Find out more about the electronic voting system that will be used for the 2022 Council Election.
At a special general meeting on 3 March, 96% of members voted to introduce electronic voting for Council elections. Since then, a staff project team has been working to implement this decision for the 2022 Council Election, with support and oversight from the Law Society Technology Committee.
What’s happening now
After a competitive tendering process, a preferred supplier with substantial experience of managing online organisation elections has been selected.
Details of GDPR-compliant data processing arrangements are being finalised and development of the platform is under way. The project is on schedule for delivery in this election cycle.
The voting process
The Council Election Scrutineers have been involved in planning a user-friendly, secure system. Once the platform development is complete, we will share a helpful demonstration video showing the process and how you can cast your ballot. However, you can see some details of the process below.
Members will receive a notification and link directly by email when the platform is open, and a link to the platform will also be available on the Law Society website. Members will access the platform using their lawsociety.ie login credentials.
The voting platform will contain the election information from the candidates and enable members to cast their vote. The total votes submitted will be tallied immediately thereafter, and an electronic report will be available for the scrutineers to review and certify.
What you can do now
To learn more about electronic voting, and why members took this decision, you can read Technology Committee Vice Chair Peter McKenna’s article in the July 2022 Gazette.
You can also make sure that the Law Society has your correct email address.
If you have previously unsubscribed from Law Society emails, or blocked them as spam, you will need to re-subscribe.
If you did not renew your membership during the PC renewal period, you can do so online.
Council Election dates
At its meeting of 14 July 2022, the Council of the Law Society approved the following key dates for the 2022 Council Election.
- Nomination forms and other documentation to issue: Friday 2 September 2022
- Final date for the receipt of nominations for election (by fax or otherwise): Monday 26 September 2022 at 5pm
- Final date for the receipt of originals of nominations for election received by fax or otherwise on the final date: Wednesday 28 September 2022 at 5pm
- Final date for the submission of canvassing literature: Thursday 13 October 2022 at 5pm
- Annual Election voting form being made available and accessible to members: Friday 21 October 2022
- Close of poll date: Thursday 3 November 2022 at 5pm
- Council Election Count: Friday 4 November 2022
- AGM: Thursday 10 November 2022