Service description
This service can be used to hold elections using electronic ballots instead of a paper-based voting process.
Benefits include:
- Reduced paper usage, in keeping with McGill's sustainability policy
- Less risk of human error
- Voters can cast their ballot from anywhere, at any time
- Faster voting process (quicker vote tallies and releasing of results)
- Eliminates issues with spoiled ballots, contestations and voting fraud
- Reduced costs
Who can use it
The system can be used by faculty and staff who are required to create and maintain elections.
At present, the e-Elections system is primarily used for staff-related elections, held at the University level (Secretariat), or at the Faculty/Department level.
Elections managers and/or collaborators can only be full-time faculty and/or staff. No resource accounts can be named as owners or collaborators.
How to request & access the service
Access the site to administer an e-Election
e-Elections are available through the Qualtrics app, at https://mcgillstudentservice.qualtrics.com/.
Full-time faculty and staff must submit a request for access to administer a new e-Election. Once the account is created, you can log in with your Single Sign-On (SSO). Once logged in, you will only see elections that you create and/or are eligible to maintain.
No requests for access will be accepted for a student, affiliate, resource and/or any non-McGill account.
Request a creation of a new e-Election
Access to the administrative tool is restricted to authorized University staff.
To request the creation of a new e-Election, submit the webform. You will need to log in with your McGill Username and Password to view the form. It may take up to 5 business days for your request to be processed.
Once an account is established, the owner of the account can create additional election(s) without the need to submit a request.
Cost
There is no cost associated with this service.
Availability
The online e-Elections site is available 24 x 7 through all standard web browsers except during scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Check the System Status page for announcements regarding service interruptions.
Each election has a start and end date, which determines when voters will have access to vote.
When filling out the request webform, election administrators should specify start and end dates to access the e-Election. Make sure to include enough preparation time to set up the election ballot and enough post-election time to analyze and publish the results.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How long are election records kept?
- For University-level elections, the electorate list and results are retained for 7 years and then archived. For faculty/department-level elections, it is the responsibility of the faculty/department to store the electorate list if they wish to retain it for their records.
- Can administrators see what candidate I voted for?
- For anonymous elections, all votes are anonymous. An administrator can only see that you voted (and the date and time that you cast your vote) for audit purposes.
Best practices & policies
- View the Electoral Procedures of the Board of Governors on the Secretariat website.
- Never share your McGill Username and Password with anyone.
- If you get an email invitation to participate in an election, make sure that you cast your vote during the stated voting period; otherwise, you will be unable to vote.
- If you are managing an election, it is best to compile/generate the list of voters as close to the election date as possible. Note that you can submit the request form and begin setting up the ballot before you generate the list of voters.
Training & documentation
More details to follow in the near future.
Support