Cooperative Election

Handbook

Survey & Ballot Systems 7653 Anagram Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7311 800-974-8099 surveyandballotsystems.com

1Cooperative Election HandbookSurvey & Ballot Systems

“Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association staff has nothing but high praise and positive marks for SBS’ work. Relationships are important to our organization and we feel that we have that with the SBS staff.” Brad GaskillChief Executive OfficerPoudre Valley Rural Electric Association

Dear Reader, Since 1990, our primary goal has been to help cooperatives connect with membership. Clearly, successful elections and voting events are keys to reaching this goal.

Between the relationships we have established and our knowledge of the cooperative market, we have become aware of the industry’s election challenges. More than ever, co-ops are under pressure to show that fair, non-biased voting is available to all members.

Due to our distinct position as a provider of election services to cooperatives, we feel it our duty to share what we have learned. The Cooperative Election Handbook collects findings from our years of experience and shares benefits of well-run voting, common election misconceptions, and how to implement best practices.

We hope you find this content useful in planning your voting events and, as always, encourage you to reach out to us with your questions on the best ways to run your cooperative election.

Sincerely,

Survey & Ballot Systems7653 Anagram Drive Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7311 800-974-8099 surveyandballotsystems.com

ContentsBenefits of Well-Run Elections ...........................................2

Common Election Misconceptions .................................6

Best Practices for Cooperative Elections................ 12

3Part One: Benefits of a Well-Run Election

Part O

ne: Benefits of a W

ell-Run Election

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Part One: Benefits of a Well-Run ElectionElections play an important role in cooperatives, giving members the power to select leaders and influence the direction of the organization. By definition, cooperatives are groups of people who are voluntarily united to work together toward a common goal using a democratic process. For the democratic process to happen, cooperatives must run fair, transparent elections that are open to all members.

Well-run elections enable co-ops to comply with the cooperative principles and provide numerous other benefits.

Member satisfaction: Open elections give members a say on who will lead their cooperative. This type of outreach and dialogue can help increase member and customer satisfaction. Up-to-date voting methods can reach members who don’t usually vote, making the co-op approachable to new and/or younger members.

Increased participation: A well-run election encourages member participation and response. A healthy election response rate indicates an informed and engaged membership. When members are active, it shows that they care about the future of the co-op and are committed to its success.

Protection: Good governance practices, including well-run elections, defend cooperatives from costly litigation, false allegations, corruption, and fraud. “Business as usual” and “That’s the way we have always done it” are poor excuses for poor practices and won’t hold up in court. Transparent voting systems and an auditable election process make it clear to the community that your co-op is run scrupulously and for the benefit of its members.

Resource conservation: A poorly run voting process can be a financial nightmare for your cooperative, resulting in wasted staff time, costly recounts, huge legal fees, and negative media coverage. Compared to the cost of a streamlined, professionally run election, it is clear that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The rewards of a well-run, open election are clear: improved member satisfaction, greater participation, increased transparency, and cost savings. By making your election the best it can be, you give your cooperative the perfect opportunity to engage its members while practicing good corporate governance.

5Part One: Benefits of a Well-Run Election4 Survey & Ballot Systems

Cooperative Elections: A Shifting LandscapeOver the past few years, cooperatives have experienced a shift in the landscape in which they operate. Today, cooperatives face the challenges of keeping costs low for their member owners, implementing new technologies for greater efficiencies, and complying with increased regulation.

In addition, cooperatives are under increasing pressure to practice good governance and demonstrate that fair, unbiased elections are available to their members. Pat Mangan, Director of Governance Education at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), points out that the current economic climate has prompted co-ops to take a fresh look at time-honored practices, such as voting. “Board members keep telling me that their electric cooperatives are under more scrutiny than at any period in history,” says Mangan. “It’s prompting many to ask themselves, ‘Are we as open and democratic as we can be?’” (Garlock, Jody. “Getting Out the Vote.” RE Magazine Apr. 2012: 24-27. Print.)

In some cases, cooperatives have no choice but to change. During May 2010, Colorado enacted legislation (Colorado House Bill 10-1098) to encourage electric cooperative governance transparency. This legislation forced cooperatives to make it easier for members to receive timely information and participate in important decisions. Colorado law also requires co-ops to let members vote by mail.

Cooperatives have a choice: put in place good governance practices that demonstrate transparency or put the organization in jeopardy by sticking with “the way we have always done it.”

