Note: This post is Part 1 of a series of 22 Practical Ideas to Increase Voter Turnout. Download the entire list here….

Start Your Strategy Early

1. Make sure your process has bullet-proof integrity.
   Nothing discourages voter turnout like mistrust in the voting process. Make sure the voting process you select has unquestionable security, reliability and privacy protection. A paper balloting system must be organized and verifiable, but questions may linger among your membership that their paper ballots are counted. With online voting, if your election site goes down during an election or your members question the anonymity of their vote, they will lose trust and your turnout will decrease. Many associations have discovered that online voting with a trusted provider will provide encryption, redundancy, TRUSTe privacy protection and a proven track record of reliability.
2. Design a voting experience that will be simple and intuitive for your membership.
   Voters should be able to vote quickly and easily in a few simple steps. A confusing or lengthy voting process will disenfranchise voters and cause some to give up before casting their votes. Paper ballots should contain clear directions and easy submission options. With online voting, pages should load quickly, and error-checking should prevent mismarked ballots. Andrew Spar, president of the Volusia Teachers Organization, says they had to disqualify votes when the union used paper ballots. When they switched to online voting using a secure vendor, “We’ve noticed the error rate has gone down to zero.”
3. Work with your communications departments to create a comprehensive public relations and communications strategy.
   Prior to your election, seek advice from your association’s communication experts. Coordinate with other departments to use existing publications and web sites to promote the election. Plan to use your annual events to stress the importance of voting and introduce your members to the process and candidates. A mix of online and offline techniques will touch members with different learning styles.
4. Switch to online voting.
   In a recent poll of Votenet clients, 81 percent of the respondents said they either maintained or increased their voter turnouts after switching from paper ballots to online voting. Almost one-fifth of the organizations said they increased turnout by 10 percent or more. According to Jodi Metzgar from the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, “The only thing that has increased our group’s election turnout has been the Votenet system.” The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology says online voting has also strengthened their numbers. “If [members] had to be at the office, open an envelope, read the ballot, cast their ballot and get it into the mail, I believe we would, easily, lose at least 20 percent of our voters,” Administrative Director Kate VanZanten said.
5. Promote early and often.
   Consider promoting your election year round and create some buzz for the actual event. The Conejo Valley Association of REALTORS®, which increased turnout 10-15 percent since switching to online voting, has found touching members 3-4 times before an election to be “very effective,” says Assistant Executive Vice President Evelyn Schultz. They use email, direct mail and the newsletter. Linda Williams from the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists says the organization gave information about the elections at least a dozen times before the voting deadline. A few of their techniques:

• Notices on their web site
• Monthly marketing email blasts
• The president’s speech at the midyear meeting
• A flyer in the midyear meeting registration bags
• Standalone email reminders