eScribe is excited to introduce Graphical Votes – a feature designed to make council and board votes easier, faster, and more transparent.
What Is Graphical Votes?
Graphical Votes is a new feature in eScribe that visually presents voting results in real time, making it easier than ever to track and understand decisions made during public meetings. Each council member or board member is represented on-screen by a personalized tile, which includes their name and can also include a headshot, if added, for quick identification. As votes are cast, the tiles instantly change color – green for yes, red for no, yellow for abstain, and gray for absent. When the vote is complete, the final results are automatically calculated and displayed.
Solving Common Voting Challenges in Public Meetings
Traditional methods of conducting votes can often lead to unnecessary delays and confusion. Verbal roll calls are sometimes lengthy, and manual tabulation of results leaves room for human error. Additionally, it can be difficult for constituents to find how each councilor or board member voted, having to sift through meeting minutes after the fact.
Graphical Votes solves these challenges by providing an immediate, accurate, and easy-to-understand voting record. By automating vote tracking and presenting the results in real time, this feature helps meetings run more efficiently and ensures that decisions are recorded with complete accuracy. Perhaps most importantly, it improves transparency and makes it easy for constituents to put a face and a name to each vote.
Enhancing Transparency and Efficiency
For city clerks and other meeting administrators, Graphical Votes means faster, more accurate vote tracking. It can also be configured to accommodate various vote types, such as two-thirds, simple majority, etc., allowing meeting administrators to let eScribe do the legwork when it comes to conducting and calculating votes. By streamlining the voting process, meeting administrators can focus on facilitating smooth, productive meetings.
For elected officials, Graphical Votes offers a clear and reliable way to demonstrate accountability. Each vote is immediately visible and visually associated with a name and a face, creating a transparent public record that eliminates any ambiguity about how each councilor or board member stands on key issues. This helps elected officials build trust with their constituents by ensuring that their decisions are easily accessible and clearly presented.
For the public, this feature represents a major step forward in government transparency. Instead of having to wait for official meeting minutes or being left with the task of interpreting complex voting records, citizens can instantly understand voting outcomes as they happen. By providing a simple and intuitive way to follow the decision-making process, Graphical Votes helps build public confidence in the democratic process and makes it easy for the public to stay informed on how their elected officials vote on key issues.
Modernizing Public Meetings with Real-Time Vote Tracking
With the release of Graphical Votes, eScribe continues to lead the way in modernizing public meetings. By making voting clearer, faster, and more transparent, this feature helps local governments, school boards, and other public sector organizations operate with greater efficiency and accountability.
Schedule a demo to see Graphical Votes in action!
