From Fits and Starts to Functional
Communication between the organization and Assembly Voting began in mid-2022. The organization itself was slightly apprehensive yet intrigued about the ability to upgrade to an online voting system that better fit its needs, while Assembly Voting was cautiously optimistic about being able to serve such a prominent organization in spite of any risks. Interestingly, it was the organization itself which first reached out to Assembly Voting regarding its services and prices rather than Assembly Voting responding to an invitation to tender, starting a dialog that led to a closer cooperation.
Up to and after the signing of a contract in autumn, Assembly Voting set out to demonstrate its commitment to the organization by devoting all necessary resources, technological and personal, to ensure that its upcoming event in 2023 could be successfully carried out. When the organization first contacted Assembly Voting, it desired the sort of experience and transparency the company had demonstrated with previous clients. This led to Assembly Voting creating a thorough implementation plan for the organization. The plan, lasting for a total of fifteen months from the signing of the contract to preparations for future events, set out a number of milestones and deadlines which both Assembly Voting and the organization did their utmost to follow.
To deliver the best possible experience and event for their stakeholders, the organization desired to have a combination of Assembly Voting’s two previous products: AVX, with its scheduled voting, and Conference, with its suitability for assemblies. To accomplish this, and create a prototype for Assembly Voting’s new combined product Electa, Assembly Voting took an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to the project, involving as much of its team as possible in helping the new system satisfy all requirements. No effort was spared in transforming the multi-capable Electa from a dream into reality.
The Event
Over the course of two weeks at the event, four different votes, consisting of up to twenty-four ballots each, were carried out by the organization using Assembly Voting’s solutions. In spite of the event running for two weeks, the events themselves were only held on specified days. Up until this point, the organization had never organized so many different votes as part of one conference.
In the case of a lack of unanimity, items are brought to the floor for a vote. Consequently, as new items potentially needed to be voted upon or votes could be canceled when consensus was reached prior to the opening of ballots, the staff at Assembly Voting had to remain alert and be ready to create new ballots on an ad hoc basis. With the intuitive design of Electa’s administrator setup pages, all ballots could be set up or altered in mere minutes.
There was also the matter of the voters themselves, with the total number of eligible voters numbering over one thousand and the total number of conference participants numbering several thousand more. Even with such a large number of voters using a variety of devices, voting began and continued largely without a hitch, with over fifty percent of total ballots coming within the first hour at each of the four votes.
Results and Reflections
The one aspect of the election with which organizers were uniformly satisfied was the ease of voting; once eligible voters were informed and ballots were opened, casting a ballot from either their personal devices using codes sent via email or from tablets specially set up as “polling stations” of sorts was a breeze. Assembly Voting personnel were present at the event in the case of any issues, but they were not troubled during the voting period since no problems arose.
As the votes began to come in and the results became clear, a collective sigh of satisfaction was exhaled by both Assembly Voting staff and the organization. The solution, though at certain points a time and labor-intensive effort, performed exactly to expectations and Assembly Voting was honored to have gained the organization’s confidence as a trusted vendor.
At the end of the event, turnout exceeded 75% and there was no doubt about the results of the votes. The event, over the four votes and numerous ballots, was a resounding success for all involved: administrators were able to set up and follow the voting with ease, voters could cast their ballots with next to no difficulty, and other stakeholders as well as observers were able to verify that all processes functioned as intended.
Assembly Voting still works with the organization today under the guidance of the aforementioned implementation plan. As part of the plan, the organization is now moving towards managing its own elections via Electa’s backend and Electa’s API, instead of having Assembly Voting staff members do so. Whether by providing direct assistance or making Electa available for the organization to use on its own as it sees fit, Assembly Voting relishes the chance to continue to aid the organization in strengthening its internal democratic processes.
