Voting Types & Voter Identity
The voting type you chose when creating the page decides how voters are identified and how Izivote stops the same person voting twice. It is fixed for the life of the page. This page explains each type and, for Identity pages, how to set up your voter list.
Every type also has a vote frequency, set under Manage: how often a voter may vote in each category, either once only or once every hour, day or week. On a paid page it is the free vote that comes round, and paid votes are never limited.
The four voting types
Open
Anyone with the link can vote, no login required. Izivote uses a browser cookie to keep one anonymous voter from voting repeatedly. Best for casual community polls where you want the widest reach and the lowest friction.
Voters click Vote and sign in with their Google account. Each Google account gets one vote per category, as often as your vote frequency allows. A good balance of reach and fairness.
Paid
Voters pay per vote with a card. When they vote they enter their email, pick one of your prices and how many of it they want, then pay securely (payments are powered by Stripe). Paid voting is ideal for fan votes and fundraising.
- You must set a price for one vote (Manage tab or the Vote Payment tab) before voters can pay.
- You can add bundles on top of it, a number of votes for a fixed price, which is how you offer a discount for buying several at once. See Set what a voter pays.
- You must connect a payout method so you can be paid. See Paid Voting & Payments.
Adding a free vote to a paid page
A paid page can also give every voter one free vote per category, so people who will not pay still take part and still get a reason to come back. Under Manage, set Free Votes to how often that free vote comes round: once only, hourly, daily or weekly. It starts at Never, meaning every vote is paid for.
- Voters claim it by signing in with a free Izivote account, using Google or a code emailed to them. That sign-in is what keeps free votes to one per person.
- Paid votes are never limited by the frequency: a voter can buy as many as they like, whether or not they used their free vote.
- Free votes are counted per mailbox, so the same inbox cannot claim several by signing up with variations of one address. Temporary and forwarding addresses are not accepted for a free vote.
- Turning the setting off later stops new free votes; it does not remove ones already cast.
Identity
Only people you allow can vote, each using an identity you control. There are three identity methods:
- Manual - you build the exact list of eligible voter IDs (available on every plan).
- SSO / SAML - voters authenticate through your organisation’s SAML 2.0 identity provider (Okta, Azure AD, and similar). Paid plans, currently in Beta.
- OAuth - voters log in with Google, GitHub, Microsoft, or another OAuth 2.0 provider you configure. Paid plans, currently in Beta.
Setting up an Identity page
Identity pages have a Voter Identities tab in the sidebar.
1. Choose the identity method
On the Choose Identity Method card, pick Manual, SSO / SAML, or OAuth, then click Select and Confirm.
The identity method is permanent for that vote page. Once chosen it cannot be changed.
2a. Manual: add voter IDs
- In the add box, type an identity (for example
john_doe) and click Add. Each ID must be 3-52 characters with no spaces. - To add many at once, paste a list separated by spaces or new lines, then confirm Add all.
The identities table lets you filter, page through, see who has Voted and in how many categories, view voted categories, delete identities, and Export the full list to CSV.
2b. SAML or OAuth: configure the provider
For SSO/SAML and OAuth methods you get a Voters tab and a Configuration tab. Fill in the Configuration tab with your provider details (the page shows the service-provider values you need to copy into your IdP).
Once any vote has been cast, the identity configuration locks. To change it you must first delete all votes for that page.
What a voter sees (voter’s view)
Every button that casts a vote says the same word, Vote, whatever the page asks of the voter. Only the icon changes, to show how the vote will be counted. The exception is the free vote on a paid page, which gets its own Vote for free button beside the paid one.
Each category also has a button above the nominees that signs the voter in without casting anything, so it says what signing in gets them rather than “Vote”.
For the full voter experience, see How to Vote.