How Plataforma per la Llengua runs online voting for its 26,000 members across four states using Vocdoni

On March 21st, 2026, Plataforma per la Llengua held its Annual General Meeting and executive board elections at the Ateneu Barcelonès in Barcelona. Some members were in the room. Others voted from Perpinyà, l'Alguer, València or other parts of the World. Every one of them had an equal vote.

The organization has 26,384 members, primarily distributed across six Catalan-speaking territories in four states: Spain, France, Italy, and Andorra, along with additional members living elsewhere around the world. This geographic dispersion is precisely why, since 2022, the organization has run its annual assemblies and board elections in hybrid format, combining in-person attendance in Barcelona with digital participation from anywhere in the world, on equal terms, using Vocdoni's online tecnhology.

What is Plataforma per la Llengua

Plataforma per la Llengua was founded in 1993 by a group of people in Barcelona with a conviction that the Catalan language belongs to everyone who speaks it, wherever they live. Its mission is to make Catalan a living language of daily life, in schools, in business, on product packaging, in video games and in public administration.

The people who make up this organization elect the people who lead it. That election needs to work for all of them, not just the ones who can be in Barcelona on the election day.

"At Plataforma per la Llengua we use Vocdoni because it allows us to organise votes with the participation of members spread across all the Catalan-speaking territories on equal terms. The system offers an instant count that greatly facilitates the management of assemblies and guarantees a transparent process. We also particularly value that it is a product fully available in Catalan."

— Rut Carandell (Director of Plataforma per la Llengua)

The challenge: running elections for a membership spread across four states

For most associations, running an Annual General Meeting is a logistical challenge. For Plataforma per la Llengua, geography makes it something more fundamental.

A member in Palma, a member in Perpinyà, a member in l'Alguer: they all have a stake in who sits on the governing board. Asking all of them to travel to Barcelona is not realistic. In-person-only elections exclude the majority by default.

Postal ballots solve the travel problem but introduce weeks of delay and a growing administrative burden as membership grows. For associations with members in multiple countries, international postal returns add cost, unreliability and delays that can stretch across several weeks after an assembly that has already closed. The results arrive after the decisions have been made.

An organization that advocates for equal access across a dispersed linguistic community cannot run its own elections in a way that leaves most of that community out.

How online voting works for an association running a hybrid AGM

Since 2022, Plataforma per la Llengua has used the Vocdoni App to run its general assemblies and board elections in hybrid format.

Here is what that looks like in practice, from setup to result.

For administrators: The association’s team prepares the election in the Vocdoni App ahead of the event. They upload the member list, configure the ballot, and manage the process throughout the session (starting, pausing, and closing voting as needed). Results for digital participants are tallied instantly. No IT specialist is required.

For members attending in person: Members at the Ateneu Barcelonès vote on the day using a simple physical method, raising colored cards.

For members voting remotely: Members who cannot attend physically receive a link and enter their membership credentials. They access the ballot, review it, and cast their vote. No app to download. No account to create. Just one link and a few minutes, from any device in any browser.

For the assembly: Digital votes are tallied automatically in real time. The team managing the event can see participation figures as the session progresses. When voting closes, results are available immediately. No waiting. No manual counting.

The question "did the vote count correctly?" is answered by the system itself, not by a vendor's assurance. Any member, any observer, any independent auditor can verify that every vote was recorded correctly, without seeing who voted for what. That is what verifiable digital voting for civil society organizations means in practice.

Why it matters that the platform is available in Catalan

Plataforma per la Llengua specifically names, among their reasons for using Vocdoni, that the platform is fully available in Catalan.

Associations with multilingual memberships, or with members whose first language is not the administrative language of their country, benefit from voting platforms that can meet voters in their own language. For any association with an international or linguistically diverse membership, it is worth asking whether the voting platform puts a language barrier between the member and the ballot.

Vocdoni is available in multiple languages. The fact that Catalan is one of them is, for Plataforma per la Llengua, the detail that closes the argument.

Which associations face the same online voting challenge?

The challenge Plataforma per la Llengua faced is the same faced by any association whose members are spread across more than one city, region or state and who deserve a genuine say in how the organization is governed.

Professional associations and chambers with members in different provinces or countries face this at every AGM and board election. The member in a regional city or town who cannot travel to the capital should not lose their vote as a result. Online voting for professional associations with dispersed membership is increasingly how statutory elections are run.

Sports and sector federations that govern through affiliated clubs or regional chapters often cannot bring all decision-makers to one location. Hybrid online voting for a federation general assembly or congress is the practical answer, especially when delegates are distributed across the country or internationally.

Cultural and civil society organizations with diaspora membership face exactly the situation Plataforma per la Llengua faces. Members living in countries other than the one where the organization is based need a genuine path to participation. Digital voting for civil society organizations with international membership is not a technical nicety. It is the only way to make elections represent the full membership.

Trade unions and cooperatives with members across multiple worksites or regions share the same structural problem. Member participation in online elections is higher when voting takes seconds from a phone, and higher participation means elected leaders govern with a clearer mandate.

The COIB nurses association ran their 2025 AGM on the same platform, a professional body with statutory obligations and the need for results that every member could trust. In July 2022, the same year the partnership with Plataforma per la Llengua began, Vocdoni ran the Advisory Council elections for the Penyes Barcelonistes at FC Barcelona. Many more organizations across different sectors have run their elections the same way.

Different organizations. Different contexts. The same principle: members spread across different places should not have to choose between attending in person or not being able to vote.

From their assembly to yours

Start your first election free at app.vocdoni.io. The setup takes minutes. Elections under 100 members are always free, no credit card required. Public pricing covers organizations of any size. No sales call needed.

Your members voted to give someone a mandate. Make sure all of them had the chance to participate.