| Survey Report |
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The Results Are In! |
| Almost 450 associations and organizations chimed in on their voting habits in Votenet’s benchmarking survey of election events. See below for key findings, or click here for the full results. |
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| • Types of Elections |
| • Voter Turnout |
| • Voter Turnout Trends |
| • Techniques to Increase Voter Turnout |
| • Ballot Tabulation |
| • Election Expenses |
| • Association Election Challenges |
| • Online Vs. Paper Elections |
| • Online Voting Systems |
| • Online Voting Trends |
| • Effect in Voter Turnout after Switching to Online Voting |
| • Primary Motivations and Benefits from Switching to Online Voting |
| • Saving Time and Money after Switching to Online Voting |
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| Types of Elections |
| Board and officer elections are usually the largest elections for organizations, and many groups also occasionally hold bylaw, award, referenda, advisory and committee voting events. |
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| Voter Turnout |
| The average voter turnout for the last election was just over 30% for all respondents, with state and regional organizations reporting the highest turnouts and city/local the lowest. Almost half of the respondents do not have goals for voter turnout, and 25.8% said they are meeting the goals they set. |
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| Voter Turnout Trends |
| About half the respondents said voter turnout appears to be staying about the same, while about 22% said they were increasing. |
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| Techniques to Increase Voter Turnout |
| Associations clearly indicated that email promotions were effective in increasing voter turnout, with blogs, faxes and social media being the least effective. |
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| Ballot Tabulation |
| About 60% of respondents tabulate their ballots with the help of an election committee or using automatic online tabulation. |
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| Election Expenses |
| Almost half of the associations list paper ballot printing and postage as an expense in their election. |
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| Association Election Challenges |
| About half of the respondents said voter turnout was their biggest challenge, and many listed time, cost and hassle as concerns. |
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| Online Vs. Paper Elections |
| More than 60% use some form of online voting, with half of those combining paper and online voting options. |
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| Online Voting Systems |
| Almost 60% use an online voting company for their online voting, and 18% use a survey company. |
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| Online Voting Trends |
| Most of the respondents who use online voting made the switch more than 2 years ago (54.4%). |
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| Effect in Voter Turnout after Switching to Online Voting |
| Almost 45% saw voter turnout increase after making the switch, and another 28% said turnout stayed the same. |
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| Primary Motivations and Benefits from Switching to Online Voting |
| Most organizations who use online voting hoped to increase voter turnout by the switch. They also hoped to save time, modernize the election process and increase member convenience. Organizations said they increased member convenience when they switched, plus they saved time and money and modernized their process. |
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| Saving Time and Money after Switching to Online Voting |
| More than 70% said they saved time after switching to online voting, and about 75% said their budget decreased or stayed about the same. |
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Association/Membership Org
Higher Education
Union/Labor
Cooperative
Non-Profit
Corporation
Awards Show/Entertainment
Law Firm
Accounting Firm
Online Community
Government
Pension System
K-12 Schools
Homeowner Association
Association Management Firm
Chamber of Commerce
Property Management Firm
More...
