Getting started
Introduction
What Democratia is, what it is not, and when to reach for it.
Democratia is a small platform for deciding things together. Somebody creates a poll, options are gathered, votes are cast, and the result is published — once, when the poll is over, to everyone at the same time.
It is built around one idea: a result nobody can peek at is a result people will accept. Every design decision follows from that.
What it does
- Collects the options. Either the organiser writes the list, or participants propose their own during a collection window.
- Gathers the votes. By ranked preference, where you order every option, or by approval, where you pick the ones you can live with.
- Withholds the result. Nobody sees totals before publication — not participants, and not the organiser.
- Publishes once. Everyone who can see the poll sees the same numbers at the same moment, with the arithmetic laid out.
What it is not
Democratia is deliberately not a survey tool. There are no free-text answers, no branching questions, no charts to configure. It answers one question at a time: of these options, which do we choose?
It is also not an election system for anything legally binding. Taking part requires an account, which raises the cost of voting twice without removing it — see Accounts and participation for exactly what that does and does not prevent.
When to use which access mode
| Public poll | Private poll | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can read it | anyone, with no account | only the people you invite |
| Who can take part | anyone with a confirmed account | only the people you invite |
| Listed in the public directory | if you ask for it | never |
| Duplicate votes | discouraged, not prevented | impossible |
| Good for | open suggestions, low-stakes scheduling | board decisions, anything that must be right |
Both kinds need an account to take part in; neither needs one to read. The difference that matters is who is entitled to vote: a public poll admits anybody who registers, a private poll admits exactly the accounts on its invitation list.
The rule of thumb: if it would matter that somebody voted twice, make the poll private.
A poll from start to finish
- Draft. You create the poll. Only you can see it, so you can get the settings right first.
- Collecting options. You publish it. Options accumulate, either from you or from participants.
- Voting. The options freeze and become permanent, because ballots now refer to them.
- Closed. Voting is over. The result exists but nobody can see it.
- Results published. Automatically, or when you decide.
Each step is described in The poll lifecycle. You can move the poll forward by hand at any point, and the schedule will do it for you if you do not.
Where to go next
- New to the platform? Start with Creating a poll.
- Wondering how the result is calculated? Read Voting methods.
- Running the installation for other people? Read Roles and administration.
- Want to know what it will and will not protect you from? Read Security and privacy.