A Call for Open ElectionsCooperatives are at a crossroads: They must adapt to the changing environment by engaging members through open elections or face scrutiny and possible legal action. Headlines abound with examples of cooperatives that have been charged with bad business practices, mismanagement, and even fraud.

The good news is that many cooperatives are well aware of the numerous benefits of a transparent voting process and willingly comply with industry recommendations regarding elections. Cooperatives around the country are taking steps to encourage participation and give their members a bigger say in the decision-making process.

As Joe Miller, public relations director for the Dakota Electric Association in Farmington, Minn., notes, “It’s all about ensuring transparency and integrity. We want our members to view the election process as open, honest, and fair — with results that are quickly verifiable and accountable” (Garlock, 25).

Unfortunately, not all cooperatives make their election process a priority. Some co-ops, either knowingly or unintentionally, ignore the standards for democratic elections. By failing to comply with the established conventions for well-run elections, these co-ops put themselves in jeopardy. Poorly run elections can result in legal battles over the outcome and negative media coverage following alleged fraud. The cost to fight these battles and counteract the organization’s poor image can be quite significant, especially when compared to the relatively small cost of an up-front investment in a good election.

This begs the question, “Why would a cooperative choose not to provide modern and open voting methods to its members?” Most likely, it is because of a fear of change. Proposed changes are often met with reluctance and trepidation. Some co-op leaders mistakenly believe that changing long-held election practices will somehow be detrimental to their organization.

That’s just one of several common perceived challenges to changing co-op election methods. Read on to learn more about preconceived notions regarding election changes and the truths behind them.

Keeping costs low for their member owners, implementing

new technologies for greater efficiencies, and complying with increased regulation are just a

few of the increased challenges cooperatives are facing.

The current economic climate has prompted co-ops to take a fresh look at time-honored practices, such as voting.

6 Survey & Ballot Systems 7Part Two: Common Election Misconceptions

Part Two: Common Election Misconceptions Misconception 1: “It costs too much”Often, co-op boards investigate the possibility of establishing new election methods or hiring a third party to handle the election but then dismiss the idea because of budget concerns.

However, when co-ops compare prices, taking all costs into consideration, they may find that they can actually save money by either outsourcing their elections or changing their voting methods. When cooperatives add up what an election actually costs — including employee time, travel expenses, paper and postage, event space, voting supplies, meals, and more — and compare that to the price of a vendor or a new solution, it often turns out that the dreaded “extra cost” of making the change simply isn’t there and that new option is actually more economical than the current process.

Outsourcing an election can be a particularly efficient option for cooperatives. A professional election vendor can help cooperatives become more efficient by:

Reducing the financial risk to the co-op by taking on the role of third-party administrator and manager

Reducing postage and printing costs through the use of full postage sort services and expert, efficient mailing and printing services

Decreasing travel costs by replacing an on-site election with a mail-in or online voting method

Decreasing printing and postage costs by implementing an online voting system in place of a paper ballot election

Part Tw

o: Com

mon Election M

isconceptions

Boards often opt to outsource their organizations’ elections for the same reasons they outsource accounting or auditing services.

Boards often opt to outsource their organizations’ elections for the same reasons they outsource accounting or auditing services: competence and accuracy, third-party autonomy and independence, and improved internal operations. An outsourced election assures an independent, objective perspective and provides additional consulting services that add value by improving the election process. Professional election vendors can help cooperatives accomplish their objectives by providing a systematic, disciplined approach to the evaluation and improvement of their election efforts.

Establishing new voting methods or hiring outside help need not be an all-or-nothing proposition. Cooperatives can implement changes to their election processes on an individual basis, selecting only those services that meet their needs and budgets.

Taking all costs into consideration, a co-op might find they can actually save money by changing their election method.

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Cooperatives often mistakenly believe that outsourcing their

election process or adding a new voting method will compromise the security of their elections.

9Part Two: Common Election Misconceptions

Misconception 3: “It won’t be secure”The security of the election and the privacy of member data must be paramount in any voting process. If something goes wrong, members may lose trust not only in the election process but in the cooperative itself.

Cooperatives often mistakenly believe that outsourcing their election process or adding a new voting method will compromise the security of their elections. In fact, the opposite is true; an established election vendor will usually have security precautions in place to protect member and voting data that a co-op can’t offer in-house. These security measures include:

An auditable election process that provides defensible results in the event of a legal challenge

A secure chain of custody for all ballot materials that controls exactly where voting information is at every point in the election process

In-house programmers and support staff to assist with electronic voting needs (if applicable)

An enterprise-level data center that protects election projects from online and offline threats and provides co-location for the data

Fail-safe, notarized election results guaranteed by advanced technologies, trained staff, stringent security, and rigorous testing procedures

The core competency of your cooperative staff should be serving members, not administering elections. A professional vendor can offer a secure election process that delivers guaranteed and auditable results.

