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Why are there no good online voting/election tools that are also free?

5 pointsby sthlmalmost 14 years ago
(Alternative question: If there are, can you point them out?)<p>I'm looking for a voting/election tool to conduct a large variety of surveys. The type of survey may be anything from less serious ("pancakes or cookies at the party?") to more serious/official/anonymous (elections). Surveys are typically small: there are few questions with possible answers being mostly yes/no or a list of candidate names (elections). The number of participants in the surveys might become large (&#60;10 to &#62;1000). Fancy features (e.g. statistics, user behaviour, ...) are not required. For the more serious surveys/elections, reliability is a key requirement.<p>There are a large variety of survey tools online available, which I would categorize like this:<p>1. Professional: They offer a range of plans (usually a basic plan/trial is free) and are rich in features; they typically work well. PROBLEM: Usually expensive; their low-end (free/cheap) plans are often limited in users (e.g. free for &#60;30 participants).<p>2. Hobby: These are limited in features but free; they don't always work well. PROBLEM: Unreliable. It's hard to get people to vote as it is. People receiving multiple invitations to vote is problematic. People receiving no invitation to vote is unacceptable in some cases (e.g. elections).<p>I'm a firm enemy of NIH, so it would be preferable if some alternative could be found.

4 comments

calebhicksalmost 14 years ago
Because investing the time to create a secure, usable voting system takes time, energy, and financial resources.<p>Few people are willing to do that much work for no financial reward.
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nudgealmost 14 years ago
Why would there be such a thing? Would you create a service with that kind of value (and actual running costs) and give it away for free?
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trickjarrettalmost 14 years ago
This is an app idea I've turned over a hundred times but never dove into.
BenSchaechteralmost 14 years ago
If you're looking for a few quick poll questions, take a look at <a href="http://gopollgo.com" rel="nofollow">http://gopollgo.com</a>