In the past, board members had to travel to meetings in person to cast their votes. With the advent of new technologies such as video conferencing, as well as online voting platforms, board members can now vote remotely. The process is quicker, which leads to greater efficiency and better decision-making for the company.
There are a number of key aspects to take into consideration when establishing remote voting for your board of directors. You must first determine the voting method. Most organizations have a nomination procedure here are the findings prior to the election. Candidates may either sign up to run, or they can earn their way in by gaining signatures, or be endorsed by other members. A thorough nomination process can bring early enthusiasm and help attract more qualified candidates. This can help ensure that the organization is represented in its leadership by the best people.
There are a lot of issues, among them the fact that the results are not tamper proof and cannot be recorded in real-time. Additionally, if a board director responds to an email ballot in a different answer format than the rest of their peers, it can make it difficult to determine which answers are valid. The voting via email can also be a problem due to the fact that it’s not entirely anonymous. This can be an issue when voting on sensitive and confidential issues.
While some states and bylaws don’t allow voting by email, the majority of nonprofit boards can legally take action outside of meetings as long as all the directors can hear each other and respond promptly and they record a unanimous written consent that is and signed by each director.