How to search Jira by votes and voter
Short answer
Jira Cloud JQL has two vote fields. votes is a number: how many people voted for an issue. voter is an identity field: who voted. Unlike the watcher / watchers split, both directions actually work on a regular Jira Software or Core project — voter takes =, !=, IN and IS EMPTY; votes takes >, >=, = and ORDER BY. A function, votedIssues(), separately returns issues the current user has voted for.
Searching by vote count: the votes field
| Query | Result on Jira Cloud |
|---|---|
votes > 0 | Valid. Issues with at least one vote. |
votes = 0 | Valid. Issues with no votes. |
votes >= 1 AND votes <= 5 | Valid. JQL has no BETWEEN operator; chain two comparisons instead. |
votes between 1 and 5 | Invalid: "'between' is a reserved JQL word. You must surround it in quotation marks to use it in a query." |
votes is EMPTY / votes is not EMPTY | Both parse as valid. |
votes > 0 ORDER BY votes DESC | Valid and sortable, highest vote count first. |
votes = currentUser() | Invalid: "A value provided by the function 'currentUser' is invalid for the field 'votes'. Votes must be a positive whole number." |
voteCount > 0 | Invalid: "Field 'voteCount' does not exist or you do not have permission to view it." There is no field by this name; use votes. |
Searching by who voted: the voter field
| Query | Result on Jira Cloud |
|---|---|
voter = currentUser() | Valid. Issues the current user voted for. |
voter != currentUser() | Valid. |
voter in (currentUser()) | Valid. |
voter is EMPTY | Valid. Issues with no votes at all. |
voter = "712020:xxxxxxxx-xxxx..." | Valid. A literal Atlassian account ID works, not just currentUser(). |
voter in membersOf("group-name") | Valid, if the group exists. Issues voted for by anyone in that group. |
voter > 5 | Invalid: "The operator '>' is not supported by the 'voter' field." Comparison operators belong to votes, not voter. |
hasVotes = true | Invalid: "'true' is a reserved JQL word. You must surround it in quotation marks to use it in a query." There is no boolean has-votes field either. |
This is the opposite situation from watcher/watchers, where only one field of the pair supports identity and the other supports counting. Here both exist and both work — at least on a regular Jira Software or Core project. One Atlassian Community thread about Jira Product Discovery boards specifically says JQL there can filter on voter but not on vote count; this guide was tested on a standard project, not a JPD board, so if you're on JPD, verify votes there yourself before relying on it.
The votedIssues() function
| Query | Result on Jira Cloud |
|---|---|
issue in votedIssues() | Valid. Same issues as voter = currentUser(), as a function. |
issue in votedIssues() AND statusCategory != Done | Valid. Functions combine with other clauses normally. |
issue in votedIssues("someuser") | Invalid: "Function 'votedIssues' expected '0' arguments but received '1'." It only ever means the current user; there is no way to pass another person's votes to it. |
votedIssues() is EMPTY | Invalid: "Expecting operator but got '('." It is a list-returning function, used after IN, not a field you can compare directly. |
Two things that limit what you'll actually see
- Reporters can't vote for their own issue. Per a long-standing Atlassian feature request, JSWCLOUD-17007, the rule traces back to treating the initial report as an implicit vote. So a backlog item will read
votes = 0/voter is EMPTYeven if the reporter cares the most about it — that's expected behavior, not a broken query. - Seeing who voted needs a permission. Atlassian's REST API docs for issue votes note that a user without the "View voters and watchers" project permission does not get voter details back. Your JQL can still match on
votercorrectly; what the issue view displays in its Voters panel is a separate permission check. - Voting can be switched off site-wide. It's controlled by "Allow users to vote on issues" in Jira's General configuration. If it's off,
votesstays 0 andvoterstays empty everywhere — the fields still parse fine, they just never hold data.
Common questions
How do I find my most-wanted backlog items?
votes > 0 ORDER BY votes DESC, optionally scoped with project = KEY AND statusCategory != Done.
Can I combine voter and votes in one query?
Yes, they are independent fields: voter != currentUser() AND votes >= 3 finds issues with several votes that are not one of yours.
Can an Automation rule react to a new vote?
No. Like watching, voting has no trigger in Jira Automation's trigger list, so there is no native way to notify someone the moment a vote is cast; only the stored votes count and voter list are queryable after the fact.