Misconception 2: “Our staff can handle it”Another reason that co-ops may be reluctant to change the way their elections are run is that they already have internal staff in place to do the work. The truth is that election work can put a heavy burden on staff when voting time rolls around.

Often, elections become a major distraction for staff. They require so much effort that everyone from the general manager to member service representatives have to pitch in to help with planning, mailings, and ballot counting.

In addition to utilizing thousands of dollars worth of staff time, elections can take co-op staff members away from their primary role of serving member owners. Take the time to evaluate how effectively your cooperative deals with its election. If running an election monopolizes your staff resources, your cooperative might benefit from outsourcing. Staff productivity often rises when the bulk of election work is taken off the task list.

While your staff members may do a fine job of running your elections, it’s not their primary role and it’s not their area of expertise. As a result, they may find it overwhelming and they may not be terribly efficient or skilled at it. In particular, they may not know the best way to work with the voter database. A professional election vendor will thoroughly review the database, identifying duplicate records, checking for proper formatting, ensuring that all fields are complete, and making sure it contains the most accurate list of eligible voters.

Vote tabulation is another part of the election process that can be extremely time-consuming for co-op staff. Most cooperatives that run their elections in-house rely on some sort of hand-counted tabulation system. But human ballot-counting is surprisingly inaccurate. The average error rate for hand-counted election results is between 1 and 2 percent. While that might seem low, in a closely contested race, that margin of error can make all the difference (“Hand Counts of Votes May Cause Errors.” Science Daily. Web. 13 Feb. 2013).

Take it from Ashley Valdez, Communications Manager at San Isabel Electric Association, commenting on getting professional help with her co-op’s election: “From an annual meeting attendee’s standpoint, it probably doesn’t seem like much has changed. But from an internal standpoint, it has made a huge difference. We’re able to keep doing our jobs instead of becoming poll workers” (Garlock, 24).

Election work can put a heavy burden on staff when voting time rolls around. Often, elections become a major distraction for staff.

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Misconception 4: “It’s fine the way it is”One of the most common — and dangerous — misconceptions in the cooperative community regarding changes to election processes is, “We’ve been doing it this way for years; it’s just fine the way it is.”

Whether this predisposition comes from fear or apathy, the reality is that the cooperatives with this attitude are those that haven’t had problems — yet. Elections can be contentious and passionate events for those involved. All it takes is the concern of one candidate, the miscalculation of a few ballots, or community gossip to tarnish the reputation of a well-meaning co-op.

A proactive approach is best. Cooperatives are under increasing pressure to show that their elections are fair and unbiased. When cooperative governance processes aren’t transparent, rumor and conjecture can take over.

Brian Krambeer, President and CEO of Tri-County Electric, says his organization shifted to a new election method when members grew apprehensive that election results might not reflect their true voice due to low levels of annual meeting attendance and voting participation — less than 3 percent. “The worry was that a special-interest candidate who didn’t truly represent the co-op could potentially win a seat on the board,” notes Krambeer. “Today, member turnout in director elections has risen to about 30 percent, nearly all from mail-in ballots” (Garlock, 27).

NRECA’s Mangan suggests that co-ops consider conducting a member survey to determine whether they should push forward with updating their election practices. Red flags pointing to the need for such a survey include:

A downward trend in voter turnout

A nominating committee appointed by the board rather than members

Annual meetings held on days and at hours that are inconvenient for most members

Voting that only occurs at the annual meeting

A requirement that members gather an unreasonably high number of signatures on a petition to get their names on the ballot

Whether it means hiring a vendor so that co-op staff can stay “hands-off” or adjusting the election process to make it easier for members to cast their ballots, open voting promotes transparency, forward thinking, and best practices for cooperatives.

Misconception 5: “It will completely change our cooperative”Possibly the biggest misconception in the cooperative community regarding changes to election processes is that those changes will dramatically alter the composition of the board and thus affect the way the organization operates. This concern may stem from fear of the unknown, a comfort level with the status quo, or a feeling of protectiveness among board members regarding their positions. Fortunately, this concern is unfounded.

