Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/229104
YOUR WEA AT WORK WEA Conducts Online Election WEA Pilots Electronic Voting The WEA utilized a constitutional amendment election as an opportunity to pilot the use of online technology to conduct WEA elections. The election was conducted September 30-October 4, 2013. The 80th Delegate Assembly passed a new business item to research electronic voting in an effort to streamline the election process. This past April, the 81st Delegate Assembly voted to pilot electronic voting in the 2014 elections. A week prior to the constitutional amendment election, every member received a letter with information about the election and THE AT-A-VAN ad Across America My Cool Ride, Don't You Dare Hide. Thing 1 and Thing 2 You & Your Crew! yoming Education Association ICI_ 6 Winter 2013 Final.indd 5 how to vote online. In addition, an e-mail was sent to members for whom we have e-mail addresses. The process for the election ran smoothly, utilizing far less local leader and staff time to conduct the election. Unfortunately, the voter turnout was disappointing, with only 271 votes cast. A debrief of the election suggested areas where online election participation could be improved. The biggest difference between online elections and traditional paper ballot elections is member engagement. A traditional election requires local leaders and Association Representatives (ARs) to have direct contact with members at the local level to complete the balloting process, whereas the online election relied on direct mail, e-mail, and WEA News marketing to promote the election. In future elections, we will plan to re-engage that leader involvement by asking them to encourage members to vote. In addition, multiple e-mail reminders during the election window will likely increase voter turnout. WEA staff members have been attending trainings to learn how to improve voter turnout. The vendor handling the online voting system also suggested that the poor voter turnout may have been a reflection of the members' interest in the topic of the election. Election Results: WEA Constitutional Amendment Election To change Article V of the WEA Constitution. To change the terms of office of the President, Vice President and Treasurer from the current two-year terms (maximum three terms) to three-year terms (maximum two terms). FOR 232 85.6% AGAINST 14.4% 39 To provide cleanup language throughout the WEA Constitution. FOR250 92.3% AGAINST 21 7.7% The WEA Board of Directors voted to accept the results during their November 2, 2013, meeting. WINTER 2013 | wyoea.org 5 12/12/13 3:39 PM