The Santa Clara Valley (SCV) Section's Bylaws were successfully amended (by paper ballot!) in early 2008 to allow electronic voting. By 2009 this had already been accomplished, which is why the square in item 2.28 in Part I of this report was not checked.

    Our 2008 election went so smoothly with the services of Vote-Now that virtually no discussion was needed to decide to use this firm again. With last year's experience behind us, everything went even more smoothly at our end, and we included photos of the candidates with the biographies and statements which accompanied the ballot.

    Voters receive, by e-mail or postcard, a unique login and password, which will only work once. This prevents multiple ballots from a given voter.

    The Vote-Now "Silver" election service package we agreed upon included electronic reminders to vote, and a postcard mailing to those without e-mail addresses or whose e-mails bounced. Included on the postcard were directions for obtaining a paper ballot if the member desired, so no one was disenfranchised (one of ACS's strict requirements for an e-election). This year, one person did ask for a paper ballot, and I created one and sent it to here along with a postage-paid envelope for submission to Vote-Now.

    Despite the fact that (as usual, sadly) all candidates ran unopposed, the number of ballots received was nearly 10 times the number received in 2007; however, it was only one more than the number received in 2008, our first e-election. But with our diminished membership this year, our percentage figure rose above the 10% level for the first time in many years. The vote count was available immediately after the end of the voting period.

    The cost of the election was again quite comparable with the cost we saw in the past when paper ballots were sent out and mailed back in by the members. Vote-Now provides a space on its ballots for  voter comments, and we received many favorable ones. The Executive Committee thought the whole thing was a complete success, and we plan to continue to use Vote-Now for the forseeable future.

                                             Karl Marhenke, Secretary
                                             Santa Clara Valley Section

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