Challenges of Remote Church Elections

Remote church elections can pose present communication challenges for leaders with    members about election timelines and voting procedures. With the right approach, however, members participating remotely can create a unique  engagement opportunity for congregations and their leadership. . Quality voting services for church elections, such as those offered by ElectionBuddy, help organizations address the difficulties of engaging congregations that are geographically dispersed or contain parishioners who struggle to travel to the ballot box. 

Reaching Every Voter

 Often one of the biggest challenges with voting is ensuring every eligible voter knows when and how to vote. Relying on multiple avenues, printed notices, emails, text messages, and website updates, is time-intensive but necessary to ensure high turnout and voter satisfaction. 

One smart communication strategy for church elections involves building robust, repeatable systems for each form of communication that members engage with. Understanding how many members engage with each channel such as email or printed notice, Facebook groups or WhatsApp chat groups, Church leaders can understand where members prefer to get their Church news from and can then use these channels to ensure vote notices and updates can be delivered. Over communication on key dates and times, voter instructions and what to expect messages are key pieces of a repeatable and effective communication strategy.

Tracking Key Information

A well-organized election must establish and communicate answers to the following:

• Who is eligible to vote?
• What leadership positions and issues are on the ballot?
• When does voting open and close
• What method voters able use to vote such as in-person or remote?
• If in person, where are voters able to vote and any key pieces of directional information?
• How can voters receive assistance voting and from whom if needed?
• When and how will results be announced?

Administrators must establish answers to all these questions, then make sure that information reaches every eligible voter.

Balancing Convenience and Governance

Remote elections can can also boost participation for congregations with memberships that have busy schedules, need to travel further distances to attend or have limited mobility. Churches often turn to ElectionBuddy for guidance on how to provide clear instruction to members or provide easily understandable instruction  sheets in advance of voting for members.

Just as with providing flexible notification practices, diverse forms of voting can combine to boost participation and make elections as easy as possible for members.

Election Support for Churches

ElectionBuddy has a successful record of helping member-based organizations establish seamless election practices. We can help Churches plan for upcoming elections, checking every box required for high turnout and easy voting for members. 

We’re familiar with all the ins and outs, including the differences between credit union and bank elections. We can even help administrators write and send notices, record votes, tally results, and communicate results!