Fairness
A win here
has to mean something
These awards are decided entirely by the public, which only works if the count can be trusted. Everything below is a mechanism that is actually in place, not an intention.
What stops it
Seven things
that hold the result up
One vote per person, per business
Before a vote counts, the voter confirms a one-time passcode we text to their mobile. That verified number is what the vote is tied to, and the database itself refuses a second vote for the same business. That is a constraint on the data, not a check in the code that somebody could forget to run. You can back as many different businesses as you like; you just cannot back the same one twice. Very occasionally, where texts are not getting through, we may verify by email instead. That is our decision to make and it is not something a voter can ask for or switch to.
Your number is stored unreadable
The number used to verify a vote is turned into a one-way fingerprint, and it is the fingerprint the vote is recorded against. It is enough to tell one voter from another and to catch a second attempt on the same business, and it cannot be reversed back into a phone number by anybody who obtained it.
The deadline is the deadline
Whether voting is open is decided by the server, every single time, from the published dates and the cycle status together. A countdown on the page is decoration. A window that has not been configured is treated as closed, so the failure a mistake causes is always "too early" and never "too late".
No running total, ever
We do not publish vote counts: not while voting is open, not when it closes, and not on a winner’s page afterwards. A visible score turns a ballot into a bandwagon, and a final score turns a win into a league table. Nominees are listed alphabetically for the same reason.
Suspicious voting is watched for
Automated voting and mass submissions are monitored for and blocked. We can see the shape of the voting on an award (how fast it arrived, and from how many separate sources) without being able to see who anybody is.
Nothing here is for sale
Entering is free, staying on the ballot is free, and there is no placement, position or category that can be bought. Winners may buy a trophy or a package afterwards if they want one, and that happens only after the result is already decided.
A suspect vote is voided, not deleted
When something does not look right, the vote is marked void and stays on the record with the reason. Nothing is quietly removed, which is what makes a recount reproducible: the same votes, counted again, reach the same answer.
Who decides
There is no
judging panel
Nobody at My Local Awards picks a winner, scores an entry or breaks a tie on taste. The business with the most verified votes in its award wins it.
What we do instead is the administration: checking that a nomination points at a real business, that the business has actually accepted its place, and that the votes counted are votes from real, separate people. That is the whole of our involvement in the result.
It also means a business that mobilises its customers well does better than one that does not, and we think that is the right answer. The award is for the businesses a community will actually stand up for.
If something looks wrong
Tell us,
and we will look
If you think votes in an award are not what they appear to be, say so while voting is still open. That is when it can be dealt with properly. We can see the pattern of voting on an award even though we cannot see who anybody is.