Data from a Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS) study of first-year cooperative election projects from 2002 to 2012 indicate that 89 percent of incumbent directors and board members were re-elected to their positions following a significant change in their organizations’ election processes. These changes included outsourcing the elections or switching to entirely new voting methods.

Rather than overhauling their leadership teams or restructuring their organizations, the co-ops that revised their elections by establishing a defensible voting process empowered their members to confirm their cooperatives’ future course and ultimately strengthened their positions as democratically run organizations. Best-practice cooperative elections enhance organizations by building trust and increasing member engagement, and there is no evidence that such methods lead to radical changes in board leadership.

When we talk about best-practice cooperative elections, what do we really mean? In the next section, we’ll explore practices that have been found to improve election processes for cooperatives and explain why they are so important to maintaining the vibrancy and integrity of these organizations.

First Year Outsourced Election Results

Challenger Elected: 11%

Incumbent Re-elected: 89%

Part Two: Common Election Misconceptions

Cooperatives are under increasing pressure to show that their elections are fair and unbiased.

11%

89%

13Part 3: Best Practices for Cooperative Elections12 Survey & Ballot Systems

Consider Members and Determine Voting Methods Recent economic conditions have encouraged cooperatives to downsize the scale of their annual meetings, where voting has traditionally taken place. This trend has made mail and web voting excellent, cost-effective public relations efforts for many co-ops. Rather than hosting a party and meal for the few who are able to attend, cooperatives are choosing to implement voting options that reach more members.

At Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation in Lenoir, N.C., mail-in ballots have dramatically boosted participation in director elections. Until last year, co-op members could only vote in person at the annual meeting, which was a travel hardship for some, especially since the co-op’s territory extends through seven counties. With the addition of a mail-in option, the number of votes cast increased from about 1,000 to 9,500 – the vast majority arriving via the U.S. Postal Service (Garlock, 24).

Members served by the Dakota Electric Association don’t even have to pick up a pencil and paper to vote, let alone drive to a meeting. In 2003, the co-op became the first in the nation to approve electronic balloting. Members can now simply turn on their computers or mobile devices and vote on a secure site linked to the co-op’s web page (Garlock, 25).

Both of these cooperatives recognized the importance of putting their members first. Through careful planning and anticipation of member needs, they established successful balloting methods that made voting convenient for members, thus increasing engagement and transparency.

Keep your members in mind when planning any event at which voting will take place. Encourage member attendance at these events by scheduling them at times and locations that are convenient for all members, not just board members. Holding meetings during hours when members are usually working will discourage attendance, as will hosting meetings at inconvenient locations.

If you exclusively hold voting in person or at the annual meeting and are struggling with election participation, it’s time to consider moving beyond an on-site election. Think about what’s convenient for your members, not just what was done in the past.

Also consider the demographics of your membership when designing your election. Older members from rural communities may be partial to tried-and-true mail-in ballots or on-site voting methods, while younger members and those living in cities and suburbs may prefer online voting options. Some may favor the expediency of voting by phone. Cooperatives are also conducting hybrid elections that include some combination of on-site, mail, online, and phone voting options. When choosing your options, make sure your selections fit the attitudes, needs, and demographics of your cooperative.

Fair elections lead to increased voter turnout, engaged members, and stronger organizations.

Part 3: Best Practices for Cooperative ElectionsThe benefits of open elections are clear: Fair elections lead to increased voter turnout, engaged members, and stronger organizations. The next few pages outline the key elements of transparent elections and the steps for applying them to your co-op’s election process.

Election Goals and BudgetThe first step in changing your election process is to set out your goals. Take a look at your election process and identify its weaknesses or areas where you think major improvements should be made. Do you need to:

Take the election out of the hands of the co-op staff? Add convenient voting methods for members? Increase participation? Reduce election costs? Increase security to ensure one vote per member?

Having a clear list of objectives will help you define the specific changes you need to make to your election process.

It is also helpful to have an understanding of your election budget. Your available funding will determine the degree to which you will realistically be able to modify or enhance your election process. Defining the costs involved will also aid in your future budget planning and assist your accounting and finance department when it comes time to pay for materials or services.

Part 3: B

est Practices for C

ooperative Elections

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A key element of an open cooperative election is making

sure that all members are aware of the upcoming

election, when it will occur, and how to participate.

Election Communications and Promotion PlanningA key element of an open cooperative election is making sure that all members are aware of the upcoming election, when it will occur, and how to participate. This requires a comprehensive communication and promotion strategy targeted to your members.

