Digital voting is revolutionizing decision-making in schools, universities, and colleges worldwide. What was once a time-consuming, paper-heavy and expensive process is becoming transparent, lean, and truly inclusive. This transformation is most successful when institutions combine careful planning, robust solutions, and collaborative teamwork.
As Isabel De Cavel from GO! onderwijs van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap shared in our podcast interview:
“The most important investment was time: every hour we spent on preparation saved us work later on.”
This article will walk you through why and how digital voting unlocks new opportunities for all types of educational organizations—and how you can make it a success.
Digital voting dramatically lowers barriers:
Even major university campuses and school districts are embracing secure online voting for everything from faculty elections to inclusive student polls.
These use cases highlight how online voting adapts to diverse education settings: From day-to-day school decisions to high-stakes university ballots, improving participation, security, and flexibility at every level.
GO! onderwijs van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap is a leading example of this transformation. As the autonomous educational institution for the Flemish government, GO! coordinates over 1,000 institutions, with more than 720 schools for more than 340,000 pupils and 35,500 staff.
Isabel De Cavel, lawyer at GO!, describes the challenge of managing elections across such a vast network:
"We have many schools and various other educational institutions, which makes coordination complex."
The move to digital voting was years in the making. After carefully preparing the requirements (see our guide: How to Create a Successful Tender), GO! selected NemoVote as their partner. Why? As Isabel says:
"It was very important to see the solutions live, to assess usability and understandability for our users."
And in the end:
"We were still able to define individual details together, such as precise terminology or additional features."
The process paid off: Online voting was rolled out to hundreds of schools and thousands of eligible voters - From kids to teachers to administrators.
Digital voting breaks down the physical and temporal barriers of in-person ballots. For schools and universities with remote students, global alumni, or busy faculty, it’s a game-changer.
With each vote traceable, tallied securely, and anonymized, trust in the process rises. Real-time result reporting leaves no room for doubt.
Accessible interfaces, support for multiple languages, and mobile voting make participation easier for everyone, including students or staff with disabilities or limited tech skills.
State-of-the-art encryption and authentication (such as Magic Link) protect against fraud and tampering. All actions are logged, ensuring only authorized users vote - and only once. More on security: Online Voting Security – NemoVote Insights
No printouts, no manual tallying, no lost ballots. Schools and colleges save hours of staff time and significantly reduce costs and environmental impact.
"All requirements were recorded in detail, both functional (e.g., user-friendliness, language) and non-functional (data protection, security)."
- Isabel De Cavel
Implementing online voting comes with its own hurdles.
Read our full article Online Voting challenges and legal situation
Here is quick summary of challenges:
How GO! Handled It:
For step-by-step guidance on supplier selection and process setup, check out: Online Voting: Tips & Tutorials for NemoVote
Depending on your voting needs, you might be able to make a quick decision. Google, ask you LLM of choice, or befriended organisation. Then test it out, buy your license and use it for your voting.
However, if you want decide for an online voting app you'd be using almost forever or you plan a big election, such as council elections, you might have to get into a tender process. In this case, follow these steps in our quick summary:
Consider every use case: Who votes? When? On what devices? What legal/regulatory requirements must be met?
Isabel on GO!’s approach:
“The basis is a detailed requirements document that we continually reference.”
Research providers with proven experience in education—request demos, review references.
“Most of the research was conducted online. We looked at other public authorities and educational projects that use digital voting systems, but we stayed focused on our own specific regulations.”
Configure ballots, upload voter lists (NemoVote supports Excel import), finalize access methods (e.g., Magic Link email), run test votes, and provide training resources.
Educate participants early—explain processes, privacy, troubleshooting. Open channels for user questions and feedback.
Monitor participation, collect feedback after voting, and adapt processes for future elections.
More practical advice? Explore these guides:
Digital voting is reshaping participation across education, from school boards to university campuses and alumni networks. The lessons from GO! Belgium show that with structured planning, strong teamwork, and the right tools, institutions can move beyond paper and bureaucracy to a more inclusive, secure, and agile future.