Running a ratification vote over the phone: what unions need to know

Why ratification by phone has become the standard

When a collective agreement tentative deal is reached, time matters. Every day a membership waits to vote on a tentative agreement is another day of uncertainty for workers and management alike. In-person ratification votes — once the default — require booking halls, coordinating schedules across multiple shifts and work sites, printing ballots, deploying scrutineers, and waiting for a single date when enough members can physically appear.

Phone and online voting eliminates all of those constraints. Members vote on their own schedule, from wherever they are — at home, on a break, or between shifts. The result is faster turnaround, higher participation rates, and lower cost per vote.

The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union (SGEU) demonstrated what this looks like in practice. The PS/GE bargaining unit — SGEU's largest, representing over 11,000 members working in government ministries and agencies across the province — reached a tentative 3-year agreement including an approximate 8% pay increase in 2024. Traditionally, SGEU ratified agreements by sending elected committee members to every corner of Saskatchewan; the previous round took more than 30 days from tentative agreement to certified result.

This time, SGEU worked with the Motion Meetings system, managed by the Converso team. Three province-wide town halls — held at different times of day in June 2024 to accommodate shift workers — let leadership explain the complex agreement and take questions live from members across the province. A 2-day online ratification vote followed in early July.

The results: 8,286 members attended at least one town hall (85% of all invited), and 6,082 voted in the ratification — a 65% participation rate representing more than three times the turnout of the previous round, when fewer than 2,000 members voted in person over 30 days. The entire process was coordinated by a team of three central organizers with zero travel.

Voting format options

Converso supports four voting formats for ratification votes, and most large unions use a combination of two or more to maximize accessibility:

• Telephone keypad IVR (Interactive Voice Response): Members receive an outbound call — or can call an inbound number — and cast their vote by pressing keys on their telephone keypad. No internet required. This is the most accessible option for older members, remote workers, and anyone without a smartphone or reliable internet connection. The ballot question is read aloud; members press 1 for yes, 2 for no, or 3 to abstain.
• Online ballot: Members receive a unique, one-time-use link (typically by email or SMS) that takes them to a secure online ballot. The ballot can support multiple questions, ranked-choice options, or write-in fields that telephone IVR cannot easily accommodate. Best suited for members who are comfortable with digital tools and have reliable internet access.
• Tiled door (in-person digital kiosk): For worksites where members gather — a warehouse, hospital, transit yard, school — Converso can deploy tablet-based voting kiosks on-site, staffed by a scrutineer who verifies member identity before the member casts their vote on screen. Tiled door combines the audit strength of in-person verification with the speed and accuracy of digital ballot counting.
• Hybrid: Most large ratification votes use a hybrid of phone IVR for members who can't access online ballots, online ballots for members who prefer digital, and tiled door for specific worksites where in-person presence is expected. The results from all channels are consolidated into a single certified tally.

Member authentication methods

Authentication is the process of confirming that the person casting a vote is actually a member of the bargaining unit — and that they haven't voted before. The right authentication method depends on what information is in your membership database and how sensitive the vote is.

• Last 4 digits of member ID: The most widely used authentication method for telephone IVR votes. When a member answers the outbound call (or calls the inbound line), they are prompted to enter the last 4 digits of their union membership ID number. The system cross-references against the member list and, if confirmed, allows the member to proceed to the ballot. If the digits don't match, the call ends without a vote being recorded.
• Full member ID + date of birth: A higher-security two-factor authentication combining member ID with date of birth. Adds friction to the process but significantly reduces the risk of someone guessing another member's ID and casting a fraudulent vote. Recommended for contentious or high-stakes votes.
• One-time PIN via SMS or email: For online ballot votes, Converso can issue a unique PIN to each member via SMS or email. The member enters their PIN on the ballot page before proceeding. This is a strong authentication method that also confirms the phone number or email on file is current and accessible to the member.
• Unique ballot link: For online votes, each member receives a URL that is unique to them and can only be used once. Clicking the link serves as implicit authentication. Best suited for memberships with high email deliverability rates and low concerns about email security.
• In-person ID check (tiled door): A scrutineer verifies government-issued ID or union card against the member roster before the member casts their vote on the kiosk. The most robust authentication possible, but requires physical presence and scrutineer staffing.

Converso recommends discussing authentication requirements with your union's legal counsel and in consultation with your collective agreement's dispute resolution provisions before selecting a method. Some collective agreements specify minimum authentication standards for electronic votes; others are silent. Getting this right before the vote avoids challenges to the result afterward.

