About the Election
To allow greater participation in the annual voting meeting, the VMI Alumni Association Board of Directors determined in January to approve the use of electronic voting to vote on the slate vetted and developed by the VMI Alumni Association Nominating Committee.
After researching the reputation and experience of several election companies, the VMI Alumni Association selected the independent, fully managed services of Simply Voting for this spring’s election.
Prior to the voting period, the Alumni Association will provide alumni with the slate and bios of the nominees. Members will then receive electronic voting instructions from Simply Voting by email on or around March 25, 2024, and have until April 6, 2024, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time to submit their vote. For those attending the April 6 meeting in person, Alumni Association staff will be available to assist you in casting your electronic vote.
Frequently Asked Questions
Each year Alumni Association members vote on the slate of Board of Directors nominees. The slate covers individuals nominated for the positions of regional director or director at large. In previous years, alumni had to be physically present in Lexington at the meeting to cast a vote. This change to electronic voting will allow all alumni to cast a vote if they choose, since the requirement to be present is no longer required.
The ballots will be sent to all alumni with a valid email address who have not opted out of email communications.
We use the primary email address on file. You can review or update that by logging into VMI Ranks, clicking “Edit My Profile,” and reviewing the “Primary Email” field under “Preferred Contact Information.”
Log into VMI Ranks, click “Edit My Profile,” and click “Edit” next to “Preferred Contact Information.”
Log into VMI Ranks, click “Edit My Profile,” and click “Edit” next to “Subscription Management.” Make sure there is a checkbox next to “General Information Emails” to receive the survey.
Log into VMI Ranks, click “Edit My Profile,” and click “Edit” next to “Subscription Management.” Scroll down and make sure there are no checkboxes next to “Unsubscribe me…” and “I have opted out…”
Additionally, click “Edit” next to “Member Information” and verify that “Requests No Email” is unchecked.
Please note: You are the only person who can resubscribe or remove the spam label. If you have difficulty accomplishing this, send an email to Ruth Clark (rclark@vmiaa.org) from your primary email address on file saying you would like to receive emails from the VMI Alumni Agencies.
No. Each alumnus/a will receive an email with a custom link that allows only one person to fill out the ballot.
If you do not receive an email from Simply Voting on or around March 25, we ask that you:
- Look in your spam/junk folder for the email from vote@simplyvoting.com.
- If the email is not there, please confirm you are using the email account the VMI Alumni Agencies has on file as your primary account.
- If you are looking at the correct email account, please ensure you have added vote@simplyvoting.com to your safe senders list.
- Once you have completed this last step, call Norma Robinson at 800-444-1839, ext. 243, or email nrobinson@vmiaa.org with the request that Simply Voting resend the email.
Yes, your vote is anonymous. Once your vote has been cast, a receipt code will be generated, and that receipt code is the only visible identification associated with your vote. You have the option to view and print a receipt to assure your vote has been recorded as intended.
Once a member’s electronic ballot has been cast, a printable receipt is provided to assure them that their votes have been recorded as intended. Furthermore, when the results are published, anyone will be able to download a file containing votes and receipt codes. This serves as a Voter-Verified Audit Trail—an independent verification system for voting systems designed to allow voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results.
Yes. Alumni present at the meeting will go to the registration desk to receive their credentials and reset their Simply Voting password by a VMI Alumni Association staff member. After receiving the credentials and new password from staff, alumni will then proceed to a kiosk and vote.
All password resets and kiosk voting activity will be recorded in Simply Voting’s logs.
Simply Voting is a web-based online voting system that helps manage elections for organizations. Over 5,000 organizations from 74 countries representing industries such as associations, local governments, education, political parties, corporate and industry groups, unions, and cooperatives rely on Simply Voting for their election needs due to its secure protocols, ease-of-use, and flexible solutions.
Refer to the Simply Voting site for more information on the company’s security and reliability, as well as their certifications.
