These tips are from an APEX conference session led by Survey & Ballot Systems.

While national races get the spotlight this month, some of the most meaningful votes you’ll ever cast happen right at home with your local electric, telco or broadband cooperative.

Members vote to choose board leaders, guide community investments, and shape everyday services. But life gets busy. The less time it takes to vote, the more likely members are to participate.

We asked our partners at Survey & Ballot Systems for national voting trends for utilities. SBS reports co-ops see their best voter turnouts when they don’t force members into a single voting option.

“The ways you can reach out to voters are endless: special letters, paper ballots, your magazine, single sign on, your website,” says SBS Account Manager Sean Healy. “There’s so many routes that you can take to meet your members where they’re at, and full hybrid voting helps you reach and remind every member multiple times.”

For example, staff at a co-op in Colorado were concerned that introducing online voting would reduce overall participation, but they ultimately saw the opposite.

“They were seeing about 15% participation when they offered just paper voting alone,” says Sean. “After adding online voting, 12% of member still voted by paper, while another 11% voted online. Altogether, turnout reached 23%, an 8-percentage-point increase in overall participation.”

Pairing paper and digital options means nobody gets left out. Mix and match these voting options:

1. Add QR Codes

Members get a paper ballot in the mail, but instead of mailing it back they can scan a QR code to vote online in seconds. No licking envelopes or hunting for stamps required.

“To get the best participation, mail a paper ballot package separately, and then have a QR code on the ballot or links to go vote online on the ballot,” advises Sean.

2. Pair Voting with Billing

Through member portals like NISC’s SmartHub app, voting can be as simple as logging in to your billing portal and clicking a “Vote Now” button. Members are taken directly to their unique online ballot through a familiar, trusted platform they already use to manage their account. This can help ease concerns about voting links in emails while making online voting feel like a natural extension of their existing member experience.

Initial setup requires coordination between SBS and NISC, but once the integration is set up, it can be used for any future elections.

“We really like this option because it relieves concerns about unfamiliar links,” says Sean. “We always tell people not to click links they don’t trust. Even when members know Survey & Ballot Systems will email them, they may be hesitant. Giving them access through a platform they already know and trust helps remove that concern.”

3. Streamline Onsite Voting

For co-ops that hold elections alongside their annual meetings, onsite voting gives members another convenient way to cast their ballot. SBS’s Annual Meeting Registration tool helps streamline the process by syncing with early voting data, so staff can see which members have already voted before they arrive and identify those who are still eligible to cast a ballot.

The tool also helps speed up member check-in, track attendance and quorum in real time, and support different meeting formats, including drive-through events.

What About Double Voting?

Offering multiple voting methods doesn’t mean members can vote twice. Each voter receives a unique link to access their online ballot, and once their ballot is submitted, they cannot use that link to vote online again.

For elections that offer both online and paper voting, your organization determines how a duplicate submission across voting methods should be handled. For example, you may choose to accept the first ballot received, prioritize a paper ballot over an online ballot, or prioritize an online ballot over a paper ballot. SBS follows the rules established for your election to identify and handle these situations accordingly.

Before the Ballot

Empowering member voices starts well before election day. The first step is encouraging people to run!

Instead of dealing with stacks of paper packets and collecting petition signatures door-to-door on clipboards, digital nomination tools let candidates upload their bio and share custom petition links or QR codes via text and email. Friendly automated reminders help ensure everyone who wants to run complete their paperwork on time.

And once you’ve modernized nominations, the same platform can support other application-based processes across your co-op. Scholarships and donations programs, for example, can be managed digitally as well.

Applicants can easily upload essays and bios online, while committee members can review submissions all in one convenient place, making giving back to the community faster and easier to manage.

Ready? Set? Vote!

Every election counts. When co-ops make running and voting easy, accessible, and welcoming, everyone wins. Modernizing your election doesn’t mean leaving traditional voting methods behind. Instead, offer more members easy ways to participate and make their voices heard.

Need a voting partner? We love working with Survey & Ballot Systems.