1. Create an account
Go to fastelections.com/signup and sign up with your email and a password, or continue with Google. You don't need an invitation to get started — anyone can create an organization and begin building an election on the free tier.
2. Start a new election
From your dashboard, click New election. Give it a title voters will recognize (for example, "2026 Board Election") and pick the timezone your dates should use, then click Create draft. You'll choose voting methods per question in the next step — nothing to decide yet.
3. Add your ballot
Click Add question for each thing you're voting on. Each question has its own type — choose one/choose N (plurality), approval, ranked choice (IRV), or a yes/no/abstain motion — so a single election can mix types. Add your options (up to 50 per question), and set the number of winners (seats) for a multi-winner plurality question. You can have up to 20 questions. See Question types explained if you're unsure which fits your vote.
4. Build your voter roster
Paste your voters into the voter list, one per line as email, name (name optional). Emails are deduped automatically, case-insensitively. Each voter gets their own one-time voting link when the election launches — no accounts or passwords required on their end. See Adding voters for the exact format and the 5,000-voter cap.
5. Send yourself a test ballot
Before you launch, use Email me a test ballot to send a preview to your own email. It looks exactly like what real voters receive, but it can never be cast, so it can't affect your results. Use it to check your wording and choices look right.
6. Launch
When you're ready, click Launch election. If your roster is on a paid tier, you'll confirm the price before it charges; free elections (25 voters or fewer) launch with no payment step. Launching locks the ballot and sends every voter their invitation email immediately (or schedules it, if you set a future start time). You'll see live turnout — who has voted and who hasn't — while the election is open, but results stay sealed until it closes.
7. Close and publish results
Close the election manually with Close election, or let it close automatically at the end time you set. Once closed, results are calculated. From there you can optionally Publish results to a shareable public link, alongside the list of receipt codes voters can use to confirm their own ballot was counted.
Related
Need help with a specific step? See the other articles in Getting Started, or contact us.