In our series on Practical Ideas to Increase Voter Turnout, one of the ways that organizations are making it easier for voters to vote is to build a single-sign-on system that connects your members-only website with your online ballot. A single-sign-on system streamlines the online voting process by allowing voters to use familiar logins and passwords without having to memorize new information or enter a completely different system.

This helps cut down on things a voter has to keep track of and takes away a potential barrier to voting. An advanced online voting software provider (like Votenet, if we may be honest) will integrate with your organization’s association management system (AMS), connecting the voting process with the database of members and potential voters. That way voters can login through a familiar system and immediately connect with the electronic ballot.

According to Wikipedia, benefits of using a single sign-on system include:

• Reducing opportunities for phishing because users are not trained to enter password everywhere without thinking
• Reducing password fatigue from different user name and password combinations
• Reducing time spent re-entering passwords for the same identity
• Reducing IT costs due to lower number of IT help desk calls about passwords
• Security on all levels of entry/exit/access to systems without the inconvenience of re-prompting users
• Centralized reporting for compliance adherence as well as website traffic monitoring

The bottom line is that organizations need to reduce as many barriers to voting as possible, including the hoops voters need to jump through before voting. How do you streamline the voting process for your voters?

A recent article on MeetingsNet discussed the Top 10 Mistakes of Association Web Sites, highlighting a quote from usability expert Amy Schade.

“Nobody’s intention is to have a poorly designed Web site,” she said. “The crux of the problem is that you and your colleagues use the same information and the same lingo, and everything on your site makes perfect sense to you. But your users have a totally different mindset. You must engage with your users and do user testing.”

The same is definitely true for your homepage and other pages that pertain to your annual elections and other voting events. We see a lot of well-intentioned sites that  try to give voters the information and inspiration they need to Vote Now! Here are the most common ways (adopted from MeetingsNet’s list) they are missing the mark.

1. Mistake 1: Believing that voters read what you write
   When voters need information about voting, they don’t want to wade through paragraph after paragraph about candidates, deadlines, instructions, etc. They want nice, easy-to-read instructions as well as intuitive links to more information.
2. Mistake 3: Ignoring the user’s top questions
   As MeetingsNet points out, “Organizations often assume everyone knows who they are and what they do.” The same is true when it comes to association elections. Many association staffers think members know why it’s important to vote in elections and the critical decisions that their elected officials can make. It’s important for leaders in your community to hammer home the point that the association is a democracy, and that members’ voices count.  Read the rest of this entry →

When organizations consider online voting, they sometimes express concern that their members aren’t technologically savvy enough. But according to this fascinating history of email, the technology has been around since 1971.

This means that a 70-year-old voter was only 30 years old when the first email was sent. Queen Elizabeth II, who turned 85 in April,  sent her first electronic mail message in 1976. And this study by AARP shows that American’s born before 1955 make up 51% of the US population — and almost half of the people who use the Internet.

Are we perhaps underestimating the ability of a group of people who have been around the foundation of computer communication since they began their careers? We hear back from organizations all the time that they were surprised by the adoption of the technology by voters of all ages — including seniors. Perhaps the stereotype we have of seniors carries over into our decisions about new technology.

How does your organization view members over the age of 55? Are you worried about their computer ability?

The competitors in the Final Round of the 2011 March Mayhem were tense… who would take away the title of Best Resource for members of the Association of Corporate Counsel? Would it be the organization’s In-House Jobline that provided the best member benefit, or did ACC’s Annual Meeting rise to the top?

Echoing the NBA’s March Madness tournament playoffs, this spring ACC asked members to vote for their favorite resources and member benefits. Members could also fill out brackets that pitted 16 of the association’s member benefits against each other to see which resources garnered the most votes. Eight members with the best brackets won Aprizes such as gift certificates for ACC products, services and events — and the grand prize winner even received a basketball signed by the ACC staff.

