What to Look for in a Secure Online Voting Platform

For ASX-listed companies, voting is where governance becomes tangible. Shareholders can read annual reports, listen to investor presentations and engage with directors throughout the year, but formal decisions are ultimately made through the ballot. Director elections, remuneration reports, constitutional amendments and other resolutions all rely on a voting process that shareholders trust. That trust matters. […]

Community organisations rely on trust. Whether you’re running a sporting club, member association, union branch, professional body, cultural organisation, not-for-profit, or residents’ group, members need confidence that decisions are being made fairly and that every eligible vote is counted correctly. That sounds straightforward. In practice, voting disputes are one of the most common governance issues […]

When shareholders vote, they are exercising one of the most important rights they have as owners of a company. Yet many organisations still treat voting as an administrative task rather than a governance process. Ballots are distributed through multiple channels, proxy forms arrive at the last minute, vote counting is handled manually, and shareholders are […]

Co-operatives are built on member participation. Whether you’re running a community co-operative, a worker co-op, a housing co-op, an agricultural co-operative or a member-owned enterprise, the ability for members to vote on important decisions sits at the centre of good governance. The challenge is that member participation is not always easy. Members may be spread […]

Board elections can be straightforward. They can also become the most contested and politically sensitive event an organisation deals with all year. Whether you’re running a company AGM, a strata committee election, an incorporated association vote, a union ballot, or a member-based organisation election, the process matters just as much as the outcome. When members […]

When an election result is close, attention quickly turns to the count. Questions start appearing. Was every vote counted correctly? Were informal ballots assessed properly? Was the process transparent? This is where scrutineers matter. Most people involved in boards, associations, unions, clubs, strata organisations and company elections have heard the term. Fewer understand what scrutineers […]

Board elections often look straightforward on paper. Open nominations. Receive candidates. Hold a vote. Declare a result. The reality is usually more complicated. Every organisation has its own governance framework, constitutional requirements, membership structure and voting culture. A board election for a national association can look very different from one conducted by a strata organisation, […]

Boards often ask the same question when a contentious vote is approaching: “Should this be anonymous?” Sometimes the request comes from members who are worried about backlash. Sometimes it comes from directors trying to encourage honest participation. Other times it appears after a difficult election, a disputed AGM, or growing tension within an organisation. Anonymous […]

When an organisation is running an election, the process matters just as much as the result. Boards, committees and members are far more likely to accept an outcome when they can see that the election was conducted fairly, transparently and independently. The opposite is also true. Even a technically correct election can become controversial if […]

When an election result is challenged, questioned, or simply scrutinised by members, one issue sits at the centre of the discussion: Can the result be verified? Not whether people liked the outcome. Not whether participation was high. Whether the organisation can demonstrate that votes were issued correctly, received correctly, counted correctly, and reported correctly. That […]