Getting my Volunteer Organization to Implement Online Voting – Part 1

by Michael

I posted the following to Quora to see if I can help solve a problem for a group I work with. I figured if I get a solution, I’ll post it here and maybe it’ll help someone else.

I belong to an 37,000 member alumni organization that needs a minimum number of 100 voters at an election that takes place during their annual meeting. People do not have to attend in person but can vote by proxy.

The problem is that we hardly ever get 100 people to show up and we barely get 100 proxies every year. How can we get greater participation?

I believe the current method is a hindrance.

It involves emails, tweets, and facebook posts from our alumni office directing people to a webpage. I think this first part is good but I think the second part is where the problem lies.

On the webpage mentioned above, is a link to a PDF ballot that must be printed; filled; and submitted via fax or as a scanned attached via e-mail. Also on that page, there are links to the candidate bios and voting issues.

The first barrier is that the page has these links, but the PDF does not. So there is a lot of clicking involved.

The second barrier is that the PDF is non-fillable so information has to be entered by hand, after reading everything online.

The third barrier is that after having to click around to find the information they need online; and then printing the form and filling it out by hand; the person’s only option is to submit by fax or email.

I don’t know if anyone has the patience to do all these steps. It involves different modalities and too many mini-steps. It’s almost as if people are directed to something that is supposed to save time. but ultimately takes time.

I think all of this can be addressed though online voting where everything is done in one spot, in one modality.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this. Agree? Disagree? What kind of online solutions exist? How can I get people onboard?

UPDATE 1:
I found this document on Secure Electronic Voting online. It’s from the 7th Computer Security Incidents Response Teams Workshop Syros, Greece, September 2002 and it outlines some of the key issues with electronic voting.

Generic voting principles:

Only eligible persons vote
No person gets to vote more than once
The vote is secret
Each (correctly cast) vote gets counted
The voters trust that their vote is counted

Secure Electronic Voting – 7th Computer Security Incidents Response Teams Workshop

UPDATE 2:
I found this other document on the interwebs talking about using LimeSurvey (which comes with cPanel) for online voting. It addresses the above by talking about configuring your LimeSurvey survey’s metadata so that your survey:

is anonymous
has a specific starting and closing date and time
is configured as “closed access” i.e. only people with a valid “token” can access the survey

How to use LimeSurvey for Online Elections and Voting

This may be a solution. Any thoughts?

See part 2 here.

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Getting my Volunteer Organization to Implement Online Voting – Part 2 »

Dr. Mike Urmeneta is an award-winning researcher, educator, data scientist, and storyteller with a passion for helping institutions improve and succeed through agile and collaborative approaches to research and analysis. He has extensive experience working with universities and has been recognized for his work by leading organizations such as the Association for Institutional Research, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, and EDUCAUSE. His diverse background and ability to build strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders have allowed him to make a significant impact on institutional policies, procedures, and priorities. Most recently, as an instructor for AIR’s Data Literacy Institute, he has been preparing leadership teams to embrace a culture of data-informed decision-making. Prior to this role, he served as the director of analytics and business intelligence for the New York Institute of Technology, providing strategic guidance to various departments, the president’s office, and the board of trustees. Dr. Urmeneta has also held various administrative roles at New York University, including in admissions, financial aid, enrollment and retention, alumni relations, and development. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Management from NYU, and a Doctor of Education degree from Northeastern University, where he received the Dean’s Medal for Outstanding Doctoral Work for his research on first-generation college students.