Your first step in any communication and promotion plan will be to educate and inform. Facilitate nominations by providing clear and simple communications throughout the year via emails, newsletters, web announcements, and other means. Announce upcoming board vacancies, explain the procedures for nominating leaders, and publicize the date of the next election. You should also provide information about board member responsibilities and compensation.

Consider the most effective ways of reaching members and tactics for encouraging response. Whether you promote your elections through the mail, at events, by phone, or using electronic methods, set up a definitive, well-thought-out schedule for when these announcements will be made. For example:

Six to eight weeks before the election, compile the information that members will need in order to vote, including nominee profiles, ballots, and concise voting instructions.

Next, arrange for your members to receive this voting information two weeks before the election. This applies to information that is delivered by regular mail, email, and other media channels.

Finally, remind your members to vote. Reminders increase the voter response rate and can take the form of postcards, email blasts, or phone calls. As a general rule, the more reminders you send, the greater the turnout you will get.

Accuracy and SecurityHandling your ballot information and election data is serious business. You’ll need to take steps to ensure that members’ voting experience and personal data are protected. If something goes wrong, members may lose trust in the election process.

When managing your election, it is vitally important to safeguard data and materials at every stage of the process.

The first step in ensuring the integrity of your election system is to create an accurate voter database. The success of your voting effort will largely be based on the quality of your member data. It’s a good idea to identify a specific staff person to verify that each eligible voter is present and listed only once in the database. This person should also update all member contact information and collect any missing member data so that the information in the voter database is accurate and useful for the election. Successful elections depend on the availability of valid member data, so voters can receive ballots, login information, instructions, reminders, and confirmations. Here is a short checklist for ensuring that your database is up to the task:

Delete duplicate records

Check that member information is properly formatted and complete

For filtered or regional balloting, make sure that all necessary fields are included

Neglecting your member database may result in hours of additional labor assisting members whose information is out of date, dealing with frustrated members who haven’t received voting information, and re-entering member data.

If your election is paper-based, you will need to plan exactly where voting information and ballots will be during the entire process. You will also need to know exactly who will be in contact with ballots and the roles these people will play in the election. Mapping the process and creating an accountability procedure establishes a secure chain of custody for the ballots.

(Continued on next page)

Part 3: Best Practices for Cooperative Elections

When managing your election, it is vitally important to safeguard data and materials at every stage of the process.

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If you are running a web-based election, don’t take the security of your online voting system for granted. You must take steps to ensure that each member’s voting experience and personal data will be protected; it’s vital to safeguard election data at every stage of the process. Key elements of secure online elections include:

Exclusive usernames and passwords An election website that utilizes secure sockets layer (SSL) A modern web framework Data backup Quality control procedures

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you must have a data backup plan. What if something happens to your election data? Employing the use of an enterprise data center can help you monitor your web voting, provide co-location of voting records, and protect your data from being lost for any reason.

By carefully handling member data, forming a chain of custody, establishing appropriate security measures, and backing up voting data, you will create an auditable, defensible election process. The gold standard for an auditable election process is SSAE 16 audit and certification. Certification according to the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 ensures that your process meets an auditable standard established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts. This auditable trail helps increase voter confidence and the validity of election results.

Preparing Your StaffAn election is only as good as the staff that runs it and the procedures they follow. Once you have identified your election goals, chosen your election methods, planned your communication strategy, and employed security measures, you will need to assign election roles to your staff. Select a reliable staff member to take charge of each of the following tasks:

Database management: Updating and ensuring correct member contact information.

Coordinating voting materials: Creating all election materials, including nominee profiles, proposed policy/bylaw changes, voting instructions, and the ballot.

Delivery of ballots: Ordering mailing materials, filling mailing packets, arranging for postage, and mailing the packets on schedule. For electronic elections, email invitations will need to be coordinated with the database manager.

Registration and credentials: If part of the election is held on-site, you will need to assign staff to facilitate the vote and results tabulation. This includes check-in, distributing ballots, and providing voting instructions.

Analyzing results: Tabulating the final ballots, compiling voting data, reporting the results, and analyzing trends.

Employing a well-prepared team where all members know their responsibilities will go a long way toward ensuring a smooth, successful election.

Part 3: Best Practices for Cooperative Elections

Employing the use of an enterprise data center can help you monitor

your web voting, provide co-location of voting records, and protect your

data from being lost for any reason.

