Why can't people vote? Troubleshooting voting

Start with the quick checks. If voting still fails, find the symptom, or the exact message people see, below. To test any fix, open Preview in the Campaign Builder and use the Current Time dropdown to view the campaign during the voting period.

Quick checks

The vote button doesn't appear

• Voting isn't enabled on this widget. A campaign can have several Entry Display Widgets, such as a gallery, one per round, or a winners' gallery. Each one people vote in needs Enable Voting checked on its Voting tab.
• The voting period hasn't started, or has ended. The vote button only shows between the voting start and end times. Change the dates, or remove the start time to open voting straight away.
• The time zone isn't the one you expect. Voting times use the campaign's time zone, not yours. Check it in Campaign Settings → General.
• The button starts hidden and nothing shows it. With Start with vote button hidden checked (Voting → Advanced), an Action Widget must show it, for example WHEN the voter form is successfully submitted, THEN show the vote button. Check that the action names the right form and the right Entry Display Widget. The action can't show the button outside the voting dates or on a widget without voting enabled.
• Your changes aren't live. Click Publish Changes. Edits to a published campaign don't reach the live page until you do.

Entries are missing, or the gallery says "No entries"

• Visibility. The Entry Display Widget, or a container it sits in, may have Visibility dates that haven't started, or be set to show in the builder only. Check the Visibility settings. See Widget visibility.
• Filters. In the widget's Filtering section, Hide unapproved entries hides anything you haven't approved, and a wrong category, label or votes filter can hide everything. Clear the filter or approve the entries.
• The wrong list. Check that List Display points at the list your entries are in.
• Preview vs. live entries. Entries added in Preview mode don't appear on the live campaign, and entries added on the live campaign don't appear in Preview mode. Check the gallery in the same mode the entries were added in.

"An error occurred with your vote. Please refresh the page and try again."

This is the default wording, which you can change on the widget's Text tab, so voters may see your own version, or an older "Please try again." The browser console may show widgets.entry.voting_error alongside this message. The vote was refused for one of these reasons:

• Widget visibility dates. The Entry Display Widget, or a container it sits in, has Visibility settings that don't include the current time, for example a start date that hasn't arrived. Change or remove them. See Widget visibility.
• Outside the voting schedule. The vote was cast before the voting start time or after the end time, in the campaign's time zone.
• Voting is disabled on the widget. Check Enable voting on the widget's Voting tab.
• The reCAPTCHA check failed. See the reCAPTCHA section below.
• The voter's limit is used up. See Choose what the limit counts.

If the error continues after you've checked these, contact support with the campaign link and the entry people were voting for.

Voters see "You already voted"

This is the restriction's error message (you can change its text), so it usually means the limit is working:

• They've used their allowance. Check what your limit counts. "Per entry" limits votes on each entry; "per list" limits the total. See How limits combine.
• They share a device or a network. Anonymous Fingerprint recognizes voters from anonymized browser and IP data, so people in the same household, office or school can count as one voter and share one allowance. Raise the limit, for example to several votes per entry each day, or switch to Email Login (Max plan), which counts each verified email address separately. Don't remove the restriction altogether: that leaves the contest open to bots.
• The next voting period hasn't started. A per-day limit resets when the date changes in the campaign's time zone, not the voter's. A limit that repeats every 24 hours resets 24 hours after the vote.
• The message stays after the limit should have reset. Ask the voter to clear their browser's cache and cookies, then try again.

To check whether a voter's votes counted, open the entry's Entry Details and click the vote count.

Email Login codes don't arrive

• Email Login isn't configured. If the Configure Email Login button in the widget's Voting Restrictions is red, the code email hasn't been set up, and nobody receives a code. Click it and follow Setting up Email Login for voting.
• The code went to spam. Ask voters to check their spam or junk folder. Test with a personal address from a different provider.
• The voter's mail provider blocks it. This can happen with Hotmail and Outlook addresses and with company mail. The provider's security settings stop the code email from reaching the inbox. If it's a business or company address, the voter can ask their IT team to add your code email's From Email Address as a safe sender. Otherwise, the voter can use a different email address.
• The code expired or was already used. Codes are 6 digits, expire after 15 minutes and work only once. The voter needs a new code.

Votes fail when reCAPTCHA is on

reCAPTCHA (Scale plan and higher) can block real voters when the keys or settings are wrong:

• The campaign's domain isn't on the key. Google returns "ERROR for site owner: Invalid domain for site key." Add the domain your campaign runs on, such as your landing page domain or your own site, to the key's domain list in Google's reCAPTCHA settings.
• The key needs migrating. Older "Classic" keys return a message that "reCAPTCHA is changing its terms of service". Follow Google's instructions to migrate the key to Google Cloud.
• The check is too strict. Lower the Sensitivity Level slider, or turn reCAPTCHA off. Google decides who looks like a bot, so support can't see why a particular voter was flagged.

See How to create Google reCAPTCHA keys.

"Your plan does not include the use of this widget."

The campaign contains a widget or feature your plan doesn't include. Delete it or upgrade. The common cases:

• Photo or video entries on the Launch plan. On Launch, the Entry Display Widget shows text entries only, for example a name or story contest. Showing photos or videos, and collecting them with an Upload Field, needs the Build plan or higher.
• The Entry Search Widget on a plan below Max.
• After a plan change, such as the end of a trial. See the next section.

Email Login stopped working after a plan change

Email Login is a Max plan feature. A VIP trial includes every feature, so a campaign built during the trial can use Email Login, and loses it when the account moves to a plan below Max, such as Build. The same happens after any downgrade from Max.

To fix it, either upgrade to Max, or change the widget's Restrict by setting to anonymous fingerprint (Launch plan and higher) and click Publish Changes. Anonymous Fingerprint is less secure than Email Login. See How voting restrictions and limits work.

Voters have to fill in the form again

With a form-first flow (Start with vote button hidden plus an Action Widget), the vote button is hidden each time the page loads, so returning voters submit the form again. If that's a problem for your contest, contact support.

When someone opens a shared entry link, the entry's pop-up can show without its vote button until the form is submitted. The Enter to Vote template now shows the form inside the Entry Display Widget for a shared entry. See How to collect voter data.

FAQs

An entrant says their votes weren't counted. How do I check?

Open the entry in Entry Details and click the vote count to see every vote with its date and time. A screenshot of "You already voted" only shows that someone reached their limit, not that a vote was lost.

Why does voting work in Preview but not on my live campaign?

Your latest edits probably aren't live. Click Publish Changes in the Campaign Builder, then test the live page again.

Can support tell me whether bots voted?

Support can look at vote times and anonymized IP addresses with you, but can't prove who cast a vote. See Reviewing and exporting votes for the signs to look for.

Related resources

How to set up voting

How voting restrictions and limits work

Setting up Email Login for voting