Q & A: Electronic Voting
- Why is my Branch/National Office asking for my personal email address?
CATCA uses an electronic voting system; therefore, National Office must have a current and valid personal email address for each active member, allowing a unique voting link to be sent to each voter.
- How does electronic voting work?
Per May 2022 Policy Book, Section I, 6.4:
- Proxy votes are not allowed
- Branch Secretaries and Facility Stewards are to refer any problems to their Branch Elections Officer, who will, in turn, report the problem to the Returning Officer
- The Returning Officer shall report the results to the Elections Committee after the election closes
- A vote/election is coming up, and I haven’t received an email yet. What should I do?
- Look in your SPAM folder to ensure that the email hasn’t been blocked
- Note: To avoid this in the future, add Simply Voting to your ‘safe’ list in your email program
- Contact your local branch to verify that you are indeed on the voter’s list
- The local branch and/or RVP should be the initial point of contact for help
- If further assistance is required, contact National Office at (israel@catca.ca or 613.225.3553 (M-F 8am-4pm ET)
- What is the link to the voting website?
- What is my Elector ID and Password?
- Your Elector ID is your name exactly as it appears on the voter’s list (accents, capitalization, spaces, etc.)
- It is also listed in the Simply Voting email
- NOTE: A middle name has been added where two or more people have the same name
- Your Password is your PRI number (employee number) which can be found on your Workday.
Using Workday to find your PRI: From the home screen, click on the cloud icon (top right)
The “Job Details” page lists your employee ID (PRI) on the right-hand side.
- Do I have to rank all the candidates?
No. As per Policy Book section 6.4 (g), members are encouraged to rank all candidates in order of preference (who you would like to see win) so that their ballot can be used in all rounds of run-offs as the electronic voting system shall employ the preferential ballot procedure when more than two candidates appear on the ballot. However, ranking is not mandatory and a member may choose to rank any number of candidates. The ballot will be valid and counted.
NOTE: Should you vote for only one candidate who is then eliminated in the first round, your ballot will be considered “spoiled” going forward into run-off counting.
Candidates are to be ranked in order of preference, by placing the number 1 (one) beside the first choice, the number two (2) beside the second choice, the number three (3) beside the third choice, etc.
In the event no candidate receives an outright majority, the candidate receiving the lowest number of votes shall be eliminated. The ballots for the eliminated candidate are then to be recounted, and the second choice of these voters is then distributed to the appropriate remaining candidates and tabulated. This process shall be repeated until such time as a candidate has received a majority of the eligible votes cast.
- Can I abstain from voting?
- We do ask that you still log in and select the “ABSTAIN” option on the Simply Voting website.
- I’m having trouble with the voting process. Who can I contact for assistance?
- Your local branch rep or your RVP should be the initial point of contact for help
- If further assistance is required, contact Israel Mbouyi at National Office
- israel@catca.ca or 613.225.3553 (M-F 08:00-16:00 ET)
Click here for the PDF.