International Crossbow Shooting Union: governing body elections
The entire election process took a record 36 minutes.
The International Crossbow Shooting Union, IAU (the abbreviation from German — "Internationale Armbrustschützen Union") is an international sports organization founded in 1956 in Switzerland. The IAU currently has 29-member countries in Europe and Asia.
Pero Stojnić
President of the IAU
"Polys turned out to be the best option for online elections – their customer service is very professional and supportive, while the voting system is very simple, transparent, and anonymous. We believe that next time, even if the General Assembly is held in person, we will hold the vote online via Polys."
PROBLEM
Governing body elections during COVID-19
The governing body elections usually take place during the IAU General Assembly, which is held every four years, usually during the IAU World Championships. Because of COVID-19, the IAU World Championships were postponed until 2022, but the elections had to somehow be held. The IAU Executive Committee decided to hold the elections online, and the IAU Office was tasked with finding the best secret voting system. This led them to Polys.
SOLUTION
Online elections via Polys
IAU Member Federation delegates voted for the new IAU government: president, vice presidents, technical committee chairperson, technical committee members, finance chief, and auditors.
In the past, preparation for the elections was usually done by the IAU Executive Committee and the IAU Office. This involved collecting the necessary documents from the IAU Member Federations, creating a list of candidates for the positions on the new governing body, preparing the agenda, voting lists, etc. The voting process usually entails each delegate who has the right to vote circling "For", "Against" or "Abstain" for each candidate, after which they put their ballot paper in a box. After everyone has voted, a voting commission counts all the votes and declares the results.
In the past, preparation for the elections was usually done by the IAU Executive Committee and the IAU Office. This involved collecting the necessary documents from the IAU Member Federations, creating a list of candidates for the positions on the new governing body, preparing the agenda, voting lists, etc. The voting process usually entails each delegate who has the right to vote circling "For", "Against" or "Abstain" for each candidate, after which they put their ballot paper in a box. After everyone has voted, a voting commission counts all the votes and declares the results.
RESULT
Elections were made possible despite the coronavirus pandemic
Despite the postponement of the IAU World Championships, governing body elections still took place. Thanks to Polys, online voting became much simpler and was conducted much faster – the entire election process took a record 36 minutes.
IAU President Pero Stojnić pointed out that he received several compliments about how well the IAU General Assembly voting was organized, as well as suggestions that the IAU should help the other IAU Member Federations with their elections.
IAU President Pero Stojnić pointed out that he received several compliments about how well the IAU General Assembly voting was organized, as well as suggestions that the IAU should help the other IAU Member Federations with their elections.
Polys is a blockchain-based online voting platform backed with underlying crypto algorithms.