Association Ballot Manager Knowledge Base

Help for running cleaner, more organized association elections.

Use this guide to understand ABM features, product upgrades, State Packs, license renewals, roster-size options, Pro security tools, and common troubleshooting steps.

Quick start

Start here before launching your first election.

ABM is designed to organize the pieces that usually make association elections difficult: voter rosters, notices, documents, voting windows, state-specific profiles, quorum visibility, and post-election records.

Install and activate ABM

Install the Association Ballot Manager plugin, then confirm your WordPress site timezone and email settings before creating a live election.

Create your election

Enter the election name, voting dates, close time, timezone, eligibility instructions, voter-facing notices, and any election documents.

Import or update the voter roster

Use the CSV roster importer to add eligible voters. Confirm names, email addresses, unit/lot references, and voting weight fields before launch.

Test before sending live notices

Send a test email, open the voter-facing election page, verify document links, and confirm ballot access before notifying the full roster.

Track, close, and preserve records

Use the dashboard to monitor status, close the election when appropriate, and preserve exports or reports for board review and association files.

Core features

What ABM helps you manage.

The core workflow keeps elections organized from setup to close. Upgrade products add capacity, compliance profiles, and advanced tools where needed.

Election setup workflow

Create elections with structured fields for names, dates, voting windows, timezone settings, instructions, notices, and voter-facing content.

CSV voter roster import

Import or update voter records using a CSV file rather than manually rebuilding the roster for every election.

Election documents

Upload documents such as candidate statements, notices, meeting packets, rules, or supporting files and display them to voters from the election page.

Email notices

Use branded election email notices for test and live communications. Always test email deliverability before launching an important election.

Results and exports

Close elections and preserve records for the association’s files, board review, and election history.

State Pack pathways

Add state-specific election profiles through individual State Packs, or unlock all state profiles with an active All States or Portfolio license.

Pro Bundle security tools

Secure election workflows with Pro Bundle upgrades.

Pro Bundle adds advanced election controls for customers who want stronger ballot-access protections and better administrative traceability.

Tokenized ballot links

Generate voter-specific ballot access links so voters can reach the correct election workflow without exposing generic access paths.

Hashed ballot credentials

Store ballot credential references in a safer hashed form rather than relying on plain reusable identifiers.

Audit logging

Record important election actions and administrative events to help preserve a clearer election history.

Products and upgrades

Which ABM product do you need?

The Home page can summarize the products, but separate pages are still useful for purchase decisions, search traffic, support links, email links, and product-specific explanations.

Product Use it when Purchase path
State Packs You need one state-specific election profile and one year of updated State Pack downloads. Browse State Packs
All States Compliance Pack You want all state profiles unlocked while the annual license is active. View All States
Pro Bundle You need quorum tools, tokenized ballot links, hashed ballot credentials, audit logging, advanced exports, automated notices, and replacement-ballot workflows. Purchase Pro Bundle
Roster Size Upgrades Your election roster exceeds the included capacity and you need a larger voter limit. Compare roster sizes
Portfolio / Management Company You manage larger portfolios and want Portfolio access plus all-state coverage while active. View Portfolio
One-time setup and migration help You want human help configuring an election, getting started, or migrating from another process. Get help
State Packs

State-specific profiles and annual update access.

Individual State Packs are downloadable WordPress plugin ZIPs. Purchased packs can keep working after purchase. Annual renewal controls access to newer annual State Pack versions and updated downloads.

Installed packs keep working

ABM should not disable an installed State Pack simply because update access expires. The safer model is that the purchased version remains usable, while future updates require active update access.

All States and Portfolio licenses

An active All States or Portfolio license can unlock state profiles without installing each individual state-pack plugin.

Tip: If a purchased state does not appear available inside ABM, confirm the State Pack plugin is installed and active, or confirm the All States / Portfolio license is active.

Rosters

Roster imports and roster-size upgrades.

