Condorcet Internet Voting Service

Most users use the existing CIVS web server. However, the software is available for installation elsewhere, subject to certain restrictions described in the included README file.

To download the latest released version of the CIVS software, click here:

See the file INSTALL for installation instructions. New releases of the software are announced here and sent in email to the CIVS users mailing list.

Recent updates:

• 2.12:
  • Drag-and-drop voting UI
  • Support for test polls in which ballots are uploaded.
  • Record start time of polls.
  • Better write-in filtering.
  • Fixed interaction with rigorous SMTP servers.
• 2.11:
  • Elections are now called "polls" uniformly, per a user suggestion.
  • Results are now cached, which should improve server performance a great deal for large polls.
  • Schulze/beatpath algorithm now uses "against" preferences in addition to "for" preferences. It now tends to agree with CIVS RP more often, perhaps because it no longer throws away information that CIVS RP uses.
  • All completion methods are now in a standardized form, which makes it easy to add new completion methods. It requires writing a Perl package that implements rank_candidates and print_details, and modifying two tables at the top of the "results" script.
  • Some formatting cleanup of code.
• 2.10:
  • Elections with write-ins now have voting initially disabled. It can be enabled explicitly from the control page. This allows write-ins to be on the same footing as other choices.
  • The election results page has a progress bar, which gives reassuring feedback for the more expensive completion methods.
• 2.9:
  • Added filtering of HTML tags to remove possible XSS attacks, etc. Most useful HTML markup still permitted.
  • Various cleanup of code and documentation.
  • Fixed a small but crippling bug in restricted release of results.
• 2.8:
  • Better checking of email addresses to prevent sending bogus emails.
  • Voter emails now come from CIVS supervisor instead of election supervisor.
  • Cleaned-up completion algorithm code allows adding new completion algorithms more easily.
  • Corrected description of runoff.
• 2.7:
  • Ability to release election results only to a limited set of users.
  • Better client-side sanity checking at election creation.
  • Previewing of election description and choice list.
  • Another completion algorithm (runoff)
  • Better factoring out of completion algorithms to allow future algorithms to be added more easily.
  • Allow voters' identity to be revealed as an election option
  • Mail to voters is now HTML+ASCII (should be made optional) to help get through spam filters.

The current snapshot of the source tree is also available. Note that the source tree often contains code that has not yet been pushed to the server and that may not be ready for general release.

CIVS is research software. It is distributed free in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. In no account will the authors or anyone else, including Cornell University, be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.