Community Forum Module

The Community Forum allows citizens to participate in public discussions, share ideas, and collaborate with others. It also includes a Voting System where admins can create polls and users can vote on civic matters.

✅ Core Features

Create and view discussion threads
Comment on threads
React to comments (e.g., upvotes)
Report inappropriate content
Admin/moderator moderation tools
Optional: thread categorization
Voting System (Polls)

📊 Voting System Overview

The Voting System allows community participation through polls posted by admins.

Key Capabilities

Admins can:
Create a poll with a title, description, options, and optional expiry date.
View results live or after poll closes.
Citizens can:
View active polls.
Select and submit a vote (one vote per user).
See real-time or final results (based on settings).

🧩 Database Tables (Extended)

forum_threads
forum_comments
forum_reactions
forum_reports
polls
poll_options
poll_votes

👥 Roles & Permissions

Role	Forum Features	Polling Features
Citizen	Post, comment, react, report	View and vote in polls
Admin	Moderate content	Create, close, and review poll results

🔄 Module Flow

Forum:
Thread → Comment → React → Report → Moderate
Polls:
Admin creates poll → Users vote → Results stored and displayed

🔗 Integrations

Authentication: Voting and posting require login.
Notification: Users get notified about new polls or voting results.
Admin Dashboard: Includes poll creation UI and report dashboard.

📈 Future Enhancements

Anonymous vs. public voting
Poll tagging (e.g., Education, Infrastructure)
Commenting under polls
Analytics on poll participation by ward/region