Roster-size products are license-based annual upgrades that expand voter capacity for associations with larger elections.

Community Election Roster Size

Useful for smaller communities that need more room than the base roster limit.

Purchase Community Roster

Association Pro Size Roster

Designed for associations with larger voter lists and more frequent election activity.

Purchase Association Pro Roster

Portfolio Size Roster

Built for larger portfolio-style operations that need a higher roster capacity.

Purchase Portfolio Roster

Troubleshooting: If a roster import fails, check for required columns, duplicate email addresses, unsupported characters, missing voter identifiers, or spreadsheet formatting that changed ZIP codes/unit numbers.

Licenses and renewals

How annual licenses affect access.

License-based products renew annually. Active licenses unlock paid features. Expired licenses should stop unlocking paid features, while already-installed State Pack ZIPs should not be remotely disabled.

License products

  • All States Compliance Pack
  • Pro Bundle
  • Community Election Roster Size
  • Association Pro Size Roster
  • Portfolio Size Roster
  • Portfolio / Management Company

Common license issues

  • License key was entered with an extra space.
  • Subscription expired or renewal payment failed.
  • The wrong website is trying to use the license.
  • Cache is showing an old license status.
  • The store and plugin are using mismatched product slugs.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and what to check first.

An election page is not showing correctly.

Confirm the election is published or active, the close date has not passed, the shortcode/page is present, and the voter-facing page is not cached. Clear site cache and test in a private browser window.

Election documents do not download.

Check that the document exists in the ABM election record, the file was not deleted from the Media Library, protected-download rules are active, and server security plugins are not blocking the request.

Live email notices are not arriving.

Send a test notice first. Confirm the WordPress site can send mail, check spam folders, verify the sender domain, and consider using a transactional mail service if the host’s default mail delivery is unreliable.

Quorum tools are locked.

Quorum is a Pro Bundle / Portfolio feature. Confirm the Pro Bundle or Portfolio license is active and has not expired. Refresh license status after renewal.

Pro security tools are not visible.

Tokenized ballot links, hashed ballot credentials, and audit logging are part of the Pro Bundle feature pathway. Confirm the license is active and that ABM core and Commerce Bridge are running compatible versions.

A State Pack appears missing.

If using an individual State Pack, confirm the state-pack plugin ZIP is installed and active. If relying on All States or Portfolio, confirm that license is active and the ABM plugin has refreshed license status.

A roster upgrade does not apply.

Confirm the correct roster-size license product was purchased, the license key is active, the subscription has not expired, and the ABM site is checking the same store/license endpoint used at checkout.

A product button sends users to the wrong place.

Check the product slug on the ABM website. ABM retail links should point to the current product or landing page URL, such as /product/pro-bundle/, /state-packs/, /roster-size-upgrades/, and /one-time-election-setup-help/.

Page titles are appearing above imported retail pages.

Use the Divi page settings or theme layout settings to hide page titles. If the imported page includes ABM scoped CSS, it may also hide titles on ABM retail pages, but theme settings can override this.

Best practices

Recommended checks before a live election.

Pre-launch checklist

  1. Verify election name, voting window, close date, and timezone.
  2. Import a small test roster first.
  3. Confirm all voter emails are formatted correctly.
  4. Open voter-facing pages in a private browser.
  5. Send a test email notice.
  6. Confirm document links and instructions.
  7. Confirm Pro/license features show correctly before live launch.

After closing

  1. Confirm the election status changed to ended/closed.
  2. Export results and relevant records.
  3. Save board-facing records to association files.
  4. Document any irregularities or corrections.
  5. Retain license and State Pack purchase records for future updates.

Need help?

Get one-time election setup and migration help.

For $179.95, customers can purchase focused help for configuring an election, importing roster basics, checking launch settings, or migrating from a prior process.

ABM is a software workflow tool. Associations should still follow their governing documents and applicable law.