Strawpoll schedule: how deadlines and closing dates work on StrawPoll
A StrawPoll schedule has no built-in end: the platform's own help says polls run indefinitely unless the creator sets a deadline date. Once that date passes, voting stops on the poll. The deadline lives behind the options drop-down on the top right corner of each poll page, it can be changed at any time, and setting it to the current moment closes the poll immediately.
Written by BuyPollVotes editorial desk | Last checked
The default: no clock at all
A fresh poll on StrawPoll carries no expiry at all. The service states plainly that its polls run indefinitely and that a deadline is something the creator adds, not something the platform imposes. By default the duration of a poll is not limited, which makes the StrawPoll schedule a blank calendar until you write on it. That is a real difference from platforms such as Discord or Instagram, where a poll shuts itself down after a fixed window whether you like it or not. Here the clock only starts when you wind it yourself.
The blank calendar cuts both ways. Leave a poll open with no date and it keeps collecting votes for as long as the link travels, which is exactly what you want for an ongoing question and exactly what you do not want for a contest with a closing day. Setting a deadline fixes that: pick a specific date, and after that date it will no longer be possible to vote on the poll. Everything about a StrawPoll schedule follows from those two states, open forever or shut on a date you chose.
- No deadline means the poll accepts votes indefinitely, in the platform's own words.
- A deadline date ends voting automatically once that date has passed.
- Nothing sits between those two states: there is no hidden seven-day or thirty-day default window.
Set a deadline in four steps
The whole StrawPoll schedule lives behind one menu. The setting to change a poll's deadline sits hidden behind the multi-purpose options drop-down on the top right corner of each poll page, and the same menu appears on the voting page as well as on the results page. You do not need to rebuild the poll or dig through account settings, because the control travels with the poll wherever it is opened.
Because the deadline is not permanent, the four steps below are repeatable as often as the vote demands. You can shorten a window, push a date out when turnout runs behind, or pull it in to now when the vote has run its course. Change the date and the poll obeys the new one from that moment, which is what makes the StrawPoll schedule a living setting rather than a one-time choice made when you create the poll.
- The deadline menu appears on the voting page and on the results page.
- Editing an existing deadline takes the same path as setting the first one.
- No account settings are involved; the control travels with the poll itself.
Closing a poll before its date
Closing early is the case people actually ask about, and StrawPoll answers it directly: if you want to close a poll immediately, set the deadline to the current time. The vote ends on the spot. There is no separate deletion routine to reach for and no waiting period while the platform processes anything; the poll simply stops accepting votes the moment the deadline catches up with the clock.
A poll ended this way is also reversible, which surprises people. Setting a deadline is not permanent and you can always change your deadline, so a close made in haste can be undone by pushing the date forward again. Treat the close as a door on a hinge rather than a wall: the StrawPoll schedule keeps responding to edits even after the poll has technically ended, and the only permanent thing about a deadline is the record of votes collected before it arrived.
- Set the deadline to the current time to close a poll immediately.
- Change the deadline later if the close happened too soon.
- The deadline menu works on both the voting page and the results page.
Dates, intervals and vote pacing
Dates matter beyond the closing line. A straw poll for dates, or any poll whose options are themselves days, behaves like any other StrawPoll: the schedule attached to it decides how long people can keep marking their choice. The options can be weekdays, session times or a shortlist of dates for a trip, while the deadline above them does the same job it does everywhere else on the platform, and a straw poll for dates still ends the same way.
Pacing sits alongside dates in the same settings. Creators can choose a setting that allows one vote per browser session, and the available voting intervals include once per minute, hour, day, week or month. Where stronger identity is wanted, there is an option so that only registered users with a valid email address can participate in the vote. Stack those switches and the StrawPoll schedule turns from a simple counter into something closer to a controlled window with rules on both ends of it.
- Voting intervals run from once per minute to once per month.
- One vote per browser session is a creator-side switch, not the state of every poll.
- Requiring registered users with a valid email address narrows who can take part.
The open source side: docs, code and the API
The open source question comes up often around this platform, and the honest answer starts with the API. StrawPoll documents its official API v3 as an OpenAPI Specification, renders that document to HTML for reading, and points developers at its repository on GitHub for the raw OpenAPI file and sample code. The documentation also invites users to add their own very short examples for basic requests in various languages, by way of a pull request.
A public, documented interface is not the same thing as an open source platform, and the distinction matters when a project depends on either. The published material describes documentation and sample code hosted on GitHub; it says nothing about the platform's own code being released under a licence. If your StrawPoll schedule needs to be driven by software, the API route exists and is documented end to end. If you were hoping for the full source, the documentation stops at the interface and goes no further.
- The API documentation is described via the OpenAPI Specification.
- The official StrawPoll API v3 sits on GitHub.
- Users can add short examples for basic requests in various languages via pull request.
The limits a deadline runs into
A deadline controls one thing: when the vote stops. It does not check whether the votes that arrived were honest ones. StrawPoll reserves the right to terminate your use of the service for violating any of the prohibited uses, and that is the enforcement lever sitting behind the schedule. The closing date ends the window, nothing more, and it says nothing about the quality of what the window collected.
The honest edges of any StrawPoll schedule look like this. The creator sets the date, the platform enforces it mechanically, and the quality of the result depends on the protections switched on at creation: the session limit, the interval, the registered-user requirement. None of those settings audits a vote after the fact, and no deadline feature promises anything about the people behind the votes. Where a contest rides on the outcome, the schedule is the frame, and the frame is not the picture.
