Balloting is secret and anonymous

Some alumni have wondered if balloting is secret and anonymous, given that the "username" is the alum's e-mail address. 

The answer is an unequivocal "yes": Balloting is completely secret and anonymous.  No candidate, and no one from the Alumni Corporation, and no one from Colgate, knows how any alum has voted. The Alumni Corporation hired ElectionsUSA -- an independent, third-party company that runs elections for colleges and alumni groups across the country -- to ensure fairness and impartiality.  ElectionsUSA has no ties to or interest in the outcome of the election.  The use of an alum's e-mail as username is standard practice at ElectionsUSA.

No one at ElectionsUSA sees how an alum has voted when that alum votes online.  When a ballot is received by mail, an ElectionsUSA staffer puts that alum's vote into the electronic system.  While the paper ballot contains the alum's e-mail address and whom he or she voted for, no one besides the ElectionsUSA staffer sees that ballot.  And the only information ElectionsUSA tabulates is how many votes each candidate received.

The Alumni Corporation is dedicated to a fair process, which depends upon the secrecy and anonymity of an alum's votes -- something that we have ensured through the ElectionsUSA process described above.