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Conclusion Cooperatives across the country are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their elections are fair and unbiased. Failing to adapt to the changing landscape of cooperative elections puts your organization at risk. Co-ops that take the time to establish well-run, transparent elections benefit by having auditable results and processes that they can use to counter unwarranted allegations.

Rather than running elections in-house, many cooperatives are opting to outsource some or all of their election processes. Cooperatives that use reputable third-party vendors to help run their election processes are able to save money, increase transparency, boost participation, and streamline their voting efforts, all while increasing staff productivity and reducing stress levels. By adding more options for voting and promoting elections via multiple channels, cooperatives can increase participation in elections and provide a process that is fair and open to all members.

Reports containing information beyond the basic election results can be extremely

helpful when trying to analyze the results and make decisions

for future elections.

Announcing ResultsThe final step in planning your election is deciding when and how to announce the results. You should also determine the type and quantity of data reporting you want to obtain from your election effort.

The announcement of voting results is an important event for your cooperative. The conclusion of an election may provide the co-op with new leaders that will shape it for years to come. It is important to plan and execute this step flawlessly. Take the extra time to vigilantly judge, review, process, and tabulate your election data.

Reports containing information beyond the basic election results can be extremely helpful when trying to analyze the results and make decisions for future elections. When planning your election, be sure to include all the fields necessary for your reports in your voter database. Doing so will allow you to filter the results and analyze voting trends by region, section, and demographic attributes. This quantitative data will provide you with valuable information about your participating membership and will be extremely useful in planning successful awareness campaigns in the future.

When announcing your election results, it’s essential to be prepared. Details, plans, information, voting choices, and results are often scrutinized by interested parties. Everyone expects things to run smoothly, and if they don’t, your members and leaders will want answers.

The best way to react to any issue that arises with your election is with a carefully thought-out response. Being prepared with a plan and message can have a calming effect on members and executives alike. Here are three ways to be prepared for anything that might disrupt your election:

1. Create a crisis communication plan. Imagine the possible situations that could occur during your election and carefully consider how you would communicate the facts to your members, leaders, and community. Use this as the basis for your crisis communications plan, which you will execute in an emergency. Practice the steps in your plan, so you will be ready to act if necessary.

2. Review deadlines and processes. Do you have tight reporting turnarounds or other deadlines that might put your organization in a risky situation? Consider these demands and do what you can to manage them up front. You might be better off proposing changes to your schedule or process rather than knowingly setting yourself up for a severe time crunch.

3. Always be honest. Whether you are dealing with public criticism of the voting process or a full audit of election results, carefully strategize and plan your actions. Be honest, be truthful, and avoid jumping to conclusions. Deal with the facts and carefully share what needs to be known. Never attempt to cover tracks or withhold necessary information. If disaster strikes, don’t deny it. Recognize that your members will look to you for guidance and will expect you to take appropriate action. Act in the best interests of the organization and deal with the challenges accordingly.

Part 3: Best Practices for Cooperative Elections

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References:

Garlock, Jody. “Getting Out the Vote.” RE Magazine. April 2012: 24-27. Print.

“Hand Counts of Votes May Cause Errors.” Science Daily. 13 Feb. 2013. Web.

The Institute of Internal Auditors. IIA Position Paper: The Role of Internal Auditing in Resourcing the Internal Audit Activity. 2009. PDF file.

©2013 By Survey & Ballot SystemsAll rights reserved. May not be copied or distributed without prior permission.

“We significantly increased our election response rates — going from just a couple hundred votes with our previous process to 3,575 ballots returned with our new mail-in voting method.” Erika Neff Communications Coordinator Kootenai Electric Cooperative

About SBSSince 1990, SBS has excelled in managing and administering elections for associations, businesses, cooperatives, credit unions, and other member-based organizations.

SBS has put scanning and imaging, laser printing, mailing services, secure document storage, web development with hosting services, and client support under one roof. Our election services center covers 20,000 square feet custom-built for SBS. Headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn., SBS’ 40 employees fully understand the company’s mission: to deliver the highest quality election services available.

SBS offers complete, secure, turnkey election management solutions that include traditional paper-ballot elections, online voting, telephone voting, and hybrid voting systems. SBS offers guaranteed and certified results. If your cooperative could benefit from the highest quality election available, please visit www.surveyandballotsystems.com for more information. Our election experts would be glad to discuss popular election options or present your board with the best voting methods for your organization.

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Survey & Ballot Systems | 7653 Anagram Drive | Eden Prairie, MN 55344-7311800-974-8099 | surveyandballotsystems.com