Votes

A small polling app: create a list of questions/statements, share a link, and let people join with a username and vote. Built with Next.js + MongoDB, ready to deploy on Vercel.

How it works

• You (organizer) log into /admin with a password and create a board (a name + how many votes each person gets). Participants supply the questions.
• A board moves through phases — every transition is a manual click; timers never auto-advance:
  1. Lobby — people open the link and join with just a username (no approval).
  2. Questions — you start this phase (optionally with a countdown timer); participants write questions live. You close it when ready.
  3. Review — questions are locked; nothing happens until you start voting.
  4. Voting — you start it (optional timer); each person votes for up to N different questions (one vote each). You close it when ready.
  5. Closed — results are visible to everyone.
• Timers are just a visible countdown to keep the room on pace — reaching zero does not close anything; you always close manually.
• Votes are not anonymous: once closed, everyone sees each question's tally and can open its list of voters. Each question also shows who wrote it.
• Voter pages update automatically as you change phases.

1. Set up MongoDB (Atlas — free tier is fine)

1. Create a free cluster at https://www.mongodb.com/atlas.
2. Create a database user (username + password).
3. Under Network Access, allow access from anywhere (0.0.0.0/0) so Vercel can connect.
4. Connect → Drivers and copy the connection string. It looks like mongodb+srv://user:pass@cluster.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority.

2. Run locally

npm install
cp .env.local.example .env.local   # then edit .env.local
npm run dev

Fill .env.local with:

Variable	What it is
MONGODB_URI	The Atlas connection string from step 1.
MONGODB_DB	Database name, e.g. voting (created automatically).
ADMIN_PASSWORD	The password you type to log into /admin.

Open http://localhost:3000/admin, log in, and create a poll.

3. Deploy to Vercel

1. Push this folder to a GitHub repo.
2. On https://vercel.com, Add New → Project and import the repo.
3. Under Environment Variables, add MONGODB_URI, MONGODB_DB, and ADMIN_PASSWORD (same values as your .env.local).
4. Deploy. Your admin area is at https://your-app.vercel.app/admin.

Notes

• Voters are identified by an httpOnly cookie set when they join, so one browser = one voter per poll. Usernames are unique per poll (case-insensitive).
• There are no user accounts — anyone with the link can join. Keep the admin password private; that's what protects poll creation and management.