I recently had a conversation with a small group that thought, with a few hundred members, they were too small to conduct an online election. When the alternative is a paper ballot, our answer is simple: You will save money and get a better return with online voting. Small group or large, AssociationVoting is the best value in online elections.
Let’s do some calculations:
Let’s start with 500 members.
To lick a stamp, it’s going to cost you $0.44.
But you have to print those ballots! Let’s suppose the ballots are just one page, and you print those really cheaply. Paper plus ink—let’s assume that’s twenty cents. (Maybe your printer is fully amortized…)
Now, you have to fold and mail this. How much is your time worth? Value yourself—let’s say it costs you $0.50 to assemble that ballot.
Don’t forget that those have to get mailed back. That’s another stamp! For the purposes of this calculation, we don’t attempt to place a $ value on your members’ time…But—your member has to open it. And read it. And wonder what that write-in was. And mail it back. And you have to store the paper ballots.
So, we’re up to at least $1.25 per ballot.
At $419 and an hour (maybe 2) to set it up yourself, you’re ahead. And, if you’d prefer to skip the ballot set-up altogether, AssociationVoting is currently running an offer where we’ll set up your ballot for $200. So—small group, large groups—online elections with AssociationVoting just makes good economic sense.
Now which sounds better—$625 for the “cheap” solution, or $619 or less for AssociationVoting and an online election experience for your members?
