cannot save data using a nested form with the cocoon gem - forms

Question

I am having trouble saving data using a nested form with the cocoon gem, and haven't been able to find a solution on SO.
I have two models: Requests has_many Votes.
I would like to create a single form that saves a new request, and a new vote simultaneously. The issue is that currently neither a new request nor a new vote is saved using the below code. I've pasted the terminal output below for completeness.
Terminal output:
Started POST "/requests" for ::1 at 2015-06-25 15:41:17 +0100
Processing by RequestsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"FCHcO1RLg2zr6mo8MpmVNMEasvPrAqyHAY5d2SdrlDUn83ppnsRhQUU33YiOZ84c4z1xMYQI4gzjLymN1NL3fw==", "request"=>{"firstname"=>"sdf", "lastname"=>"sf", "email"=>"sdf#lskdjf.com", "request"=>"lskdj", "description"=>"sldkjf", "votes_attributes"=>{"1435243272926"=>{"comment"=>"sadflkj", "email"=>"lkfj#sldk.com", "beta"=>"1", "_destroy"=>""}}}, "commit"=>"Save"}
(0.2ms) begin transaction
Vote Exists (0.2ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "votes" WHERE LOWER("votes"."email") = LOWER('lkfj#sldk.com') LIMIT 1
Request Exists (0.1ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "requests" WHERE LOWER("requests"."email") = LOWER('sdf#lskdjf.com') LIMIT 1
(0.1ms) rollback transaction
Rendered requests/_vote_fields.html.haml (0.9ms)
Rendered requests/_vote_fields.html.haml (1.0ms)
Rendered requests/_form.html.haml (8.4ms)
Rendered requests/new.html.erb within layouts/application (9.2ms)
Completed 200 OK in 118ms (Views: 105.8ms | ActiveRecord: 0.5ms)
Models:
class Request < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :votes, dependent: :destroy
accepts_nested_attributes_for :votes
end
class Vote < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :request
end
Requests controller
class RequestsController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_request, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]
def create
#request = Request.new(request_params)
if #request.save
redirect_to #request
else
render 'new'
end
end
private
def set_request
#request = Request.find(params[:id])
end
def request_params
params.require(:request).permit(
:id, :firstname, :lastname, :email, :request, :description, :votes, :tag_list,
votes_attributes: [:firstname, :lastname, :email, :comment, :beta, :id, :_destroy] )
end
end
requests/_form.html
= form_for(#request) do |f|
.field= f.text_field :firstname, placeholder: "Requester firstname"
.field= f.text_field :lastname, placeholder: "Requester Lastname"
.field= f.text_field :email, placeholder: "Email"
.field= f.text_field :request, placeholder: "Request"
.field= f.text_field :description, placeholder: "Description"
#votes
= f.fields_for :votes do |vote|
= render 'votes/vote_fields', :f => vote
.links
= link_to_add_association 'add vote', f, :votes, :render_options => { :wrapper => 'inline' }, partial: 'votes/vote_fields'
.action= f.submit "Save"
requests/_votes_fields.html.haml
.nested-fields
.form-inline
= f.text_field :comment, :placeholder => 'comment'
= f.text_field :email, :placeholder => 'email'
= f.check_box :beta, :placeholder => 'beta', :as => :boolean
.links
= link_to_remove_association "remove vote", f
votes and model validations:
vote.rb
belongs_to :request
before_save { self.email = email.downcase } #to ensure email uniqueness
validates :email, presence: true, length: { maximum: 250 }, uniqueness: { case_sensitive: false }
validates :request_id, presence: :true
request.rb
belongs_to :user
has_many :votes, dependent: :destroy
accepts_nested_attributes_for :votes
before_save { self.email = email.downcase }
validates :request, presence: true
validates :firstname, presence: true, length: { maximum: 50 }
validates :lastname, presence: true, length: { maximum: 50 }
validates :email, presence: true, length: { maximum: 250 }, uniqueness: { case_sensitive: false }
acts_as_taggable