 | This article covers all aspects of secret voting in Meeting Hub. The icon for Meeting Hub may be located on your StrataMax Desktop or found using the StrataMax Search. |
The secret voting functionality in Meeting Hub provides strong controls to protect anonymity, and enhances meeting-day workflows, reporting, and returning officer management.
Important Information about Secret Votes/Ballots
The Secret Vote option can be enabled for the following types of motions:
- Motion
- Motion with alternatives
- Vote on options only
- Same-Issue motions
- ‘Secret Ballot’ will be used for committee elections
Meeting Hub does not currently support secret vote/ballot for Group of Same-Issue Motion or motions in a Committee Meeting.
A secret vote or secret ballot tick box cannot be changed if the meeting has received any voting declarations. Also, while minor amendments can be made to secret vote/ballot motions, they cannot be amended when a meeting is in one the following statuses:
- Notice Issued
- Reconvened Meeting
- Meeting in Progress
- Meeting Held
- Minutes Issued
A secret vote/ballot motion is identified with a secret voting message or the text ‘By Secret Vote’ or ‘By Secret Ballot’ throughout Meeting Hub and VoteMax. Any totals that might disclose an individual’s vote will now be replaced with the text ‘By Secret Vote’ or ‘By Secret Ballot’.
To ensure the anonymity of voters, pre-meeting and in-meeting votes for secret vote or secret ballot motions are unable to be captured per attendee in Meeting Hub or VoteMax.
Strata Managers entering pre-meeting votes via the Meeting Attendee Vote Details screen will be unable to add voting responses for secret votes or secret ballots. Voting buttons are not available and the text ‘By Secret Vote’ or ‘By Secret Ballot’ are visible.
Enable Secret Vote in a Motion
Once the ‘Secret Vote’ or ‘Secret Ballot’ tick box has been selected, a secret voting message can be entered, which will be used to identify secret votes or secret ballots throughout the Meeting Hub, VoteMax and during document generation.
There will also be a tick box for Motion requires returning officer, which when ticked, will also tick the Meeting requires returning officer box in the 'Meeting Details' screen, after the meeting has been created, and will require the returning officer's details to be entered before generating the notice or progressing the meeting status to Notice Issued.
- If the message is not updated, the default value of ‘By Secret Vote’ or ‘By Secret Ballot’ will be used.
- If the secret vote or secret ballot has been created for a General Meeting in Queensland, the Strata Manager will be prompted to select the ‘No Proxy Voting’ checkbox.
Enable Secret Voting in VoteMax
To support secret voting in VoteMax, Meeting Hub has an ‘Enable Secret Voting’ in VoteMax setting for eligible general meetings.
This setting can be selected during the Meeting Creation process when the manager is first configuring VoteMax voting for the meeting. It can also be reviewed or updated later via the VoteMax Settings on the Meeting Details page.
Meeting Hub also contains validation that alerts managers where the meeting’s secret voting configuration does not align with the motions in the agenda. This notification will appear in the Meeting Details page when the meeting status is updated to Notice Issued.
