Electronic voting is increasingly used in various settings, from government elections to corporate boardrooms. But how does it stack up against traditional voting methods like voice voting or a show of hands? Here are the pros and cons of e-voting, particularly in the context of business, town, and organizational meetings.
With the Fall season getting into full swing, we’ve been hard at work helping organizations, small governments, and businesses alike to modernize the way they collect and tabulate votes. Over the past few months, we made appearances at the NECA 29th annual convention, Rehoboth’s 2024 Special Town Meeting, as well as our debut appearance at the Maine Municipal Association Convention, where we’ve been introducing town clerks and local government admins to the world of electronic voting!
As a newcomer to the world of electronic voting, the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AEAONMS) had several unique conditions for their 131st imperial council session on August 20th. Convening at the Sheraton and Marriott hotels in New Orleans, the organization utilized TownVOTE during two electoral voting sessions for the Nobles and Daughters of the Order. The system handled the tasks with ease, automatically counting the votes of almost 2,000 delegates in a large conference room venue.
We’ve had our hands full in the month of July, as we provided on-site technical support for two high profile clients: the American Postal Workers’ Union (APWU), and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Utilizing TownVOTE, the two organizations voted electronically on various articles and motions, streamlining their voting process and achieving a highly accurate result on particularly contentious votes.
Since 2018, we’ve partnered with the House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources, who primarily use the system to record votes at their markup meetings. Given their continued success with using the system and Meridia’s proven track record for providing prompt and personalized customer service, it was only natural for our relationship with the House to expand to include six more representative committees who are now utilizing TownVOTE for their meetings.
Since 2018, we’ve partnered with the House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources, who primarily use the system to record votes at their markup meetings. Given their continued success with using the system and Meridia’s proven track record for providing prompt and personalized customer service, it was only natural for our relationship with the House to expand to include six more representative committees who are now utilizing TownVOTE for their meetings.
Every five years, various 7th Day Adventist conferences meet to discuss and deliberate issues, bylaw changes, and more. Traditionally, all voting during these events was handled by pen-and-paper ballots and manual vote-counting. While this process allowed the conferences to conduct a secret ballot, the process was often stressful, tedious, and time-consuming.
Meridia was called on by the NAACP to provide an electronic voting system for 3,500 delegates at their July 14-20th 2022 Annual Convention in Atlantic City, NJ. This year, in their first in-person meeting since 2019, for the first time in their 113-year history, NAACP chose to move away from voice and paper voting.
The Churches of God Eastern Regional Conference had used paper ballots for many years before switching to Meridia’s TownVOTE electronic voting system in April 2022. During this meeting, the conference used electronic voting for the first time to vote on new council members, as well as a large vote for a delegation of people they plan to send to their national conference.
The democratic process can be found in organizations large and small, and nowhere is this more true than the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, where the organization conducted two types of votes to elect their president and select grant funding with the help of TownVOTE electronic voting software and keypads.
