In corporate governance, organizational governance, and shareholder and stakeholder meetings, there are many ways to organize votes. Methods of voting include online voting, in-person voting, and mail-in ballots.
Each type of voting has pros and cons, so deciding which is suitable for your organization depends on various factors. This includes where your voting members are located, where the meetings will be held, and the age of your voting population.
A tabulation vote is a term for how votes were once conducted in person at small gatherings. Some people also call this a vote by show of hands or by ‘ayes’ and ‘nays.’
Tabulation votes can be conducted in multiple ways, such as the aforementioned show of hands, verbal yeses and nos, and colored placards that voters hold up to indicate their vote. The votes can be counted quickly, and a decision will be rendered immediately. This negates the need for questions such as, “What happens in a voting audit?” because there is no audit to conduct, as each person can see the result.
Controversial topic votes or highly contentious corporate governance decisions are not the time or place for a tabulation vote. Matters such as these generally require discretion achieved through secret or anonymous ballots.
A tabulation vote in such situations is a recipe for disaster and can lead to verbal confrontations or the inability to reach a legitimate decision. Therefore, tabulation votes are best left to uncontroversial matters where the likely outcome is heavily weighted to one side or the other.
This process allows members to see that most people have voted for something, even if it isn’t necessarily what that individual wanted. This helps to democratize the process while making it clear to everyone in the room where each person stands on a particular topic.
Tabulation votes are also great for in-person meetings of small organizations, as it allows a vote to be quickly taken and a matter resolved on the spot. Once again, though, if the topic is controversial, especially in small organizations, anonymous ballots are a superior way to conduct the vote.
For larger organizations where stakeholders, members, or shareholders may be spread out across the country, it often makes sense to conduct a vote using mail-in ballots, online voting, or a combination of the two.
Adding security measures, such as voter authentication, tracking, and barcodes, can help prevent issues that can make a vote invalid. Coupling mail-in voting with online voting and in-person voting is what is known as “hybrid voting” and can be a viable solution to appease all of your members, no matter their voting preferences.
A tabulation vote may be old-fashioned, but it can be the most effective option for certain referendums. So ensure you have one of those situations on your hands, and tabulation voting won’t disappoint you!
© 2011-2024 ElectionBuddy, Inc. All Rights Reserved
