Electronic Voting - Change of vote

[Tuttles52]

Our club is holding their elections with voting being done electronically via our website.  There are two candidates for the office of President.  Voting has begun.  

Once a vote has been cast, can a member request their vote be changed to a different candidate?   Our current Bylaws don't address changing a vote.  

Is there a specific rule that addresses changing one's vote?

 

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/2/2024 at 2:36 PM, Tuttles52 said:

Our club is holding their elections with voting being done electronically via our website.  There are two candidates for the office of President.  Voting has begun.  

Once a vote has been cast, can a member request their vote be changed to a different candidate?   Our current Bylaws don't address changing a vote.  

Is there a specific rule that addresses changing one's vote?

 

Yes, but the question is can your electronic voting method handle a vote change.  

With a secret ballot it's not possible, since it cannot be determined how the member originally voted, or even to identify his particular ballot.

[Tuttles52]

On 5/2/2024 at 3:24 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

Yes, but the question is can your electronic voting method handle a vote change.  

With a secret ballot it's not possible, since it cannot be determined how the member originally voted, or even to identify his particular ballot.

Voters must log into the site using their membership number so are blocked form voting a second time.
The only way the vote can be changed is if the individual that is handling the voting, allows it. 
Is that permissible by Roberts Rules?

 

[Josh Martin]

On 5/2/2024 at 1:36 PM, Tuttles52 said:

Our club is holding their elections with voting being done electronically via our website.  There are two candidates for the office of President.  Voting has begun.  

Once a vote has been cast, can a member request their vote be changed to a different candidate?   Our current Bylaws don't address changing a vote.  

Is there a specific rule that addresses changing one's vote?

The rule which seems most applicable to this situation is as follows, which appears in the context of a vote by mail (there are also rules pertaining to changing votes cast during a meeting, but those seem less applicable here):

"If the vote is to be secret, an inner return envelope—with a space for the voter's signature placed on its face instead of on the ballot—should be sent to the voter with the ballot, in addition to the self-addressed outer return envelope described above. The ballot sent to the voter should be prefolded a sufficient number of times so that—when returned marked and refolded in the same manner and sealed in the inner envelope—there will be no chance of accidental observance of the member's vote by the teller who removes the ballot from the inner envelope. The person designated as addressee for the returned ballots holds them in the outer envelopes for delivery, unopened, at the meeting of the tellers where the votes are to be counted. At that meeting all inner envelopes are first removed from the outer envelopes. In the procedure by which the tellers remove the ballots from the inner envelopes, each envelope and ballot is handled in the following manner: (1) the signature on the envelope is checked against the list of qualified voters; (2) the voter is checked off on the list as having voted; and (3) the envelope is opened and the ballot is removed and placed, still folded, into a receptacle. When all inner envelopes have thus been processed, the ballots are taken from the receptacle and the votes are counted.

In order to ensure the accuracy and the secrecy of such a vote by mail, special care should be taken in all phases of handling the ballots. The chairman of tellers or other person responsible must be able to certify the results from both of these standpoints. Should the recipient of the ballots receive two evidently sent in by the same voter, the above procedure permits the voter to be contacted for a determination of which is the voter's true vote and, if both are, which (the most recent) is to be counted. As with respect to nonsecret ballots, e-mail and other means of electronic communication may be able to be tailored to comply with the above requirements for secret mail balloting." RONR (12th ed.) 45:61

But how exactly this will apply to a vote taken by electronic voting will, I imagine, depend on the features of the technology used.

On 5/2/2024 at 2:24 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

With a secret ballot it's not possible, since it cannot be determined how the member originally voted, or even to identify his particular ballot.

Well, not necessarily. It depends, as you have said, on the technology used.

RONR does permit changing a vote in a vote by mail - assuming the organization follows RONR's advice and uses the "double envelope" method and does not open the inner envelopes until the vote has closed.

I do not have the slightest idea whether the technology utilized by the organization is configured in such a way that a member could change his vote.

On 5/2/2024 at 2:46 PM, Tuttles52 said:

Voters must log into the site using their membership number so are blocked form voting a second time.
The only way the vote can be changed is if the individual that is handling the voting, allows it. 
Is that permissible by Roberts Rules?

It's permissible by Robert's Rules, yes. The real question is whether it is possible as a practical matter under the technology used by your organization.

Is it possible to "remove" the original vote cast by the voter and permit the voter to cast a new vote? If so, then the member can change his vote. If not, then he can't.

Edited May 2, 2024 at 08:24 PM by Josh Martin

[Tuttles52]

Thank you!