July 19, 2002 - Delta Sigma Theta, the world’s largest Black Fraternal Organization, recently used interactive keypad technology from Option Technologies to dramatically speed up its association leadership elections. Candidates were elected at DST’s annual meeting, which was held on July 19-24 in Atlanta, GA. Replacing a paper-ballot process that sometimes took days to tabulate, OTI’s MeetingNet® Delegate Voting™ System helped elect officials to each office, usually within a matter of seconds.
OTI”s MeetingNet Delegate Voting software gave the attendees the unique ability to work through lists of potential candidates vying for a number of key leadership and committee positions within Delta Sigma Theta. The names of the candidates were displayed on-screen, and participants used wireless response keypads to select the individual of their choice. Candidates had to receive a simple majority of the votes in order to win.
The meeting had 15,000 attendees and included with 887 voting delegations. At the start of each plenary session, participants were able to use their keypads to “log-in” with an ID code. OTI instantly provided the client with a printed attendance roster of the voting delegates for the organization’s official record. Participants in each session were able to vote on candidates for key leadership positions, including President, Treasurer, etc.
Except for the elections on the last day, all voting occurred "on-the-fly", producing instant results and allowing the business of the meeting to move forward smoothly. During elections on the last day of conference, all voting members were verified using the keypad’s login capability and voting occurred in a fraction of the time it took under the previous system involving paper ballots. It was the first time DST has used electronic balloting at their bi-annual national meeting, although they have used OTI’s keypad systems for voting in several regional meetings.
For more information about the outcomes of this meeting, please visit
www.deltasigmatheta.org.
Option Technologies is the world’s largest provider of interactive meeting technology. Since 1985, OTI has been providing meeting design services and interactive technology solutions to organizations ranging from Fortune 1000 companies to small consulting firms. Option Technologies is an Orlando, Florida company with U.S. offices in Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Detroit, and Puerto Rico. OTI also has International Affiliates in Australia, Brazil, Canada, The United Kingdom and Singapore.
For more information about OptionFinder or Option Technologies, please contact Rob Monson at 407-872-3333 or visit www.OptionTechnologies.com.
Delta Sigma Theta, Largest Women’s Sorority, Holds First-Ever Electronic Elections at Annual Meeting