Student voting has come a long way and evolved in complexity over the years. Once restricted to paper ballots and earnest hallway campaign flyers, there are now a number of student-led organizations that have their own needs in the realm of online voting. In addition to voting on leadership positions, students may be voting on members, with additional oversight by the university or relevant organizations. To greet these changes, online voting tools have become available to help students streamline the various elections they carry out.
These platforms, like Association Vote, give students the ability to cast votes immediately from their mobile devices, making voting easier, more accurate and ultimately increasing participation. We’ve explored three common ways that students can utilize Association Vote to make their elections more efficient.
Sorority/Fraternity Recruitment and Elections
Sorority and fraternity elections determine who will lead the chapter the following year. Brothers and sisters can run for controlling positions such as president, recruitment chair, treasurer, and more. Having the right individuals in these seats is critical in students’ eyes. That’s why participation, accuracy and ease-of-use are extremely important.
Recruitment in particular has a long-winded voting process that can benefit from the efficiencies of online voting. Recruits often have to rank their preferred sororities/fraternities, and the Panhellenic Council may use these votes to match them with their desired houses. This may be followed by both chapter voting or delegate voting. Online voting is an excellent solution as it offers the ability to vote remotely and tally automatically, whereas traditional ballots require the time-consuming task of manual vote tallying.
Association Vote allows sororities and fraternities to:
- Create ballots
- Securely collect votes
- View updated election outcomes in real-time
These features especially serve bigger organizations where coordination of large groups is difficult, such as the student government.
Student Government
The complexity and sheer size of student governments can make voting particularly challenging. Thousands of students are asked to participate in campus-wide bids and elections, but encouraging so many people to visit a polling place and cast a vote that won’t be counted for several hours or even days can be difficult. That’s why Association Vote is great for every kind of student voter.
Whether you’re appealing to the mail-in or on-the-go voter, Association Vote is a great solution. This innovative online voting tool allows you to send both paper and online ballots creating an all-encompassing approach to holding an election. It’s a great way to not only advertise the election but give students multiple ways to vote. Many of these benefits can easily be carried over to organizations that operate on a smaller scale, such as student clubs.
College Clubs and Committees
Colleges are full of organizations like academic societies and clubs for sports, culture and religions. Positions within these groups, such as president or treasurer, are more important than they appear at first glance. Students who hold these positions are often responsible for managing large grants/budgets. For example, some student-led committees may be charged with booking speakers or scheduling concerts at the school. This makes voting for a responsible candidate crucial.
With Association Vote, your organization’s leaders have the ability to create a ballot within minutes and members need only log in and cast a vote. Voters can sit in a dorm room or between classes and access the voting event by casting an electronic vote.
Secure, Reliable Student Voting with Association Vote
Whether you’re drafting the ballot, tallying the votes, or casting your own vote, there is a need for accuracy and increased voter participation. That’s why Association Vote is an appealing online voting tool to so many organizations. Some of its best features include a two-pronged approach with mail-in options, a clean and simple user experience, and a tallying system that reports on voter participation in real-time.
Association Vote is a great solution for university students who seek a voting platform they can access from their phone or laptop. Get started with Association Vote for a seamless solution to antiquated voting systems and falling voter participation.
