> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hackersquad.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Community Voting

> Enable attendee voting so the community can help rank projects alongside judges

Community voting lets event attendees cast votes for their favorite projects, adding a crowd-sourced signal alongside [judge scoring](/event-management/judge-scoring). When enabled, community votes are factored into the [Leaderboard](/event-management/leaderboard) rankings.

## Enabling community judging

Community voting is configured in your event's settings:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Event Settings">
    Navigate to the [Event Settings](/event-management/event-settings) tab in your event's management dashboard.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable community judging">
    Toggle **Community Judging** to on. This makes the voting interface available to registered attendees.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure max votes per user">
    Set the maximum number of total votes each attendee can cast across all projects. This prevents any single user from dominating the results.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure max votes per project">
    Set the maximum number of votes any single attendee can give to one project. Setting this to 1 means each person gets one vote per project.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>You can enable or disable community voting at any time during the event. Existing votes are preserved if you toggle it off and back on.</Note>

## How voting works for attendees

When community judging is enabled, registered attendees can vote on projects from the event page:

1. **Browse projects** — attendees see all submitted projects for the event
2. **Cast votes** — click the vote button on projects they want to support
3. **Vote limits enforced** — the system prevents voting beyond the configured per-user and per-project limits
4. **View leaderboard** — attendees can see the public leaderboard with community vote counts

## Vote limits

Vote limits help keep community voting fair and meaningful:

| Setting                   | Description                                             | Example            |
| ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| **Max votes per user**    | Total votes one attendee can cast across all projects   | 5 votes total      |
| **Max votes per project** | Maximum votes one attendee can give to a single project | 1 vote per project |

<Tip>A common configuration is 5 max votes per user and 1 max vote per project — this encourages attendees to spread their votes across multiple projects they find interesting.</Tip>

## Vote aggregation in the leaderboard

Community votes are aggregated and displayed on the [Leaderboard](/event-management/leaderboard):

* **Vote count** — the total number of community votes each project received
* **Alongside judge scores** — both judge scores and community votes are shown so managers can weigh each signal
* **Combined ranking** — the overall leaderboard ranking factors in both judge scores and community votes

## Monitoring votes

From the event management dashboard, you can monitor community voting activity:

* **Total votes cast** — visible in the event stats dashboard under Project stats
* **Per-project votes** — visible on the leaderboard and in project details
* **Voting progress** — track how many attendees have used their votes

<Warning>Community voting is public — attendees can see vote counts. If you want judges to score independently without community influence, complete judge scoring before enabling community voting.</Warning>

## Next steps

<Columns>
  <Card title="Event Settings" icon="gear" href="/event-management/event-settings">
    Configure community judging limits and other event settings.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Leaderboard" icon="ranking-star" href="/event-management/leaderboard">
    View combined rankings from judges and community votes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Judge Scoring" icon="star" href="/event-management/judge-scoring">
    Review judge scores alongside community votes.
  </Card>
</Columns>