Elexpert is offered both as a hosted service that runs on our servers or you can license Elexpert to run on your own servers. Either way you get the same Elexpert Online Voting System! You can cast a test vote on a real Elexpert system right now.

Here is how our hosted service works:

• Preparation: We make election data preparation easy!  You only need to email us a list of ballot items/races and the candidates for each ballot item.  If there are any survey or referendum type issues, we also need the text  of those along with the list of answers/selectable values.  
  
  You also need to submit a list of voter data and that can be in most any format your information technology staff cares to use...we often get the voter data in Excel sheets, comma delimited lists, Access databases, etc. and we go out of our way to accomodate whatever voter data format works best for you and your IT staff.  
  
  If every voter is allowed to vote for every ballot item then all you need to submit is some sort of Voter ID and some sort of Voter Password.  It is very important that sensitive or identifying data not be used for these values.  We have lots of experience helping schools come up with good  ideas for creating the Voter ID and Voter Password and we are happy to share our experiences with you.   
  
  If your ballots are divided up by things like class level, residence code, major, college, or anything else we will work with you to determine the exact information required for each voter.  The Elexpert system always generates a unique ballot for each voter whether the ballot is divided or not...that is the magic of the Elexpert system. Complex ballots are never a problem for the Elexpert system.  For more information on the data you must provide for your Elexpert online election, contact us today.
  
• Before election: We setup your entire election for you based on the information you provide.  The system has a secure web based election manager and some schools are now using that interface to configure their own elections but most of our customers prefer to have this done for them and we do not charge for this service.  
  
  Like any computer system, the Elexpert Election Manager application does require some training time so most schools prefer to have us do the configuration for them.  The thing to remember is we give you the option at no additional cost.
  
• Post election: Immediately after closing, your election commissioner has access to a protected site providing preliminary results.  This is the same online system manager application described above.   Your election data is compiled into an Excel sheet and mailed back to our contact at your school.

How does this compare with other election providers?

• Some providers fail to deliver a true internet election.  They force voters to download non-internet applications such as Macromedia Flash programs that require the voter to download software just to vote.  With Elexpert, your voters only need a standard web browser supporting JavaScript.
  
• Other providers go to great lengths trying to make their solution look like a low-tech voting machine.  Elexpert looks and works like an efficient internet application.  Elexpert is not cute or cool looking.  Elexpert is built to work.
  
• Some vendors require that you send student record information.  This could be in violation of the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act (FERPA).  Elexpert is FERPA compliant and requires no student record information.  We will return any non FERPA compliant data and then help build compliant replacement data should any sensitive or identifying data be submitted for an election.

To host your election on our servers, you must provide certain data describing your ballot, your candidates and you must provide a list of voters or information on connecting to your school's LDAP, Active Directory, Yale CAS or database of voters.