E-Voting for Cooperative Elections. Elections and E-Voting: Legal Issues and How to Do It CEOs Under $2M SIG Meeting

Transcription

1 E-Voting for Cooperative Elections Elections and E-Voting: Legal Issues and How to Do It CEOs Under $2M SIG Meeting

2 Your Hosts: Ryan O Connor Cooperative Account Manager SBS Tim Madsen Marketing Manager SBS

3 SBS: Who We Are Third-party elections & voting systems since 1990 Helping co-ops of all sizes manage voting (50 US co-ops) Efficient elections, improving participation, increasing transparency Helping associations like yours

4 Part One: The Benefits of E-Voting

5 Encourages Participation Can increase election response rates Encourages younger members to participate Go green

6 Transparency Members observe the voting process first-hand Encourages 1 member, 1 vote Defense against costly lawsuits & speculation Image:

7 Accuracy, Reporting & Additional Features No rejected or invalid votes Results are automatic Guaranteed accuracy Real-time reporting Additional election features

8 Part Two: Setting Up E-Voting for Your Cooperative

9 Overview of E-Voting

10 Election Development Define elements and specifications of e-voting process Offices or bylaws up for vote Member awareness Open and close dates of the election Outline voter experience Image:

11 Member Database Making your member database your voter database Check for duplicates Verifying member addresses Only eligible voters in database Create election username & passwords Image:

12 Election Invitations

13 Voting Website Two goals: Streamline & Secure Make it intuitive Include only relevant election information 508 compliant Provide voter support Think about additional features

14 Secure Voting Transactions Unique voter login IDs & passwords bit SSL encryption Modern web framework SSAE16 (SAS70) audit & certification Secure enterprise datacenter Quality control procedures vs.

15 E-Voting Results & Reporting Provides the decisions and leaders for your cooperative Produce certified results Additional reporting for future decisions Image:

16 E-Voting Demonstration =%2fdirectvote75%2fdefault.aspx

17 Part Three: E-Voting Considerations

18 Bylaw & Legal Issues Check your state statutes Check your bylaws Check with legal counsel Image source:

19 E-Voting & Your Current Process E-Voting not a silver bullet Form a strategy A hybrid solution

20 Budget Considerations Vendor vs. in-house Web only or hybrid Self-administered vs. 3 rd party managed Complexity Membership size Image source:

21 Common Misconceptions About E-Voting 1. E-Voting will change the face of our board 2. E-Voting will ruin our annual meeting 3. We ve never had a problem we will be fine

22 E-Voting Best Practices Build an election process for YOUR members Create an intuitive e-voting process Make security a top priority Establish an awareness campaign & promotions

23 Part Four: E-Voting Success Stories

24 Dakota Electric Association - MN One of the largest electric cooperatives in Minnesota High number of members interacting via Internet Offer an additional voting method Needed to change state statute Increased traffic, participation, and understanding Image Source: mnbrighterideas.com/

25 Rio Grande Electric Cooperative TX Large land area in SW Texas Time-intensive election process Streamline election Enhance transparency Increased traffic, participation, and understanding

26 Online Voting Demos Online voting systems & software: Demos Presentations Board meetings Ryan O Connor contact info: 1. Telephone (612) roconnor@surveyandballotsystems.com

27 Q&A and Further Resources