All we can say is brilliant… simply brilliant. This case study is one of the best examples we’ve seen of ways to both engage members and showcase member benefits. ACC started the project in 2010, and members demanded its return in 2011. Because ACC released the results slowly over 10 days, they built up more and more excitement for the competition and engaged members over an extended period. In addition, the project engaged the staff at all levels and allowed the friendly competition to make everyone smile.

From an article about March Mayhem in Associations Now magazine:

ACC also created a video to promote the tournament, with staff playing the roles of various ACC resources and explaining their purpose. A cross-functional team worked on their own time to produce the video and make plans for the tournament. “When we did the videotaping, we kind of tried to do it all in one day, and the office was buzzing because people were really having a lot of fun with it. They couldn’t wait to get in and film their segment,” says [ACC Director of Membership Marketing Jim] Way. “And it just seemed like it was a big side benefit of the project that I didn’t anticipate, the actual enthusiasm and participation of our staff.”

It’s hard to top a voting March Mayhem tournament to determine the best association resources — but what other things have you heard about to engage members in an online voting event?

A recent infographic from GetSatisfaction.com revealed interesting statistics about workers born in the 1980s and ’90s.

Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, grew  up with the Internet and have come to adopt technology wholeheartedly into their daily lives. Nine out of every 10 Generation Y-ers own a personal electronic device, and 80% of their daily activities involve the use of technology. More than 90% own a personal computer, and almost half have Internet access on their mobile devices.

When it comes to involving Generation Y in your organization’s governance, how do you engage them while still reaching the older members who may be used to less technology (although that’s changing, too. Check out this post on older voters)? Have you moved your election information (candidate bios, voting instructions, etc.) online? Have you made the switch to online voting? And if you have, what trends have you noticed with Generation Y voters?

How do you make sure your voters remember to cast their votes?

The other day we passed a housing development with these lawn signs, urging residents to mail their Satisfaction Surveys in by the deadline. This type of in-your-face reminder helps keep a voting event top of mind for your constituents, especially if your voting is happening in one day at one location, such as at a conference or at a school.

When it comes to online voting, your organization can combine both electronic reminders with other notifications to make sure your voters don’t miss their deadlines.

Next time you have an online voting event, try some of these reminder methods:

1. Send targeted emails to your voters to remind them to vote. The emails should be personalized with each voter’s login information to make voting simple.
2. Include reminders in all outgoing email blasts from your organization, such as newsletters, updates and more.
3. Have staff members include a reminder in their email signatures.
4. Send out reminder postcards that will arrive a couple of days before the voting deadline.
5. Place ads or notices in your organization’s publications (hard copy and/or electronic), as well as other key industry publications.
6. If your voters all work or live in the same community, place yard signs or posters in the area.
7. Encourage candidates and other interested parties to send out reminder notes to their databases as well.
8. Post reminders on your organization’s social networks, such as your LinkedIn group, Facebook page or Twitter feed.
9. Try bulk text messaging.

What other reminders have you used to get the word out? What has been the most effective?

Does your organization provide a type of election guide to help voters determine which candidates are more closely aligned with their views?

In the U.S., voters in political elections have often relied on leaflets and online information from organizations such as the League of Women Voters that offer summaries of candidates’ stands on major issues as well as explanations of other important votes. Voters have to read through the information to determine which candidate best represents his or her viewpoints.

But in the United Kingdom, India, Peru, Greece and other countries, voting advice applications (VAAs) offer a much more guided path to helping voters choose the right candidates. The systems, like this one for an upcoming election in Kerala, ask voters to rate a series of statements that indicate their views on a variety of topics, such as “Seats should be reserved for women in the state legislative assembly” and “The government should impose more tax on high income earners to reduce the gap between rich and poor.” The application correlates the responses with information from the candidates and recommends the best matches.

Follow-up research regarding the 2007 Swiss federal elections revealed that VAAs have a positive impact on voter turnout overall, and people who took the quizzes were more motivated to vote, especially younger voters. But VAAs can present challenges as well. Read the rest of this entry →