assOCIaTION It’s Voting Time Again apeGGa’s NeW aNd ImprOVed eLeCTrONIC sysTem IrONs OuT mOre WrINKLes FOr THe 2010 eLeCTION by GeOrGe Lee PEG Managing Editor Will further improvements to the APEGGA election process drive participation beyond last year’s 17.3 per cent of eligible voters? Staff and Council hope so, with polling set to begin Monday, Feb. 22, at 9 a.m. For the third year in a row, electronic voting is the preferred way to exercise your franchise, as 14 Council and President Elect/ Vice-President candidates seek support. Polls close at 12 noon on Sunday, March 28. Those who wish to vote the old way still can. APEGGA will send mail-in balloting packages to eligible members who request them. See FAQ, page opposite. “We made significant process and promotional changes last year in the election, and they seem to have improved turnout,” said Deputy Registrar Al Schuld, P.Eng. “This year, we’re tweaking those improvements in the hopes that we can continue this upward trend.” In 2008, the first year of electronic voting, participation sunk from 17.8 per cent the year before to 9.9 per cent. Council reacted by setting up a task force to find out what went wrong and try to swing voting the other way. One of the changes this year is the posting of more — but shorter — online audio-video recordings of candidates discussing issues and their reasons for running. All candidates are featured this year instead just those seeking President Elect/Vice-President. The President is elected by statute, so Kim Farwell, P.Eng., moves up automatically in 2010 after winning the President Elect seat last year. Even though she is already elected, she’s still speaking to members online. Three candidates are seeking one President Elect seat and one VicePresident seat. They are Jim Smith, P.Eng., a senior consultant with Winslow Group; Connie Parenteau, P.Eng., a senior consultant with TELUS Corporation; and Dick Walters, P.Eng., a partner in Walter Chambers & Associates. Current President Jim Beckett, P.Eng., automatically retains a seat on the Executive Committee as Past President. Full biographies appear in this month’s PEG, starting on page 57. The online audio-visual presentations and the hardcopy publication of biographies are just two of many improvements begun last year and continued this year. Others include • More and more focused emails, readable on mobile devices. These will be distributed before and during the election. Note that, for security reasons, we can’t remove from the database the email addresses of those who have already voted, so you will keep receiving reminders. • A thermometer graphic updated daily on the website home page, measuring voter participation as the election progresses. • Easier access to the voting site, via the home page of the APEGGA website home page. For more information, checkout the FAQ, page opposite; call 1-800-661-7020 from anywhere in North America or 780-426-3990 in Edmonton; or email your questions to voting@apegga.org. 24 | PEG February 2010