Case Studies
The Society of Podiatrists and Chiropodists
CHALLENGE
The society felt that their voting and election process needed updating. Before they used electronic voting, each constituency used to put forward a motion or resolution to be voted upon. Members then held up a red card if they wanted to vote against a resolution, a green card if they wanted to accept the resolution or a white card if they wished to abstain. Apart from feeling as though the society needed to be brought into the 21st Century, the members wanted a faster, more accurate means of obtaining the votes. The society also wished to save money associated with the administrative side of counting all of the votes manually.
SOLUTION
The interactive voting software could easily cope with a simple yes/no/abstain vote. However, what the society did not realise was that it could also weight the vote as well. The society also held elections, and after discussing the issue with Eurosis, realised that it could hold the election process using the audience response keypads during the annual meeting. As the Chair did not feel it was right to show how many votes each candidate received, Eurosis was able to hide the vote count and display the names of the members who were elected.
CONCLUSION
The Society were able to save money as they no longer needed to employ two scrutineers to manually count up and record the results of the vote. A CD loaded with the voting results of the meeting was simply given to the Chair for future reference. Resolutions were decided much faster, shortening the whole voting process. Originally wary about using an electronic voting system, the members viewed the whole experience positively, and were impressed with how quick and accurate the voting process was. The interactive voting system benefitted the organisation in many ways, not only by saving the society time and money, but also as way of engaging directly with the members and lifting the whole mood of the room. The society were so impressed with the audience response system, they have decided to adopt the wireless keypads for future meetings.
