FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS

WHY IS THE CHAMBER SWITCHING TO ONLINE VOTING?
First and foremost, we want to increase membership involvement in Chamber governance. Our test elections last year with the Aerospace Industry Committee and this year with the Ambassadors demonstrated a remarkable increase in voter participation. The more members who provide input, the better our Chamber will be. Secondly, there are enormous cost savings in printing, postage, supplies, and staff time.

WHO WILL RECEIVE A BALLOT?
All members in good standing as of June 15 will receive the ballot. As in the past, members with past due invoices of over 30 days will receive a paper reminder to make their accounts current so that we can issue them a ballot. ONLY the designated main contact for each organization will receive a ballot and be eligible to vote. Important.  If the person who normally receives e-mails is NOT the main contact, you must contact Aura Lee Durham by close of business on Monday, June 22 in order to register the proper e-mail address for our voter list.  Your ballot will include a link to information on all candidates who have submitted their candidate bios.

WHEN WILL BALLOTS GO OUT?
Ballots will be e-mailed the week of June 22.

BY WHAT DATE MUST BALLOTS BE COMPLETED?
All ballots must be received by noon on July 8.

WHAT ABOUT BALLOT SAFETY & SECURITY
The new system will provide a high level of ballot integrity. In order to vote, you will have to reply to a special link in the e-mail you receive. Our system will only record one vote per recipient. If an e-mail is forwarded to another individual, another computer, or another e-mail address, that link will not work and the ballot will not appear.

MY COMPANY IS ALLOTTED MORE THAN ONE VOTE. HOW WILL THIS BE HANDLED.
Chamber policy provides for some companies to have more than one vote based on their membership investment. The ballots for those companies will be weighted and tabulated to ensure proportional correctness in voting. Only the designated voting representative at that company will receive a ballot, but that individual will use his or her ballot to vote the company's entire “shares” in the election.

WHAT ABOUT MEMBERS WHO DO NOT RECEIVE E-MAIL FROM THE CHAMBER?
The Chamber will continue to mail paper ballots for the small number of members who are still not signed up for electronic communications.

I OPTED OUT ON AN EARLIER CHAMBER SURVEY. WILL I STILL RECEIVE A BALLOT?
If your company has opted out on a previously-sent e-mail survey sent through the "Survey Monkey" system, and you specifically submitted a request to be removed from the survey, you MUST opt back in – even if it's just temporarily – in order to receive a ballot. To opt back in, please click here. This is very important as you will not be among those receiving a paper ballot.

June 17, 2009

Dear Member,

The Warner Robins Area Chamber prides itself on our election process. Many chambers send out only “recommended slates” selected by “nominating committees” and often their members only have limited options for voting only if a member submits an additional nomination to actually “force” an election.

At the Warner Robins Area Chamber, we hold ANNUAL elections for all seven expiring board of directors positions. All members in good standing are encouraged to select seven from among 14 candidates, guaranteeing a full choice election each year! We believe our unique election system is one reason for the high level of member involvement in our other programs year-round.

Our Nominating Committee has been working very hard at identifying and selecting 14 outstanding candidates --- based on your input over the last several weeks. The 14 have been contacted and have expressed their enthusiastic willingness to serve if elected.

Next week it will be your turn to complete the process by casting your vote.  You will be asked to select 7 from the slate of 14 that you will receive on your ballot.

This year, we bring another cutting-edge component to the process – online voting and tabulating! Because this is our first chamber-wide online vote, we have compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the process.

We encourage all of you to review the information on this page. If you have any questions on the voting process, please feel free to call our President, Ed Rodriguez, at 478.922.8585.

Sincerely

Neil Suggs
2009 Chairman
Senior Advisory Committee & Nominating Committee

Rick Drury
2009 Chairman
Warner Robins Area Chamber of Commerce

Kathy Balletto
Chairman-Elect
2009 Warner Robins Area Chamber of Commerce