WFN e-voting

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Method of voting

Each member society, eligible to vote, has 1 vote. The registered voting delegate of the member society is sent a unique link to the online voting form. This ensures that each Society can only submit one voting form for the registered email address of their voting delegate.

The voting method used is the Instant-runoff full preferential ranking method. This method, described below, allows the voting process to be completed in one voting round, reducing the risk of complications when voting.

The winner of the election will be the candidate preferred by more than 50% of voters. 

1. The voting form will list all candidates (in alphabetical order by last name).
2. Voters rank the candidates in order of preference from 1 to x, where x is the total number of candidates. 
3. The voter’s 1st choice and most preferred candidate is ranked 1, the 2nd choice candidate is ranked 2, and so on until the least favoured candidate is ranked x being the least preferred choice of the voter. 
   
   The voting system requires all candidates to be ranked in order of preference before the vote can be submitted.
   
   
4. Ballots are initially counted for each voter's 1st choice. If a candidate receives more than half of the votes based on 1st choices, that candidate wins and voting is concluded.
5. If there is no candidate with more than 50% of the votes, the candidate with the least number of 1st choice votes is eliminated. 
   
   Note: If two or more candidates share the same number of lowest number of 1st choice votes, the number of 2nd choice votes they received—for those candidates up for elimination only—are taken into account. The candidate with the lowest combined count is eliminated. If necessary, this is repeated with voter's 3rd, 4th and subsequent choice votes.
   
   
6. The vote from any voter who ranked the eliminated candidate 1st now has their original 2nd choice candidate moved up to become their 1st choice, their original 3rd choice becomes their new 2nd choice and so on. I.e. the order of choices in all votes are realigned as if the eliminated candidate did not exist.
7. The number of 1st choice votes are recounted and the process of elimination is repeated until one candidate has more than half of the votes.
   
   

Tie-break

In a tiebreak, the casting or deciding vote by the presiding officer (i.e.  WFN President) is counted. This is a sealed vote by the presiding officer and is not used unless there is a tie at any stage of the election.

Missed votes

If a member society fails to register to vote or fails to submit a completed voting form or abstains from voting, and they have not contacted the WFN Office at least 48 hours before voting closes, their vote is deemed null and void and will not be counted towards the result.

If you have registered to vote but do not receive your email with voting link before voting closes, please contact the WFN Office to find out why. It may be because some communications have been caught in junk mail or missed.

Anonymity and privacy

Voting is by secret ballot. This means that all vote entries are anonymous. No personally identifiable information, including IP address, are recorded on the voting form.

Voting delegates are sent a unique login to access the voting platform. Access to the voting platform is automatically disabled once the vote has been submitted or voting is closed (whichever is sooner).

The voting form is online and is accessed via an Internet browser over https://.  This means the voting responses are sent over a secure, encrypted connection.

Validating the voting result

The voting process is overseen by the London Office Senior Manager, the WFN IT Consultant, and the WFN Secretary General.

The results of the voting are checked and validated by two independent invigilators before being communicated to the Chair of the Council of Delegates Annual General Meeting.