All registered members of SASM have been asked to indicate
whether they want to make fundamental changes to how our not-for-profit
organisation functions. The most important change was the introduction of a new
Article to our Statute which ensures that every committee member comes up for
election every 4 years. It also gives opportunity for aspiring members to come
forward and offer their service to SASM as committee members. Members unanimously
approved these changes and very soon we will kick off the election process
targeted for November.
How to conduct a fair election was one the major issues that
had to be dealt with. The global distribution of members required a setup that would
be easily accessible by everyone. Since all members have an email address and
access to the internet, the committee felt that the most cost-effective
solution would be to use an online voting system.
The voting system had to meet certain critical conditions
that ensured that elections would be guaranteed fair and that all those who
either presented themselves as candidates or who voted would be assured that
rigging of the system would be out of the question.
After considerable searching all over the Internet, the solution
selected was the one produced by QuestionPro Inc of Seattle, Washington (http://www.QuestionPro.com). Their
solution had functions that ensured that the vote would be done securely,
ballot stuffing was not possible and that only registered members could
participate. Each member received a unique password that only worked with
his/her email address. Once the vote was cast the member could not cast his
vote again. Another plus for the QuestionPro guys was their online help. Every
time we came across a hurdle, a human being was a few clicks away with a
solution.
Another cool feature of QuestionPro that made life a lot
easier was the ability to control the time the electronic voting boot opened
and when it shut.
