What setting can be used to pre-populate the ranking?

[David A. Kronman]

I thought I've used some configuration setting with ranked voting that saves the effort of having to add each of the candidate choices to the ranking box before actually ranking these. In the past, my voters have simply been taken to a pre-populated ranking box where they can start ranking without the extra step of adding each individually first.

I can't seem to find anything and pretty sure I've done this in the past. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[Zee Spencer]

Hi!

That is correct, previously there was two different ways to allow candidates to be ranked on OpaVote. The one you are describing was the "Ranked Simple" contest. We discontinued the use of Ranked Simple because:

1. Prefilled ballots may influence voter behavior in unexpected and surprising ways

2. There were a number of accessibility issues for voters using assistive devices

We are considering the implications of offering randomly prefilled contests. Once we've had a bit more time to chew the cud on point 1, design a solution that adequately protects against those concerns, and create the appropriate educational documentation to support election managers in making the tradeoff decisions between blank and  prefilled and randomized contests  we may wind up offering something similar in the future.

Team OpaVote

- Zee