You can try integrating it with the Shortcodes plugin for Elgg. Its a porting of the entire wordpress shortcode system to Elgg. All you need to do is just just register the shortcode with add_shortcode()

This would be a perfect solution for me.  I installed the plugin but the shortcode still shows up as just text and not the poll.  Please help.  thanks

Hi bliggitty,

This is strange. On GitHub you mention that this is happening in blogs. I've tested the plugin there (both in posts and comments) and don't see any issues. What other plugins are you running? And while you're there, could you triple check that the plugin has been activated.

bliggitty and I figured out what was going on over on github. Your Poll Embedder plugin folder must be named poll_embedder. I've uploaded a new release, version 0.1.1, which should unzip with the correct folder name. I've also updated the documentation with installation instructions which should make this requirement clearer.

Thanks again bliggitty for your help! :)