Appointing a Proxy
Last updated August 7, 2026
If you can't attend, you can assign your vote to another voter so they cast it for you, when your organization allows it. This is called a proxy appointment.
Where the proxy code comes from
From the voter who will vote for you. They generate it in their own voter portal and share it with you, and you enter it in your portal to complete the appointment.
- Ask the voter who will attend to share their proxy code with you. They will find it in their own voter portal, under Proxy voting.
- Sign in to your portal using your emailed link or your access code.
- Open Proxy voting, enter their code under Have a proxy code?, and confirm.
You will see a confirmation naming the person who will now cast on your behalf, and both of you receive an email confirming the appointment.
Why they issue the code: nobody can be signed up to carry someone else's vote without agreeing to it first. Sharing the code is how they agree.
Appoint early, not on the deadline
Appointments close when voting opens, or at the deadline your organization has set, whichever comes first. If voting opens ahead of the stated deadline, the deadline no longer matters and appointments are already closed.
Don't wait for the deadline. Appoint your proxy as soon as you know you can't attend. Once voting opens you can no longer appoint or change one yourself.
What you can and can't do
- You can appoint one person, not several.
- You can't appoint someone who has already appointed a proxy of their own.
- If you are already holding someone else's proxy, you can't hand your own vote on to a third person.
- Your organization may cap how many proxies one voter is allowed to hold, so a code can stop working once that person is full.
If a code is rejected, check it with the voter who gave it to you. They may have generated a new one, which immediately retires the old one.
Changing your mind
You can revoke the appointment yourself, from your portal, at any time up until voting opens. Your vote returns to you and you can cast it normally.
After voting opens, only an administrator can void a proxy, and they record a reason for doing so. If you need one voided at that point, contact the meeting administrator.
After you've appointed someone
They cast the vote, not you. If you try to vote yourself afterwards, the system won't let you.
You'll still receive the formal meeting notice, because notice is owed to every voter no matter how they plan to vote. You will not receive the voting invitation or reminder emails, because the person you appointed is voting in your place. If your inbox goes quiet after you appoint a proxy, that's expected, not a sign something went wrong.
The person you appointed casts once, and that single vote carries their own weight plus the weight of everyone who appointed them. When they cast, your weight is carried with it and you are recorded as represented on that question. If they never cast, no vote is recorded for you, so it is worth confirming they intend to attend.
A note on the word "represented": when your organization publishes proxy figures, voters are described as represented rather than voted. That's deliberate. It reflects who a proxy holder was standing in for, which is a slightly different question from who personally clicked the button.
Holding proxies for other voters and want to divide those votes between options? See splitting your votes.
Setting this up for your organization? See the administrator guide to proxy voting.