Quorum requirements and how to document them

Quorum — the minimum number of members who must vote for a result to be valid — varies by union constitution, collective agreement, and provincial labour legislation. Before running any ratification vote, confirm:

• Your quorum threshold: Is it a fixed number (e.g., 500 members), a percentage of the bargaining unit (e.g., 25% of eligible voters), or a percentage of members in good standing? Many union constitutions specify different thresholds for ratification votes versus other types of votes.
• Your eligible voter list: The quorum calculation requires a defined denominator — the total number of eligible voters. This must be finalized before the vote opens, not after, to prevent disputes about whether quorum was achieved.
• What counts as a vote: Do spoiled ballots, abstentions, or incomplete responses count toward quorum? This is often ambiguous in older union constitutions that were written before electronic voting existed. Clarify this in advance.

Converso documents quorum in the post-vote certification report, which includes:

• Total eligible voters (from the member list provided)
• Total votes cast (by channel: phone, online, in-person)
• Quorum percentage achieved
• Breakdown of yes / no / abstain with percentages
• Timestamp of when the voting window opened and closed
• Certification signature from Converso's election administrator

The audit trail: what's captured and how long it's retained

The legitimacy of an electronic vote depends on the strength of its audit trail. Converso's voting platform captures the following data points for every ballot cast:

• Member identifier: The member ID, phone number, or unique ballot token used to authenticate the voter
• Timestamp: The exact date and time the vote was cast (down to the second), in the local time zone of the voting system
• Channel: Whether the vote was cast by telephone IVR, online ballot, or tiled-door kiosk
• Vote choice: The response recorded (yes / no / abstain) — note that individual vote choices are recorded separately from the member identifier to preserve ballot secrecy while maintaining the ability to confirm a vote was cast
• Authentication result: Whether the member passed authentication, the number of authentication attempts made, and the outcome of each attempt
• IP address or call origination data: For online ballots, the IP address of the device used; for telephone votes, the originating phone number. This data is used for fraud detection but is not included in the public certification report.

Audit data is retained by Converso for a minimum of 7 years from the date of the vote. In the event of a grievance, legal challenge, or labour board inquiry, Converso can produce a certified audit report and, if required, provide testimony from its election administrator regarding the conduct of the vote.

Ballot secrecy is maintained throughout: individual vote choices cannot be linked to individual members in the final output delivered to the union. Only the authentication event (who voted) and the aggregate tally (how many voted each way) are available to the union — not a per-member breakdown of how each person voted.

Timeline: how fast can results be delivered?

Speed is one of the most significant advantages of telephone and online ratification over in-person voting. Here is a typical timeline:

• Setup: Converso can configure a ratification vote in as little as 48 hours from receipt of the final member list, ballot questions, and authentication parameters. Rush setup is available for situations where negotiations concluded faster than expected.
• Voting window: Typically 24–72 hours. For large bargaining units (5,000+ members), 48–72 hours is recommended to achieve strong participation across different shifts and time zones.
• Results: Preliminary results are available the moment the voting window closes — often within minutes. A certified, signed post-vote report is delivered within 4–8 hours of close, or within 1 business day for votes that close outside business hours.
• Full setup to results: From the moment Converso receives a signed contract and member list, a complete ratification vote can be concluded in as little as 3 business days — including setup, voting window, and certified results.

Compare this to a traditional in-person ratification vote: booking halls in multiple locations (often 1–3 weeks out), printing and shipping ballots, deploying scrutineers, counting paper ballots, and producing a final certified count. The total elapsed time from tentative agreement to certified result is typically 2–4 weeks for a geographically dispersed bargaining unit. With Converso, that drops to 3–5 days.

Phone vs. in-person: a cost comparison

The cost of a telephone ratification vote is almost always lower than an equivalent in-person vote — and the savings grow as the bargaining unit gets larger and more geographically dispersed.

• In-person costs that disappear with phone voting: Venue rental (often multiple locations for large bargaining units), ballot printing and shipping, scrutineer labour and travel, returning officer fees, and staff overtime for vote administration
• The distance factor: For unions with members in remote or geographically dispersed locations — northern Alberta, rural Ontario, across multiple provinces — the cost of getting scrutineers and returning officers to polling locations can easily exceed the cost of the entire telephone vote
• Member time cost: In-person votes require members to travel to a polling location during a specific window. For shift workers, that may require taking time off or rearranging childcare. Phone voting eliminates this friction entirely, which in turn tends to increase participation — reducing the risk of a vote failing quorum
• Re-vote risk: If an in-person vote fails quorum and must be re-run, all of those costs are incurred again. Phone votes with well-designed reminder campaigns rarely fail quorum

Converso provides a fixed-price quote for every ratification vote, which means there are no surprises if the voting window needs to be extended or if participation is higher than expected. The price is based on the size of the member list, the format mix, and the level of scrutineering required — not on the number of votes actually cast.