Group Voting: Building Agreement Through Structured Proposals

Some decisions are too important to settle in the moment. People need time to understand the proposal, space to shape it together, and a clear, fair way to see where the group stands.

That's what Group Voting is for.

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What Group Voting Is

Group Voting is JOD's structured proposal and voting system. A Group Lead prepares a proposal, the group votes in one or more rounds, and the result becomes a Strategic Decision once the group is settled.

One idea shapes the whole process:

When to Use Group Voting

Use Group Voting when the decision is complex, affects several people or groups, or needs time for questions and concerns to surface. Choosing between program expansion options or committing to a major budget shift are good examples.

For clearer agreements the group can make in the moment, realtime Decision capture in the Meeting Space works better. Both create Strategic Decisions that appear on reports. The difference is the process, not the outcome.

How Voting Works for Everyone

The Ballot

What voters see depends on the decision method the Vote Admin chooses:

The 5-finger ballot offers five graded answers:

Consent uses this ballot because consent is about the strength of objection, not a headcount. A room of 3s and a room of 5s both reach consent, but they tell you very different things.

Other Choices on the Ballot

• Stand aside. You can stand aside instead of voting. It's recorded and counts toward turnout, but it is not a vote.
• Change my vote. Changed your mind? Press Change my vote. Your new answer replaces the old one, so counts never double up.

What Everyone Sees

While voting is open, the screen shows turnout, such as 7 of 12 have voted. This counts everyone who has answered, including people who stood aside.

After voting closes, everyone sees How the group voted (each answer and its count), the group's voting agreements, and voter names if the Vote Admin turned that on. The Vote Admin's name also appears on the proposal screen, so the room always knows who is running the round.

Running a Round as Vote Admin

The Vote Admin is the one person running the round in front of the group. Only the Vote Admin can open voting, close it, and declare the outcome.

A few things to know first:

• Group Leads control the role. Only a Group Lead can take the Vote Admin role. A Group Lead can also assign it to anyone in the group, so the vote can keep going if the Vote Admin needs to step away. The Vote Admin can also vote in the round they're running.
• There is one Vote Admin at a time. A Group Lead may choose to regain the Vote Admin role and replace whoever held the role. This lets a lead pick up a round if the current admin drops offline. Say it out loud in the room when the role changes hands.
• Your controls live in a side panel headed YOU ARE RUNNING THIS ROUND. Everything outside that panel is exactly what voters see.

Step 1: Create a Proposal

Group Leads create proposals in the Group Voting space (from the Meeting Space or Group Planner). Each proposal has:

• A brief description (up to 200 characters): the core of what you're proposing
• A detailed explanation (optional): context, reasoning, and specifics

The clearer the proposal, the more meaningful the vote.

Step 2: Start a New Round

On the proposal list, open ⋮ Topic Options on the proposal's row and choose Start a new round of voting. Four things happen:

1. You become the Vote Admin.
2. Everyone on the page follows you onto the proposal.
3. A draft round is created (Round 1, Round 2, and so on).
4. The setup panel opens.

The draft is saved. You can refresh or come back tomorrow, and it will be waiting as you left it.

Step 3: Set Up the Round

The setup panel has three parts:

1. Select the decision method. Consent, Consensus, or Majority. This decides what the group is asked and which ballot they see.
2. Confirm voters for this round. Add two or more people. Only people on this list can vote, and the list is the basis for every count. Then choose whether to Show voter names with results. Tell the room which you chose, because people may answer differently when their name is attached.
3. Add voting agreements (optional). For example: "We'll hold no more than three rounds" or "Any 1 means we workshop before voting again." These appear to everyone under How this vote works, and you'll read the results against them later.

Press Done to save your setup. This does not open voting. You can press Edit to make changes anytime before voting starts.

Changed your mind about running the round? Stop this round discards the draft. No one has voted, so nothing is lost.

Step 4: Start the Voting

Press Start the voting. The round's terms (method, voters, names setting, and agreements) are now locked. A round is judged by the rules it ran under, and the next round can use different ones.

Step 5: Close the Voting

When you're ready, press Close voting. If some people haven't answered, the button shows how many (for example, 3 still to vote).

You don't have to wait for everyone. You can close whenever you judge it right, so one absent person never holds up the group. A confirmation appears:

• Give them more time keeps voting open.
• Close the round counts the votes.

Step 6: Declare the Outcome

After counting, the screen asks: What did the group decide? Read the counts against your voting agreements, then choose an outcome:

Consent and Consensus declare whether agreement was reached, not a direction. No Decision (for example, after a tie) is a real outcome the group can act on.

Your declaration is recorded with your name and the time, appears on the proposal list, and closes the round.

Step 7: Choose What Happens Next

• Log a decision now opens a Strategic Decision already filled in with the proposal, method, outcome, and meeting. Use this when the group is settled.
• Workshop the proposal opens the workshop so the group can talk through the result.
• Stop and return to proposal list leaves everything saved so you can come back later.

The Workshop

The workshop is for when a round settled the count but not the question. Everyone in the round sees it, in three parts:

1. What the round said. The declared outcome, who made it, and when. This keeps the conversation anchored to the actual result. You can fold it away and bring it back with Show me the result again.
2. What we heard. Everyone in the round, listed by person. Check each name off as the group goes around, so the quietest voice isn't skipped. Checkmarks are saved.
3. Workshop notes. Everyone can read them. Only the Vote Admin can write them.

Then choose WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

• Vote again. Revise the proposal or Leave the proposal unchanged. Either way, the group votes again. A revision creates a new version of the proposal, and the old wording stays in its version history.
• Log the decision. The group is settled.
• Return to proposal list. Everything stays saved.

Helpful questions for the workshop: What would need to change for you to support this? Are several people raising the same concern? Is this the right proposal, or the right time?

Running Another Round

Once a round is closed, Start a new round of voting is available again from the Topic Options menu. Each round keeps its own method, voters, agreements, counts, and declaration. Your group's full path to an answer stays on the record.

Multiple rounds are not a setback. Round 1 often surfaces confusion and concerns nobody had voiced. Later rounds show whether the changes addressed them. That's how agreements become real, not performative.

Stepping Away and Coming Back

Finish voting later, Stop and return to proposal list, and Return to proposal list don't change the round. They clear the group's screen and the Vote Admin role. An open round stays open.

To return, choose Go to current voting round from the Topic Options menu. You'll pick up exactly where you left off and become the Vote Admin.

If Something Looks Off

• A menu option is greyed out. Hover over it to see why.
• The screen is greyed out and paused. JOD pauses quiet connections. Press Unpause Now. Your vote is fine.
• You closed voting, but the screen didn't move on. Reload the page. The round is almost certainly counted and ready for your declaration.
• Someone can't vote. Check that they're on the voter list for this round. The list locks when voting opens, so add them in the next round.
• Turnout is higher than the vote count. People who stood aside count toward turnout but not toward the tally.
• The round needs to end without a decision. Close the voting and declare Not Reached or No Decision. It's recorded, and you can always run a new round later.

Learn about Decisions → | Learn about Actions → | See the workflow →

Updated on: 27/09/2026