Chapters
- Introduction and Overview
- What is Proxy Voting
- How to Set It Up (Admin)
- How Voters Delegate Their Vote
- How Election Managers Delegate Votes
- How Proxy Holders Cast Votes
- Key Benefits
- Important Notes
Introduction and Overview
Proxy voting enables a member who can't attend (e.g., Berlin) to delegate their voting right directly to another member (e.g., Munich). Munich then has two votes: their own, and Berlin's delegated one.
Administrators enable proxy voting for a vote and decide which voter list is allowed to receive delegations for that specific election. From there, voters can delegate their own vote, or an election manager can assign a delegation on their behalf—whichever fits your bylaws.
What is Proxy Voting
Example: Berlin can't attend and delegates their voting right to Munich, directly from Berlin's own account. Munich then votes:
- Once with their own ballot (primary list)
- Once with Berlin's delegated ballot (proxy)
Important for legally secure elections: Munich can vote differently on each ballot. For instance, you can abstain on your own vote but vote yes on the delegated one. Each ballot is a real, independent vote. If weighted voting is enabled, Berlin's voting weight automatically transfers with the delegation.
How to Set It Up (Admin)
Proxy voting can be enabled under Voting Rights → Proxy Settings.
Proxy Voting with weighted votes
If weighted voting is enabled, a delegated ballot automatically carries the delegating voter's weight.
How Voters Delegate Their Vote
If you want to offer your voters self-service delegation, they can delegate their vote through NemoVote from their personal proxy voting page.
How Election Managers Delegate Votes
Some organizations don't want voters delegating on their own, and some delegations originate from other systems or exist historically. In these cases, you can create the delegation yourself:
How Proxy Holders Cast Votes
Voters have the option to submit their delegated votes individually, or to submit their ballot along with all delegated votes at the same time.
- Selects their own voting right to cast their own ballot
- Switches to a delegated voting right to cast a second, independent ballot
- Or checks "Vote for all voter lists at once" to submit all ballots (their own and all delegations received) in a single action
Key Benefits
- Flexible by design: Voters can delegate their vote in seconds, or an election manager creates a delegation on their behalf. Whatever fits your process and bylaws.
- Standing or one-off: Delegations can be permanent or limited to a single time period.
- Transparent tracking: Every delegation is logged with sender, recipient, and timestamp, and is visible at any time to the sender, recipient, and election manager.
- True independence: Each ballot can be cast differently, and voting weight transfers with the delegation.
- Compliant by design: Admins control which voter list may receive delegations. Admins can only delete delegations they created themselves.
- Live & Email voting: Works with all voting methods.
- GDPR compliant: Legally secure elections also mean data protection compliance. Voters receive no information about other voters' delegations.
For compliant, legally secure proxy voting in online elections.
Important Notes
- Cascading delegations: If Berlin delegates to Munich, and Munich has also delegated onward to London, London receives all accumulated ballots from both Munich and Berlin.
- Revocation: If a voter deletes their delegation before the recipient has voted, the voting right transfers back automatically. After the ballot has been cast, it cannot be reversed.
- Deletion rules: Admins can only delete delegations they created. Voter-created delegations can only be removed by that voter or with technical support.
- Quorum: Proxy votes don't automatically count toward attendance in the rollcall feature. Create a test election to ensure quorum is reached.