Responding to a consultation

A consultation is a structured question set that an organization publishes to gather citizen input before making a decision — a curriculum review, a policy change, a budget priority ask. Unlike a petition (which is a binary "I support this"), a consultation is a form you fill in, one response per person.

Every consultation on CivicOS goes through the same lifecycle:

• Draft — the organization is still preparing the questions. Not visible to citizens.
• Published — open for responses.
• Closed — no more responses accepted; the organization is reviewing.
• Outcome published — the organization has posted a summary of what citizens said, what they decided, and what happens next.

Finding consultations

• The Consultations tab in the top nav shows every open consultation.
• Each consultation card shows the organization, the title, a short summary, and the closing date if one is set.
• Consultations you've already responded to are marked so you don't double-answer.

Requirements to respond

• A verified email — same rule as commenting or signing petitions.
• Nothing else. Any verified user can respond to any consultation, regardless of which community they live in. Community tags on consultations are audience labels, not gates.

If a consultation is tagged for a community you're not part of, you can still respond — but keep in mind the organization is looking primarily for input from that community.

Filling in the form

1. Open the consultation.
2. Read the description and any linked context.
3. Answer each question. Question types you'll see:
   • Short text — a sentence or two.
   • Long text — up to a few paragraphs.
   • Single choice — pick one option.
   • Multi choice — pick several options.
   • Yes / No — pick one.
4. Required questions are marked with *. You can't submit without answering them.
5. Click Submit.

Once you submit, your response is final for this consultation. There's no unsubmit and no edit.

Why one response per person

CivicOS enforces one response per verified account per consultation. This is deliberate — if the same person can fill the form ten times, the data is noise and the outcome is meaningless. Organizations rely on that guarantee to make decisions.

Trying to submit twice returns an error: the response you already saved stands.

What happens after the consultation closes

• When the organization closes the consultation, you get a notification saying it's no longer accepting responses.
• When the organization publishes the outcome, you get another notification. This is the "close the loop" moment — a summary of what citizens said, the decisions the organization made, and the next steps.
• Outcome pages are public. Anyone can read them, forever. That's the point: the record of what happened after citizens participated.

Frequently asked

Are my answers anonymous? No. Your responses are tied to your account, same as your comments and signatures. The organization sees who answered but the public-facing outcome page only shows aggregated numbers, not individual responses.

Can I see what other people answered? Not while the consultation is open. When the outcome is published, the organization typically shares aggregated statistics ("62% said…"). Individual answers stay private.

What if the questions are unfair or leading? Flag the consultation using the ⋯ menu. A moderator will review the consultation itself, not your response.

What if I disagree with the decisions the organization made? The outcome page is the record. If you disagree, use the other tools: raise an issue, sign or create a petition, or comment on the representative's page.