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Vote Chair - Democracy for Everyone
Inspiration
The 2016 United States Presidential Election resulted in the rare, but not unique, occurrence where the popular vote does not align with the winner of the election. In circumstances like this the winner was chosen by the minority of voters, causing minority rule, which led to many citizens questioning voting systems in general. Why do we continue to use this system for elections in all levels of life even though it so often leads to most people being unhappy with the result? This is why we created Vote Chair. In addition to the societal issues caused by imperfect voting systems, student organizations also need better voting. For example, ranked voting allows lesser known candidates to have a better shot at positions because no vote seems "wasted" on an unlikely winner and approval voting gives everyone as many choices as they like so that the most favorable answer is easily found. Overall, Vote Chair was inspired by the belief that there should be Democracy for Everyone, therefore using and learning about these voting methods ought to be easily accessible by anyone whether they be a student or a CEO.
What it does
On Vote Chair you can make the best ballots for any elections in student organizations, businesses, and even governments. Vote Chair offers many voting systems and you can use a different type for each question to best suit your needs. Featuring single, approval, and ranked voting, plus settings about anonymity and reducing bias through choice randomization, Vote Chair allows many combinations to create a customizable ballot. Lastly, the ballots are easily shareable through a link or code and no account is required to vote or create.
Who should use it
While student organizations were the initial motivation for Vote Chair, the site is incredibly applicable to other aspects of business and society. First, it can be used in business as a tool for making decisions both big and small. The ranked voting tool would be optimal in voting on new leadership while approval voting is great for deciding the location of the next corporate event. It can also help a company's finances because position turnover is a substantial cost, so it is important to use the most effective way of establishing new team members during the first attempt. Moreover, this can be used in classrooms as a way to expose students to various voting methods so that they may gain critical thinking skills about how to make decisions in different situations. They will be able to build more effective group structures in the future because the correct voting methods will be used for various decisions throughout the team building process.
What's next for Vote Chair
As soon as possible we will begin to use Vote Chair in our student organizations, such as sororities, fraternities, and academic societies. This way we will be able to used ranked voting in finding new individuals or slates to fill positions. With this new members will have a better chance at succeeding in elections and everyone will feel more confident while campaigning. Approval rating will be used to decide quick choices, like what food to get or movie to watch. Single votes will also be used when it is necessary to abide by school restrictions and Robert's Rules of Order. Because of the easily sharable nature of the ballots and the ease of voting without an account these votes can be quickly tallied and used in both casual and formal situations. After using the site in our own organizations, we plan to expand it to other college clubs and also advertise it as applicable to voting in businesses and governmental structures.
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