This is a brief explanation of the processes involved in collecting information from SurveyMonkey election ballots, and sending out new ballots.

Data Collection

Periodic collection of voting stats is necessary, to produce the weekly thermometers and reports.

	Periodically, download all three reports from the “Export All” menu. This produces a full backup of all the data, and the summary pages constitute a complete count of the election, minus the write-ins, which need to be evaluated separately. While here, remember to copy the total votes value into the spreadsheet. It will not match up with the sum of the school or year tally, as the latter are optional exit polls.
	Cut-and-paste the numeric data from the school section.
	Paste into a spreadsheet somewhere.
	Cut-and-paste the full table of the per-year data. This requires highlighting and continuously dragging down, as the page loads more values, until it hits the very bottom.
	Paste into a spreadsheet for collating into the weekly vote updates.This can then be sorted and filtered to produce the data necessary for the graphs.

 Sending out Ballots

	Both “+Invite More” and “Send Reminder” do the same things in the following panels. Except reminders automatically choose the recipients — all those that have not yet voted. Inviting more is for a freeform list of emails, including those that have already been emailed — that works fine.
	Paste in list of emails, or select list of recipients, as per above step.
	Subject of the email that will go out. Previously “CUAA Election 2015: VOTE NOW”.
	Select Edit.
	Use Plain Text. “HTML Template” is very limited, and “Custom HTML” really means cut-and-pasting raw HTML code without any preview option.
	Paste in the text of the email. Note that three [things in brackets] must be included — it will complain if they are not there. Example email given below the steps.Click Save.
	Look at preview. Note that two of the three [bracketed things] will remain, and the bottom one will turn into “Powered by SurveyMonkey” — that’s fine.
	Leave these as they are.If this is the first ballot being sent out in a new election, the settings are: Anonymous: YES Edit responses: YES Cutoff Date: May 1, 00:00
	Click Send Test. This can ONLY send to the primary account, in this case contact@cooperalumni.org.Click Send Now.
	You have 5 minutes to change your mind and cancel the email.
	After 5 minutes, reload the page and view the recipients.
	You can look at the breakdown of which ones were sent, which bounced, which were not sent because they opted out, etc.
	Copy the list of opt-outs and bounces. This will require copying a page at a time — there’s no nice export option, unfortunately.
	Paste the results in a spreadsheet. We have to contact the opt-outs separately to ask them to opt-in, and then send them another ballot.A reminder will attempt to go to everyone again, so people that opted in that we forget will get properly swept up in a full reminder.

Example email:

CUAA Election 2015 Ballot

The reason we are sending this to you in this manner, which is different from prior years, is because the administration of the Cooper Union no longer provides material or logistical, and only very limited financial, support to the Cooper Union Alumni Association. Elected alumni representation is at the core of our values and we will represent you, and carry on our mission statement, which is to support alumni and The Cooper Union.

This is the schedule for the election:

+ March 15 - Polls Opened

+ April 14 - Meet the Candidates Night
+ The summary, livestream, and HD Videos are available to review: https://cooperalumni.wpengine.com/meet-the-candidates-night-april-14-2015/

+ April 26 - Founder's Day, including a registration booth and candidate Meet and Greet
+ RSVP here: https://cooperalumni.wpengine.com/founders-day-2015/

+ May 1 - Polls are closed

+ Early May - Election results will be announced at an Alumni Council Meeting and via email

Please find the bios and campaign statements for all candidates at https://cooperalumni.wpengine.com/election-2015-bios/

Please vote now by clicking the link next to "VOTE NOW" below. You may change your vote at any time before May 1 this year, as well. So, please save this email, in case you wish to change your vote.

Please DO NOT forward this email to anyone else, as the link to the ballot is unique and private to you, and ensures one anonymous vote per alumna.

If you know a Cooper alumnus who did not receive an email ballot, please have them visit our website at https://cooperalumni.wpengine.com/register to create an account. We will send ballots to newly registered alumni within a week, as this is a manual process.

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VOTE NOW:

[SurveyLink]

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Thank you,
CUAA Election Committee

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Please do not forward this email as its survey link is unique to you. Opt out of this and all SurveyMonkey polls entirely by clicking below:
[OptOutLink]
[FooterLink]

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