Event Admin page. Then click the Voters List tab.

Here you will see all the voters on your voters list, along with different views where you can manage the different ways a voter can vote (in-person voting, mail-in voting, digital voting, and view all voter details combined in 'View All Info'.)

*Note: You will not have the ability to mark a voter as having voted if a designated polling station is not open.

Voter List tab (1).png

How It Works - Contextual Views

In order to accomplish a task, select the correct Voters List View.

The Voter List can have up to 4 different contextual views depending on how your event has been configured:

In-person voting
Mail-in voting
Digital voting
View all info

**The voters list view will only show options that are available to the voting event (i.e. if your event does not have mail-in voting, you will not have mail-in voting as a view option).

Voter list view.png

*Note:
• Each view displays information and actions pertaining to their respective category (with the exception of the voter's Name(s), Registry Number and Birthdate, which are present in all categories).

•The visibility of each "view" and voter information, as well as actions that can be taken are shown is based on staff permissions in accordance to each team role assigned.

For eg. An electoral officer running an event will have more actions and information available to them, where as a deputy electoral officer will limited actions available, but enough to complete their tasks within an event as a DEO.

In-Person Voting

Mark a voter as Voted In-Person at a polling location.

*Note: A polling station must be open in order to mark someone as having voted.

1. First, select the In-Person Voting button, located above the voters list.

2. In the list, locate the voter you wish to mark as voted.
Tip: Use the search bar to type in a voters first, last name or registry number to find them quickly.

3. To mark a voter as voted In-person at a polling station, select the Mark as Voted In-Person text button, located to the right of the voters name.
Mark as voted.png

4. Once clicked, you will see a confirmation window displaying the polling location they are voting at, and the voter's information. Ensure everything is correct, then click Mark as Voted.

*Note: Depending on your team role permissions, you may also be asked to select which open polling station you would like to mark the voter as having voted at.
In-Person modal.png

5. A green banner will appear at the top of the page, and the voters details will update to show the voting method (In-Person), location, date and time.
Voter marked_ In-Person.png

Mail-In Voting:

• Check requests for mail-in ballot packages
• Record when a voter was sent a mail-in ballot package
• Mark voter as voted by mail

First, select the Mail-in Voting button.
Mail-in voting.png

To record when a voter was sent a mail-in ballot package, click the red text button that says Mail-in Pkg Sent.
Ballot pkg. sent.png

Once clicked, a window will display for you to confirm this action. Ensure this information belongs to the voter, and adjust the date as necessary. Click Confirm Date Sent when finished.
Mail-in ballot sent.png

When complete, the date you selected will show beside "Mail-in Pkg Sent". This will display within the voters info, under their name.
pkg sent -success.png

To mark a voter as voted by mail, click the red text button that says Mark as Voted by Mail located to the right of the voters name.
Mark as voted by mail.png

Once clicked, you will see a confirmation modal displaying the voters information. Ensure this information belongs to the correct voter, then click Mark as Voted.
Vote by mail -modal.png

If the voter was marked successfully, you will see a green banner at the top of the page and the voter's details will show the voting method, date and time.
Voted by Mail-in - success.png

Digital Voting:

• View voter info related to digital voting
• Send digital voting PIN to voter.

Note: As a security feature, voters are assigned and sent a confidential single use PIN in order to vote digitally. This will be sent automatically when a voter confirms their membership with a Nation in order to vote online.

An electoral officer does not need to mark online voters as having voted as the system does this automatically.

Resending the PIN Email to Voter

If a voter has confirmed their membership to their Nation but missed their PIN email, an email resend can be triggered in the Digital Voting view of the voters list.

1. Select the Digital Voting voters list view. To resend a voter their PIN, click the Send PIN Email button.
Send PIN.png

2. A window will display asking you to confirm you selected to correct voter. Select Confirm and the voter will receive an email with their PIN.
Be sure to let the voter know to check their junk/spam folder for their PIN email!

View All:

*The availability of whats described below is dependent on role based permissions*
• View All voter info
• Mark as Voted In-Person
• Mark as Voted By Mail
• Send PIN Email
• Mark as NOT voted

Note: Only the Ratification/Electoral Officer, or deputy officer(s) (for the station they are assigned to) have the ability to mark how a voter has voted.

1. Select View All Info voters list view.
2. Click the red Options menu button - you will then see a dropdown menu displaying all available actions per voter, based on the team members permissions.
View All - Actions.png

Tip: If you are looking for a specific voter within the list, use the search bar by entering the voters first name, last name, and/or registry number.

If member has already voted, it is automatically update and display in the voters' list —indicating the type of vote, and date/time (see below).
Voter marked_ In-Person.png

Every vote on OneFeather is instantly logged and updated in real-time. You can view a comprehensive log of all voting activities, including the voter list, in the Activity Log tab on the event's admin page.

Manually Change Vote Status - Removing a voter from having voted

If you have marked the wrong voter as having voted in-person or by mail, or need to change how a voted voted, only the Electoral or Ratification Officer can change the status of the voter. If you are a team member assigned a deputy role, you will need to contact the primary EO/RO to correct any mistakes made within the voters list.

Changing a vote status as an electoral officer or ratification officer:

Select View All Info from the Voters List View.
Locate the voter who's status you wish to correct by way of the search box (last name, first name, or registry number).
Once the voter has been located, select the Options menu within their voter information.
Select: Switch Polling Station, Change Vote to In-Person/Mail, Mark as Not Voted.

The voter who's status has changed will be notified by email (if they have confirmed their membership to a community and their email is attached to their member profile) of the change.

*Note - All actions taken within the OneFeather platform are recorded and can be downloaded for the purpose of auditing or verifying a vote through the voting event's Activity Log. When a voter's status is changed, a detailed record is made of who made the change, when it happened, and why.

Every vote on OneFeather is instantly logged and updated. You can view a comprehensive log of all voting activities, including the voter list, in the Activity Log tab on the event's admin page.

Manually Input Ballot counts

Once the voting event has closed, officers can manually input ballot counts from physical polling stations and/or process mail-in ballots.

Click on the Stations tab in your voting event's admin page.
Find the relevant source of the vote (either mail-in or polling station).
Click on the drop-down arrow on the right and select the Input option.
Here you will enter the ballot information.
Note: If the page is blank, make sure there are no problems with the ballot issues for the voting event.
Once you have filled all the ballots, click Save Results.

Note: You will be required to enter the total number of ballots counted for the issue. If the results you enter do not match the total number of ballots, you will see an error (see below). Recount your ballots and input them again.
Once these ballots are input and saved, the polling station will have a status of Finalized on the Stations tab.

Confirm Ballot Counts

Multiple polling stations can report to OneFeather when polls close. After all polling stations are finalized, the results can by published by the primary Ratification/Electoral Officer.

On the voting event admin page, clicking the Results tab
In the results section click the Actions menu button, then choose Publish Results.
Results will be available on your nation's public landing page, and will be emailed to all registered voters.

Your voting event is now complete!

If You Are Experiencing Issues

If you experience difficulty at any point setting up your community, or preparing a voting event:

Search our help centre first for easy help instructions: support.onefeather.ca
Contact our customer support agents at: support@onefeather.ca

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