- A deadline ends the window; it does not certify the tally inside it.
- The enforcement lever the platform names is termination for prohibited use.
- Protections on voting behaviour are separate settings, switched on when you create the poll.
What a voter sees when the date passes
Voters read the same schedule from the other side. While the poll is open, the voting page is the working surface: you pick an option and the vote lands. After the deadline date, voting is no longer possible on the poll, so the same address turns into a read-only record of what was chosen. The deadline menu, remember, sits on the results page too, which is where a creator usually is when the date arrives and the traffic keeps coming.
One address, two roles, is worth stating in the plainest terms. The vote address you shared behaves one way before the deadline and a different way after it, and the switch between the two is automatic. Nobody has to press anything for a StrawPoll schedule to close the door on time, and that is the quiet reliability the whole feature rests on.
- The vote address behaves differently before and after the deadline, automatically.
- After the date passes, the poll becomes a record rather than a ballot.
- The creator usually meets the deadline menu on the results page, after the close.
| Setting | What it does | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| No deadline | The poll runs indefinitely until you act | Default state, nothing to configure |
| Deadline date | Voting stops automatically after that date | Options drop-down on the poll page |
| Deadline set to now | Closes the poll immediately | Same drop-down, current time |
| Voting interval | Caps votes from once per minute to once per month | Poll creation settings |
| Registered voters only | Restricts voting to accounts with a valid email address | Poll creation settings |
How to do it
-
Open the poll
Open the voting page or the results page; the deadline menu is available on both, so start from whichever one you already have in front of you.
-
Find the options drop-down
Look at the top right corner of the poll page. The multi-purpose options drop-down hides the deadline setting, along with the rest of the poll's controls.
-
Choose a deadline date
Pick a specific date as the deadline. After this date it will no longer be possible to vote on your poll, so the date you enter becomes the last day of voting.
-
Close now if you need to
To end the vote immediately, set the deadline to the current time. The change is not permanent; you can always come back and move the date again.
Common questions
How do you close a StrawPoll poll?
Two routes close a poll: set the deadline to the current time for an instant close, or let the date you already picked arrive. The deadline control sits behind the options drop-down on the top right corner of the poll page, and it works from the voting page and the results page alike. Once the deadline passes, voting stops on its own with nothing left to press.
How long does a StrawPoll poll last?
As long as you leave it. StrawPoll says its polls run indefinitely unless a deadline is set, and by default the duration of polls on the platform is not limited. A poll without a deadline keeps collecting votes for as long as the link circulates, so the closing line exists only if you add one.
Can you change a deadline after the poll is live?
Yes. StrawPoll states that setting a deadline is not permanent and that you can always change it. The menu for that lives on both the voting page and the results page, so a window that turned out to be too short can be pushed out, and a poll that should have ended can be closed early.
Where is the deadline setting on a poll page?
Behind the multi-purpose options drop-down in the top right corner of each poll page. StrawPoll notes that the same menu appears on the voting page and on the results page, so the deadline can be edited from either one without hunting through account settings.
Is StrawPoll open source, or does it have an API?
An API, documented in public, rather than an open source platform. StrawPoll describes its API documentation via the OpenAPI Specification, keeps the official API v3 on GitHub, and invites users to add short examples for basic requests in various languages via pull request. The published material covers the interface; it does not say the platform's own code is released.
Can voting be capped at one vote per person?
Only through settings the creator switches on. Poll creators can require voters to be registered users with a valid email address, allow one vote per browser session, and pick a voting interval of once per minute, hour, day, week or month. Without those switches, the schedule controls when voting stops, not who votes how often.
Where these facts come from
- Strawpoll. strawpoll.com.
- Strawpoll. strawpoll.com/help/first-steps/.
- Strawpoll. strawpoll.com/help/how-to-set-poll-deadline/.
- Strawpoll. strawpoll.com/help/how-to-set-poll-deadline/.
- Strawpoll. strawpoll.com/help/how-to-set-poll-deadline/.
No deadline feature can verify who is behind a vote, and none prevents a second vote from another device where a protection allows it. The platform's settings can change without warning, so its own help pages stay the final word. Working around those checks is never taught, and poll votes are not sold.
X prohibits coordinating with or compensating others to inflate engagement metrics, and it names Polls among the features covered. The Pet Industry Business Awards name the consequence in their own contest: a business may be investigated, lose votes or be disqualified on reasonable evidence of purchased votes. No seller can stop an organiser from doing that.
Slido says it is alerted when an event gets an unusually high number of votes in a very short time, and Crowdsignal says its built-in measures detect patterns of potentially abusive voting. Ordinary participation arrives spread across the voting window, from different people at different moments. Nothing on this site is a method for getting a vote past a check, and a vote that a tool blocks does not count.
Organiser rules differ: the RSPCA Pet of the Year Awards allow extra votes through donations on their official mechanism, while OpenTable Australia treats a vote cast in exchange for money or a reward as null and void. Both are contest rules, not statutes, and whether payment is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. Orders are refused for any contest whose rules ban paid votes, and for political ballots.
Votes ordered for a poll that never appear on its count are refunded after the poll closes. A refund never covers an organiser's decision: Localsearch may void all votes for a disqualified nominee, and Mentimeter says a user whose access it cancels under its Acceptable Use Policy is owed no refund or compensation. No result is promised.