If you’ve ever run an election, pageant, or “best of” contest on campus, you know the drill. Someone builds a Google Form. Votes come in. Somebody — usually one overworked exco member — sits with a spreadsheet at midnight trying to tally them by hand. And no matter how careful that person is, someone always asks: “Are you sure our candidate didn’t actually win?”

That question is exactly why voting exists on Packet Africa today. It wasn’t a feature we planned from day one — it came from watching a faculty organizer get creative with payment links, stringing several together just to fake a voting system because nothing built for that existed. We looked at that workaround and thought: let’s just build the real thing.

So if you’re a student union, a faculty association, a pageant committee, or a media page running an awards contest, here’s exactly how to set up a paid or free voting campaign on Packet Africa — with a live leaderboard nobody can quietly edit.

Where to find it

Log in to app.packetafrica.com.
On the left sidebar, click Voting (the ballot icon).
Click + Create Voting Link in the top-right corner.

That’s it — you’re now on the campaign builder, which walks you through four short steps.

Step 1: Set up your campaign info

This is the public face of your contest, so take a minute here.

Campaign Title: the name people will actually see — e.g. “Face of Faculty of Sciences 2026” or “Best Hostel Association Award.”
Description: state your voting rules clearly. Who’s eligible, how long voting runs, what determines a winner.
Custom URL Slug: this becomes your shareable link — packetafrica.com/vote/your-custom-slug. Packet checks availability in real time as you type, so you’ll know immediately if your preferred slug is free.

Once that’s filled in, hit Next.

Step 2: Decide how voting works

This is where you choose the rules that keep your contest fair — and, if you want, revenue-generating.

Pick a vote cost:

Free — ₦0 per vote. Best for student union elections and straightforward polls where the point is participation, not fundraising.
Fixed Price — set an amount per vote (e.g. ₦50 or ₦100). This is the model most pageants and “Best of” contests use to turn voting into a fundraiser.
Voter Decides — voters choose their own contribution per ballot. Good for fundraising-style campaigns.

Then configure the rules:

Allow buying multiple votes — let voters buy blocks of votes (10, 50, 100) at once, which is where paid contests really start generating revenue.
Allow voting for multiple contestants — useful if your contest isn’t winner-takes-all.
Allow voting in multiple categories — for contests with several award categories running at once.
Limit to one contestant per category — keeps categorized awards fair.
Voter limit — choose No limit for open public voting, or One vote per person if you need strict identity-enforced voting (recommended for actual elections).
Voter pays transaction fee — decide whether you or the voter absorbs the processing fee.

You can also click + Add Custom Field if you want to collect extra details from voters — matric number, department, phone number — depending on how much verification your contest needs.

Click Next when you’re done.

Step 3: Add your contestants

Now bring your candidates or nominees into the system. If your contest has award categories (Best Dressed, Most Innovative, Department President, etc.), toggle Enable Contestant Categories first so you can group them properly.

You have two ways to add contestants:

Manually, one at a time:

Click + Add Contestant.
Enter their name and a short bio or manifesto (up to 500 characters).
Assign them to the relevant category (or categories).
Upload a headshot, or pull one straight from your Image Wardrobe if you’ve already uploaded it before.
Click Save. Repeat for each contestant, and drag-and-drop to reorder the list however you like.

In bulk, with a CSV: If you’re running a contest with dozens or hundreds of nominees, click Bulk Upload Contestants (CSV) and upload a file with name, description, and image_url columns. Packet parses and adds them all in seconds — a lot faster than typing in fifty names one by one.

Step 4: Set your leaderboard, dates, and payout

This last step is what makes the whole thing trustworthy.

Show Live Results Publicly — check this box if you want a real-time leaderboard visible to everyone as votes come in. This is the anti-rigging feature: nobody can quietly move numbers around, because everyone is watching the same live count. If you’d rather keep results under wraps until an award ceremony, leave it unchecked.
Start Date & End Date — schedule exactly when voting opens and closes.
Payout details — select your bank, enter your account number, validate it, and that’s where your voting revenue lands.
Banner & Logo — upload a wide banner for the top of your public voting page and a square logo for branding.

Click Create Voting Link, and your campaign is live.

Why this matters more than it seems

A Google Form can collect votes. It can’t stop someone from editing a response sheet at 2am. Packet’s live leaderboard removes the “trust me” factor entirely — the count is public, updating in real time, the same for everyone watching. For elections, that’s the difference between a result people accept and a result people contest. For paid pageants and awards, it’s also the difference between quiet fundraising and genuinely competitive, high-revenue voting — because when people can see they’re close to winning, they buy more votes.