Telephone & Text (SMS) Voting

All membership organisations are keen to improve the democracy of their decision-making process. The introduction of telephone voting certainly makes participating in elections more convenient. It is a facility that has been used by a number of organisations.

Electoral Reform Services is the only balloting organisation to offer both telephone (voice) and text (SMS) voting from its own offices, under the constant control and supervision of its fully qualified staff. Uniquely, we can also combine telephone and text voting with post and internet voting to maximise voter accessibility and turnout.

With text voting, voters send a short SMS message containing a unique PIN to the number which represents the candidate or resolution they are voting for. With telephone voting, typically the voter will dial a freephone number and will be greeted by a bespoke welcome message and a description of the menu s/he will be required to follow. Voters will be asked to enter their security number and voting intention by pressing keys on their phone pad. The voter's responses are repeated back to them and confirmation is sought before the vote is cast. If any numbers are mis-keyed (invalid security number for example) the error will be explained and the voter is re-routed back to the earlier part of the menu so that data can be re-entered. The call is ended with a "thank you" message and an instruction to replace the receiver.

The system can be applied to most STV (single transferable vote) elections as well as X vote ballots and elections. In each case the voter's anonymity is maintained and the system has been rigorously tested to ensure security.