Re: Electronic Voting

[Jody Nolin <jody.nolin@gmail.com>]

Thanks for the follow-up, John.

I thought the presentation you and Ruth did was well done at the board
meeting.  My reservations at the time were for two issues:  1. the
cost  and 2. the complexity of the voting.
The eBallot seems to be over-kill on security for us.  I'm sure in the
world of proxy voting, it's just what's needed, but would be
cumbersome for our folks.

I would support our building our own tool.  Not only would we save the
annual license fee, but we could get something more suited to our
members computer ability.
Additionally, if we choose to go this route, I would be happy to help
with the requirements, usabilty, and alpha testing.  It's what I do
for a living.  I can help with the database design as well. (Oracle
dba experience)
I'm more used to C#, .net, but really the front end user interface is
what really counts.
Just one caution on using Ruby, if Chip isn't available in the future,
how many others can pick it up and carry on?  How maintainable is it?




On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 12:46 AM, John I Jones<JIJONES@usjoneses.com> wrote:
> All,
>
> At the Spring Board Meeting Ruth Barker and I were asked to provide a
> more definitive estimate of what it would cost to employ the eBallot
> system. In reviewing our conversations with the eBallot
> representative, we have come up with this estimate.
>
> Annual license fee ( 4000 users)             $3500.00
> Set up the Annual Ballot (on our behalf)            $695.00
> Upload user list  (900 names)            $250.00
> Provide random user names and passwords            $350.00
> Total (first year)            $4795.00
> Subsequent years            $3500.00
>
> We would not contract for setting up the annual ballot but might use
> some of the other options. The minimum cost for two years would
> certainly be $7000.
>
> I have been investigating an alternative, specifically, having a
> electronic voting application programmed specifically for us.
>
> In the spirit of full disclosure the contractor I would recommend to
> do this is the husband of my niece   Charles (Chip) Miller. Chip is a
> graduate of the University of Virginia Comm School (the equivalent of
> business schools at other universities) and is very talented. He has
> set up his own company doing backend database processing for  web
> interfaces.
>
> The application as I have defined it would provide the functionality
> that we would need, with fewer bells and whistles (things that we
> don t need) than the eBallot system but would provide essentially the
> same functionality plus a more convenient interface for doing some of
> the major functions. Specifically:
>
> 7      Load and manage multiple user constituencies (manually for
> single entries and from predefined lists e.g., Excel files, for groups).
> 7      Automatically generate and email passwords to users.
> 7      Load, edit, and manage multiple ballots with different deadlines.
> 7      Assign individual users privileges to vote different
> (multiple) ballots
> 7      Provide an attractive easy to use interface for administrative
> and voting functions,
> 7      Provide tabulation of votes in downloadable format(s)
> 7      Be implemented using languages and systems that are state-of-
> the-art and supportable for the lifetime of the application (minimum
> of 10 years). That probably means application languages like Ruby in
> a Ruby on Rails framework and a MySQL database
>
> Obviously there are a lot more details that go hand in hand with the
> above features, but it is not necessary to list all of them. If there
> are specific questions, I will be glad to provide more detail.
>
> The application would be designed to support the annual AIS Official
> Ballot, the annual Symposium, and any Board measures we would want to
> vote on. Additionally, it could be used simultaneously by Sections
> and Cooperating Societies if they wanted to.
>
> We could own the application and could, if we wished, have multiple
> installations of the application and sell licenses to use it to other
> organizations. (Please note that I only said  could )
>
> The cost of developing and installing this application would be in
> the range of $5000-$5500 probably less. I would propose that half the
> cost come from the General Fund and half from the Restricted
> Electronic Services Fund.
>
> I will leave a little time for discussion and pending those comments
> make a motion to move forward on this. (There will of course be the
> standard amount of time allowed for the discussion of a properly
> entered and seconded motion as per our standard procedures)
>
> John
>
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