Paperless Voting FAQ

What is Paperless Voting?

Simply put, paperless voting is when you receive an email that provides you the credentials you need to access our online voting website to cast your vote in a Stargate Election.

Is paperless voting secure?

There are two security aspects to paperless voting.  The first aspect is evaluating the online voting utility itself (SimplyVoting.com) and the second aspect is delivery of the email with the credentials.

Stargate has used SimplyVoting.com for several years. Simply Voting's security features are listed at https://www.simplyvoting.com/security-and-reliability/.

Regarding delivery of the credentials via email, there are risks with having your credentials stolen with either paper or paperless ballots.  With our old paper ballots, the username and password were explicitly listed in the ballot instructions.  The instructions were clear and anybody who could read could log in and vote once they were in possession of the paper instructions.

For paperless ballots, the voter credentials are not as obvious and are provided to the stakeholder as a stakeholder-unique link to SimplyVoting.com, compared to an explicit description of a username and password.  However, anybody who has access to the email of the stakeholder can vote (same basic weakness as paper-based ballot instructions).

Can voting be audited?  What happens if I suspect that somebody voted for me?

Regardless of whether the stakeholder votes from paper instructions or from an email link, the audit and log files of SimplyVoting.com record when the vote was made and the source IP address, giving us a method of determining where and when a vote was cast (but not how they voted) in the event of a question of the source of the vote.

What do I need to do to participate in paperless voting?

Each stakeholder needs to ensure they have valid, current, and unique email address as part of your Infinite Campus profile.  Infinite Campus is the source of record for our parent stakeholders who can vote.  We cannot send an email to an address that is incorrect, obsolete, or shared.  For faculty and staff stakeholders, the paperless-ballot/email will be sent to your work email address.

Please ensure your email in Infinite Campus is good 30 days prior to the election (that is when we will pull the list).

Can I receive an email AND paper-based ballot instructions?

No. Stargate has used paperless voting exclusively since the Fall election of 2018. The school stopped using paper ballots for several reasons, including environmental considerations, stakeholder preference, cost and Election Committee efficiency.

I might have further questions… who do I contact?

No problem! If you have further questions, please send an email to:  electioncommittee@stargateschool.org