Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you run races with “None of the Above”?
• What does “write-in scores not counted” mean?

How do you run races with “None of the Above”?

Some elections require including “None of the Above” (NOTA) as an option. On BetterVoting.com, you can include NOTA by simply adding “None of the Above” as a candidate. If NOTA wins, the election may need to be repeated. If NOTA receives a majority but does not win, the election would proceed according to your organization’s bylaws.

Most voting methods on BetterVoting allow voters to support multiple candidates, which can include NOTA. For example, in an Approval voting election, a voter could select both a candidate and “None of the Above.” This aligns with Equal Vote’s principle that voters should be able to express their full and honest opinions, and that their vote should always be able to make a difference—even if their favorite candidate can’t win.

What does “write-in scores not counted” mean?

When write-in candidates are enabled for a race, voters can add candidates that aren’t on the official ballot. Before these write-in candidates appear in results, an election administrator must review and approve them. This prevents misspellings, duplicates, and joke entries from cluttering the results.

A “score” in this context is one voter’s rating of one candidate. For example, if three voters each rated an unapproved write-in, that’s three scores not counted. If one voter writes in two candidates and neither is approved, that’s two scores not counted. The message tells you how many of these individual ratings were excluded from the tabulation because they were cast for write-in candidates that have not been approved. This can happen because:

• The admin hasn’t reviewed write-ins yet. Write-in candidates start unapproved and must be explicitly approved by an admin before they are included in results.
• The admin chose not to approve a write-in. For example, joke entries or candidates who are ineligible may be intentionally excluded.

If you are an election admin, you can review and approve write-in candidates from the admin panel by clicking the pencil icon next to any race with write-ins enabled.