Is Digital Voting Right for Your Election?

Nearly everything has moved online, and the digital world has become almost as real as the physical one. The rise of online voting has significantly enhanced engagement and streamlined voting procedures for many member-based organizations.

Let’s explore whether convenient online election tools are right for your association.

What Is Digital Voting?

Also called online voting, digital voting is a system that allows your members to conduct elections digitally and cast their votes online. A digital voting system requires specialized online voting tools to ensure ballot security and accessibility for all voters.

Why Associations Are Moving Toward Online Voting

In the last decade, many associations have shifted from onsite elections to a digital voting system. The main reason is transformation. Online voting holds the potential to transform the voting experience for everyone in your organization regarding convenience, participation, and satisfaction.

The Benefits of Online Voting

Digital voting offers many benefits for organizations.

• Accessibility: Online voting allows members to make their voices heard from any connected device, whether participants are local, national, or global. It also makes voting more accessible to anyone, including busy members, those living out of state or abroad, older adults, and participants with disabilities.
• Real-time participation: Participants can cast their votes digitally in real-time during an election or decision-making event.
• Clear results: A digital voting system simplifies complex elections, such as ranked or weighted voting, to eliminate confusion or guesswork.
• Enhanced access and security: Online voting lets organizations utilize specialized digital tools like single sign-on (SSO), QR codes, and embedded login links. These features ensure easy access for members and enhance the security of your election results.
• Reliable election process: With digital voting, organizations can easily verify eligibility and prevent duplicate votes.
• Advanced insight: Digital elections allow you to learn more about your members’ voting behaviors. Election analytics can show participants’ ballot access, daily response rates, communication preferences, and comparisons between online versus mail-in ballot submissions.
• Improved voter turnout: Organizations looking to improve voter participation can benefit from features like email or text message voting invites reminding members to cast their vote.
• Reach all attendees: With the ability to sign in from any connected device, your attendees can join the voting event from anywhere in the world. Involve every member in your conference room and over video chat to get input from your entire group.
• Increase engagement: Interactive elements like online voting can increase engagement during meeting times. Rather than talking to your members for an hour, give them a platform to voice their opinions and views, whether they’re attending in person or virtually.
• Keep voting events private and secure: Hosts and members can only access your voting events with a personalized username and password provided by SBS. Additionally, our platform has various security features to maintain your privacy. All data is encrypted and compliant with industry security standards, such as SOC 2, and we have 24/7 monitoring and intrusion protection.

What Types of Elections Are Good for Online Voting?

If your organization still relies on paper ballots or onsite voting, you may feel your in-person process is easier or more secure. So, how do you know if switching to a digital voting process is worth the effort?

Online voting is an excellent solution worth consideration — especially if you face any of the following scenarios.

Multi-Locational Membership

If you have members in many locations, online voting allows everyone to participate. With an internet connection and a compatible device, your members can cast their votes from anywhere in the world.

Large Elections

If you have a large election with thousands of votes, an online voting platform improves transparency. Each vote can be traced to its origin and accounted for, reducing risks of voter fraud and tampering. This added layer of accountability helps build trust among your members.

Immediate Results

Some elections require fast results. Often, you need this critical information for decision-making purposes. Online voting expedites the counting process and allows you to announce results within moments of the election closing. Digital voting also reduces the risk of human error caused by manual counts.

Budget-Conscious Elections

Online voting offers many budget-friendly features. If your organization has limited financial resources, digital voting eliminates the costs associated with a traditional election, including:

• Printing
• Mailing
• Event venue rental
• Additional staffing

Learn More About Online Voting Tools for Elections at SBS

If you are ready to create an online voting experience for your association, you need the proven processes and technological advancements of Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS). Our team’s decades of election expertise will help you find the ideal digital voting option for your organization. Contact us today to learn more.