Success Story: Minnesota Nurses Association

Summary

The Minnesota Nurses Association needed a voting platform to help facilitate more secure and efficient Board meetings and votes. The organization chose SBS’ Real-Time Election Voting Software, and has quickly integrated it into a variety of operations because of the efficiency it delivers.

About Minnesota Nurses Association

The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) stands strong for nurses, patients and quality healthcare everywhere. The union represents 22,000 dedicated RNs and other healthcare professionals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Iowa, and promotes their professional, economic and personal well-being through collective action. Since 1905, MNA members have effectively influenced healthcare policy and practice, advanced excellence in nursing and advocated for social justice and public health.

For more information, visit https://mnnurses.org/.

The Situation

Since 1996, MNA has worked with Survey & Ballot Systems to conduct its Board and leadership elections, held every 2-3 years. Per union bylaws, ballots are mailed to all members, and some electronic ballots also are sent to members who use them.

In addition, MNA decided in early 2021 that it needed a new way to hold votes during its Board meetings. As the pandemic forced meetings to be held virtually, via Zoom, more members began attending and participating. While MNA welcomes that engagement and input, it made it harder for Board members to vote securely and efficiently when making decisions. A new system was needed that could enable only authorized voters to cast a ballot. In respect of everyone’s time, MNA also needed those votes to be conducted, counted and reported efficiently, to streamline their meetings.

The Solution

Because of MNA’s long-term partnership with Survey & Ballot Systems, it participated in early-stage beta testing for the real-time voting solution- a software-as-a-service platform enabling voting groups to securely conduct their business regardless of whether they connect in person, virtually or in a hybrid meeting. Samantha Riazi, Director of Operations for MNA, dove in head-first in this process, using the tool to run live meetings and conduct votes with a few of her colleagues. She and MNA provided helpful feedback and helped the platform become what it is today.

Results and Benefits

Since its introduction, the real-time voting platform has integrated seamlessly into MNA’s operations. The platform is now being used as part of each month’s Board meeting.

• Board members, who have a wide range of technology experience, have found the solution to be very easy to learn and use.
• All meetings and votes all have proceeded smoothly, with no interruptions or difficulties.

• Meeting administrators have appreciated how easy it is to add and edit motions during meetings, depending on where the discussion leads. They also like the ability to delete motions that aren’t voted on, so meeting minutes and records are accurate.

• By using the platform’s texting feature, all authorized voters receive a unique notification on their smartphone when a motion is open. They then simply click the notice, tap their vote and submit it. This vote-by-text feature adds to the platform’s ease of use, and enables participants to use one device to follow the meeting and another (a smartphone) for voting.

It’s all added up to smoother Board meetings, allowing for non-voting participants to attend without any concerns around how to maintain integrity of the voting process. MNA plans to expand on this success by making it available to more voting groups.

“Since we introduced DirectVoteLive, our meetings are operating more efficiently and securely. The ROI has been really strong so far.”

Samantha Riazi, Director of Operations at Minnesota Nurses Association