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Survey & Ballot Systems 7653 Anagram Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7311 800-974-8099 surveyandballotsystems.com
Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association staff has nothing but high praise and positive marks for SBS work. Relationships are important to our organization and we feel that we have that with the SBS staff.
Brad Gaskill Chief Executive Ofcer Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association
Dear Reader,
Since 1990, our primary goal has been to help cooperatives connect with membership. Clearly, successful elections and voting events are keys to reaching this goal. Between the relationships we have established and our knowledge of the cooperative market, we have become aware of the industrys election challenges. More than ever, co-ops are under pressure to show that fair, non-biased voting is available to all members. Due to our distinct position as a provider of election services to cooperatives, we feel it our duty to share what we have learned. The Cooperative Election Handbook collects ndings from our years of experience and shares benets of well-run voting, common election misconceptions, and how to implement best practices. We hope you nd this content useful in planning your voting events and, as always, encourage you to reach out to us with your questions on the best ways to run your cooperative election. Sincerely, Survey & Ballot Systems 7653 Anagram Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7311 800-974-8099 surveyandballotsystems.com
Contents
Benets of Well-Run Elections............................................ 2 Common Election Misconceptions.................................. 6 Best Practices for Cooperative Elections................ 12
Keeping costs low for their member owners, implementing new technologies for greater efciencies, and complying with increased regulation are just a few of the increased challenges cooperatives are facing.
Boards often opt to outsource their organizations elections for the same reasons they outsource accounting or auditing services.
Taking all costs into consideration, a co-op might nd they can actually save money by changing their election method.
Cooperatives often mistakenly believe that outsourcing their election process or adding a new voting method will compromise the security of their elections.
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Having a clear list of objectives will help you dene the specic changes you need to make to your election process. It is also helpful to have an understanding of your election budget. Your available funding will determine the degree to which you will realistically be able to modify or enhance your election process. Dening the costs involved will also aid in your future budget planning and assist your accounting and nance department when it comes time to pay for materials or services.
Fair elections lead to increased voter turnout, engaged members, and stronger organizations.
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A key element of an open cooperative election is making sure that all members are aware of the upcoming election, when it will occur, and how to participate.
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Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you must have a data backup plan. What if something happens to your election data? Employing the use of an enterprise data center can help you monitor your web voting, provide co-location of voting records, and protect your data from being lost for any reason. By carefully handling member data, forming a chain of custody, establishing appropriate security measures, and backing up voting data, you will create an auditable, defensible election process. The gold standard for an auditable election process is SSAE 16 audit and certication. Certication according to the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 ensures that your process meets an auditable standard established by the American Institute of Certied Public Accounts. This auditable trail helps increase voter condence and the validity of election results.
Employing the use of an enterprise data center can help you monitor your web voting, provide co-location of voting records, and protect your data from being lost for any reason.
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Announcing Results
The nal step in planning your election is deciding when and how to announce the results. You should also determine the type and quantity of data reporting you want to obtain from your election effort. The announcement of voting results is an important event for your cooperative. The conclusion of an election may provide the co-op with new leaders that will shape it for years to come. It is important to plan and execute this step awlessly. Take the extra time to vigilantly judge, review, process, and tabulate your election data. Reports containing information beyond the basic election results can be extremely helpful when trying to analyze the results and make decisions for future elections. When planning your election, be sure to include all the elds necessary for your reports in your voter database. Doing so will allow you to lter the results and analyze voting trends by region, section, and demographic attributes. This quantitative data will provide you with valuable information about your participating membership and will be extremely useful in planning successful awareness campaigns in the future. When announcing your election results, its essential to be prepared. Details, plans, information, voting choices, and results are often scrutinized by interested parties. Everyone expects things to run smoothly, and if they dont, your members and leaders will want answers. The best way to react to any issue that arises with your election is with a carefully thought-out response. Being prepared with a plan and message can have a calming effect on members and executives alike. Here are three ways to be prepared for anything that might disrupt your election: 1. Create a crisis communication plan. Imagine the possible situations that could occur during your election and carefully consider how you would communicate the facts to your members, leaders, and community. Use this as the basis for your crisis communications plan, which you will execute in an emergency. Practice the steps in your plan, so you will be ready to act if necessary. 2. Review deadlines and processes. Do you have tight reporting turnarounds or other deadlines that might put your organization in a risky situation? Consider these demands and do what you can to manage them up front. You might be better off proposing changes to your schedule or process rather than knowingly setting yourself up for a severe time crunch. 3. Always be honest. Whether you are dealing with public criticism of the voting process or a full audit of election results, carefully strategize and plan your actions. Be honest, be truthful, and avoid jumping to conclusions. Deal with the facts and carefully share what needs to be known. Never attempt to cover tracks or withhold necessary information. If disaster strikes, dont deny it. Recognize that your members will look to you for guidance and will expect you to take appropriate action. Act in the best interests of the organization and deal with the challenges accordingly.
Conclusion
Cooperatives across the country are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their elections are fair and unbiased. Failing to adapt to the changing landscape of cooperative elections puts your organization at risk. Co-ops that take the time to establish well-run, transparent elections benet by having auditable results and processes that they can use to counter unwarranted allegations. Rather than running elections in-house, many cooperatives are opting to outsource some or all of their election processes. Cooperatives that use reputable third-party vendors to help run their election processes are able to save money, increase transparency, boost participation, and streamline their voting efforts, all while increasing staff productivity and reducing stress levels. By adding more options for voting and promoting elections via multiple channels, cooperatives can increase participation in elections and provide a process that is fair and open to all members.
Reports containing information beyond the basic election results can be extremely helpful when trying to analyze the results and make decisions for future elections.
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About SBS
Since 1990, SBS has excelled in managing and administering elections for associations, businesses, cooperatives, credit unions, and other memberbased organizations. SBS has put scanning and imaging, laser printing, mailing services, secure document storage, web development with hosting services, and client support under one roof. Our election services center covers 20,000 square feet custom-built for SBS. Headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn., SBS 40 employees fully understand the companys mission: to deliver the highest quality election services available. SBS offers complete, secure, turnkey election management solutions that include traditional paper-ballot elections, online voting, telephone voting, and hybrid voting systems. SBS offers guaranteed and certied results. If your cooperative could benet from the highest quality election available, please visit www.surveyandballotsystems.com for more information. Our election experts would be glad to discuss popular election options or present your board with the best voting methods for your organization.
We signicantly increased our election response rates going from just a couple hundred votes with our previous process to 3,575 ballots returned with our new mail-in voting method.
Erika Neff Communications Coordinator Kootenai Electric Cooperative
References: Garlock, Jody. Getting Out the Vote. RE Magazine. April 2012: 24-27. Print. Hand Counts of Votes May Cause Errors. Science Daily. 13 Feb. 2013. Web. The Institute of Internal Auditors. IIA Position Paper: The Role of Internal Auditing in Resourcing the Internal Audit Activity. 2009. PDF le.
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2013 By Survey & Ballot Systems All rights reserved. May not be copied or distributed without prior permission.
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Survey & Ballot Systems | 7653 Anagram Drive | Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7311 800-974-8099 | surveyandballotsystems.com