Secure Elections

RankedChoices.com has a built-in Secure Ballot feature that makes running a verified, anonymous ranked choice election fast, easy, and free. No need to generate your own codes or manage spreadsheets — the system handles it all for you.

How It Works

  1. Create a free account (or log in to your existing one).
  2. Create a new ballot and check the Secure Ballot option. Choose how many voter codes to generate.
  3. The system generates unique 6-character codes for your election. Each code allows exactly one vote.
  4. Distribute the codes to your voters (see election types below).
  5. Voters visit your ballot link, enter their code, and cast their ranked choice vote.
  6. When voting closes, view the results from your Secure Ballot management page.

Managing Your Secure Ballot

From your profile, click on a secure ballot to open its dedicated management page. From there you can:

  1. View all codes with their status (available or voted) and timestamps.
  2. Add labels to codes for your own tracking (labels are never shown to voters).
  3. Request more codes if you need additional voters.
  4. Print a code sheet with cut lines for physical distribution.
  5. Remove votes if needed — this frees the code for the voter to use again.
  6. End voting early if all votes are in before the cutoff time.

Election Types

Secure ballots support different levels of anonymity depending on how you distribute codes. For open elections where everyone's vote is public, you don't need a secure ballot — just choose "Voter Names Required" in the advanced options when creating a standard ballot.

Blind Election

Voters' identities are hidden from each other, but the organizer can trace codes to voters. Useful when vote privacy matters but the organizer needs to verify legitimacy.

  1. Create a secure ballot.
  2. Label each code with the voter's name (for your records only — labels are never shown in results).
  3. Send each voter their assigned code privately.

The organizer can verify every vote is legitimate while voters cannot see who voted for whom.

Double-Blind Election

Nobody — not even the organizer — can trace a vote back to a voter. This is the most secure option.

  1. Create a secure ballot.
  2. Click Print Code Sheet to generate a printable page of codes with cut lines.
  3. Cut out the code slips and have each voter draw one randomly (e.g. from a bowl).
  4. Each voter keeps their code secret throughout the election and beyond.

Because codes are distributed randomly, the organizer has no way to trace a code back to a voter. The organizer can still verify that every vote used a legitimate code.

Voter Experience

When a voter visits a secure ballot, they are prompted to enter their code before seeing any candidates. If the code is valid and hasn't been used yet, they proceed to rank their choices and submit their vote. Each code can only be used once.