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APAOC Successfully Implements an Online Voting System |
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Submitted by: LCDR Marjorie D. Baldo |
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The Asian Pacific American Officers Committee (APAOC) successfully implemented an online voting system to
enhance the ability of the committee to conduct official business. The online voting system was utilized for
the 2005 APAOC Samuel Lin and Junior Officer awards, and resulted in 95 percent participation of its voting
members! How was this possible? The success was the result of a collaborative effort among its voting members,
the Chair of APAOC, and the Awards Subcommittee. |
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In 2004, online voting was one of the issues addressed by APAOC whose members were interested in submitting
their votes online instead of the normal ‘snail mail’ routine. Unfortunately, APAOC was unable to implement
this methodology at the time due to expertise limitations. APAOC revisited the issue of online voting this
year and, thanks to its personnel with expertise in creating interactive Web pages for online voting, the
implementation proved to be a success. LCDR Soju Chang, APAOC Chair, also played a pivotal role in this
success with his insight by investing in a versatile software program that allowed the implementation of
online voting, member surveys, and other productive processes. |
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The results of the 2005 online voting experience provided several benefits to APAOC members. First, voting participation
increased from 81 percent in 2004 to 95 percent in 2005. Secondly, voting was convenient, time saving, and
cost effective. Rather than mailing the voting worksheets, members were able to go online and submit their
votes. In addition, the members received immediate feedback when their votes were received. Most importantly,
this method of voting allowed the Awards Subcommittee to compile the votes and quickly disseminate the information
to the APAOC members. As questions were raised during the voting process, the issues were addressed quickly
and ultimately resulted in a very positive experience for all the voting members of APAOC. Certainly, the
success of this year’s voting process would not have been possible without the combined efforts of the members
of APAOC. |
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