Today, the best solution to these problems is often a wireless electronic voting system with a handsets or voting “clickers” issued to each delegate. The systems are available for rent and can be implemented cost effectively as a turnkey service.
Examples of Electronic Voting with Handheld Keypads or “Clickers”
The Sinsinawa Dominicans, sisters of a faith-based community, have repeatedly used an audience response system to elect their leaders and decide important governance issues. The sisters estimated that utilizing a response system saved them about twelve hours of meeting time. They no longer had to spend time counting paper ballots. Votes were private, but immediately tabulated by the electronic voting system.
The Delta Gamma sorority has experience similar results at their Convention. They use a weighted voting process where some delegate votes count differently as part of the tabulation. The electronic system helps avoid the significant time required for paper ballots or roll-calls. Handsets are issued to each delegate and tabulated instantly with the appropriate weight.
Dozens of local DG chapters use the systems for selecting new member during their recruitment programs. Voting time is cut by over 50 percent. Many other organizations have utilized these systems with similar results. The amount of time and money saved makes this module, along with an audience response system, a must-try for any organization.
Efficient Elections
Audience response systems not only speed voting on Constitution and Bylaws changes, they even have the capability to significantly improve the accuracy and time required for leadership elections. Using handheld keypads, delegates can select one or more candidates for election to office. Those selections are immediately weighted and tabulated by the computer controlling the electronic vote.
Ballots can be cast anonymously or linked to a roster for a complete audit trail. There is no time wasted by the physical collection of the ballots or counting the tally for each candidate. Participants simply enter their candidate selections and results are generated within seconds. This allows the group to conduct more business in a single meeting with a higher productivity.
Security and Accuracy
Electronic voting systems are highly secure. Transmissions are encrypted and each handset provides a confirming message to each voting delegate. Results are stored in a encrypted redundant databases and backed continuously as the meeting unfolds. This redundancy means there is no need to worry about lost or misplaced ballots. The software collects, stores, and analyzes the ballots consistently applying the voting rules and weights. This prevents attempts to “stuff” the ballot box or vote multiple times.
Voting algorithms can also be implemented with quality response systems. The system can track what percentage of votes was cast for each option and keypads can be clocked in an out to help keep an accurate track of quorum requirements.
Delegate Voting Software Applications
Option Technologies offers a number of proprietary software tools to implement efficient electronic voting. The OptionPower Delegate Voting Module application supports both roster-based and anonymous voting. It delivers on-screen results in a wide variety of formats with statistical widgets and pass/fail indicators. This system delivers digital and printed reports with results in Excel, Word and other convenient formats.
The voting ballots and results appear on-screen and, if desired, can be projected on a public screen for every audience member to view. Projecting the ballots eliminates the cost of printing paper tabulations. It also removes the hassle of distributing, collecting and processing ballot forms. This saves a significant amount of time particularly with large voting populations. The module also supports complex elections for multi-candidate offices or Boards.
Electronic voting results are immediate and accurate even with thousands of voters. Each attribute of the software has been designed to optimize the voting experience and reporting results to leaders and attendees.
Problems with Traditional Voting Methods
Standing votes are ineffective because they are not private and allow error when people refuse to vote because they do not want to stand or get tired and sit before being counted. In addition to this, the number of people standing is often miscalculated. Similar problems arise with votes cast by show of hands.
Roll call voting, in these situations, eliminates privacy which can reduce accuracy of votes or decrease participation because voters may be afraid of judgement from other attendees. Voting via acclamation, or stating “yes” or “no”, is ineffective since some people speak louder or softer which prevents all of the votes from being weighted equally. Voices may even trail off before they reach the presiding officer; this gives those in closer rows more chance of influencing the outcome.
Paper ballots offer the privacy so many delegates desire; however, they are the most time consuming method. Votes must be written, collected, tallied, possibly recalculated, and shared. This introduces a significant chance for error in calculation and reduces the amount of time delegates can spend debating and deciding critical issues.
Reasons to Implement Electronic Voting:
1. More Time for Important Matters: Traditional voting require significant time to gather and tabule votes. With the use of electronic voting system, organizations can save time by eliminating tedious counting procedures. The member’s vote is simply recorded electronically where it can be displayed immediately when the voting window closes.
2. Improved Security: The use of electronic voting reduces the risk of unwanted attendees casting their votes. Handsets are issued only to authorized voters and the system provides for encrypted data transmission and storage with full redundancy.
3. Accuracy: Electronic keypads eliminate the chance for error by decreasing the opportunity to miscount votes by hand.
4. Privacy: If desired, each voter is able to cast their vote independently and privately, which encourages people to vote their preferences without fear of reprisal or peer pressure.
These are some of the key considerations related to electronic voting for associations and unions.
