1. Each organisation can have their own custom tailored ballot system, which meets their particular needs; not an off the shelf system to which they must conform.
    
2. The people who design and operate the system are available to provide advice and input on its use and future development.
    
3. In addition to voting, our clients can use the custom tailored goVote ballot system for all types of survey, involving members, suppliers, agents, staff, and the general public.
    
4.  Anyone with access to a computer (PC, Mac or Unix) with a Web connection and a recent version of a Web browser can cast a ballot or complete a survey, so long as they pass the organisation’s membership and password criteria (if any).
    
5. All data is stored securely and is regularly backed up during a ballot. At the end of a ballot, data is securely archived for future reference by the client organisation, and provided to the client organisation on CD ROM if requested. This data is owned by, and held exclusively for, that organisation. It is not used for any other purpose, or passed on to any other party, without that organisation’s prior consent.
    
6. Communication between the respondent’s browser and the goVote server is encrypted using 128 bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, providing the same level as on line banking.
    
7. Once the ballot paper or survey is agreed, and the voter roll finalised, the ballot can be conducted and the results confirmed quicker on the Web than by using postal ballots alone.
    
8. At the conclusion of each authenticated ballot or survey, goVote publishes a list of the voting receipts, giving voters public assurance that their submission has been counted.
    
9. Voters can be invited to answer a few supplementary (optional) questions immediately after their vote has been submitted. The responses to theses questions will, like the votes, be untraceable to an individual, but they can be cross tabulated with the candidate for whom the voter expressed a primary preference. This enables direct and anonymous communication from the voter to the candidate. This information could be provided confidentially to candidates, or published.
    
10. The goVote system source code can be made available to Client Organisations so that they can satisfy themselves that the system performs to their specification.

1. Unfinancial members, not on the voter roll, will be referred to the returning officer when they attempt to vote
    
2. The returning officer can, if desired, add voters to the voter roll during the ballot (if, for example, they make themselves financial)
    
3. Informal voting is eradicated (unless that option is specifically provided on the ballot paper)
    
4. By using the Returning Officer password, postal votes can easily be entered into the Web based system
    
5. When entering postal votes, the system will automatically alert the returning officer to any attempt to vote more than once
    
6. If required, goVote can conduct some or all aspects of the postal voting process for the client.
    
7. All types of proportional and preferential voting methods can be incorporated into the voting system
    
8. During each ballot or survey, the returning officer could (if authorised by the organisation) check the status of the ballot. (e.g. how many have voted, who has voted, what the interim results look like, etc.)
    
9. All attempts to vote, both successful and unsuccessful, are logged.
    
10. At the close of each ballot, the system can, if desired, produce for the returning officer (electronically or on a CD ROM with all other particulars and results of the ballot) data concerning:
     
    • Who was on the voter roll for that ballot
    • Who voted and when
    • Who voted via the Web
    • Who voted by post
    • Who did not cast a vote
    • Who attempted to vote more than once
    • The result of the ballot
       
11. The results of the ballot are provided in a written report.

1. If supplementary questions are included in the ballot, each candidate gets anonymous information about, and feedback from, the voters who voted for them. This could be confidential to the candidate or published to the electorate.
    
2. Web links to the candidate’s CV, platform and supplementary information ensure that all voters have the opportunity to peruse that information and be fully informed prior to casting their ballots.

1. Voters can access all relevant information, and cast their ballot, at any time.
    
2. Voters can access the system from any computer that is connected to the Web.
    
3. Voters can, by using the Web links provided, educate themselves (in private) by referring to supplementary information or the candidates’ CVs prior to casting their ballot.
    
4. Each voter gets an instant receipt to confirm that their submission has been counted.
    
5. The connection between the voter’s PC and the goVote server is secured using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, thereby ensuring privacy.
    

If the client organization requires a series of sequential or simultaneous ballots to be run for its membership base, goVote can provide a tailor made member ballot / survey system with the following additional benefits:

• Each voter can change their own password whenever they wish.
   
• If voters forget their own password, they can still authenticate themselves and participate in a ballot if they know their own date of birth and the answer to their own “secret question”.
   
• Voters can see what ballots they have historically participated in, and what upcoming ballots they are entitled to vote in.