Every member's vote should
stand up to scrutiny.
Run officer elections, contract ratifications, and strike authorization votes with identity verification and a tamper-evident platform audit trail.
Secret ballots, member roster enforcement, quorum tracking, and review-ready exports, designed for union governance.
3 years
maximum interval for covered local officer elections
15 days
minimum mailed notice before a covered election
1 year
minimum preservation period for election records
Web
current vote.direct voter ballot channel
These federal baselines come from U.S. Department of Labor guidance for covered union officer elections. The union's constitution, bylaws, election type, and workforce can add requirements. Read the DOL remote-electronic-voting guidance.
Challenges unions face with elections
Outdated election methods create legal risk and exclude working members.
Elections that don't survive challenges
A challenged election needs a reviewable record of eligibility, notices, observers, participation, ballot handling, the tally, and retained election materials.
Low turnout from shift workers
Members working nights, weekends, or remote sites can't make it to the union hall for in-person voting. Participation suffers.
Compliance with LMRDA requirements
The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act requires secret ballots and fair election processes. Documentation is essential.
Common union votes
From officer elections to contract ratification
Built for union governance
Features that can support an LMRDA election procedure
Member Roster Enforcement
Upload your membership list via CSV. Only verified union members can cast ballots.
Identity Verification
Email and SMS verification are included. Assisted government-ID checks can be arranged in advance for a separate per-voter price.
Secret Ballot
Anonymous mode withholds member identity from results, from the ballot view and from every export; Sealed ballot mode stores the ballot with no link to the member at all. Hash-chained logs make tampering detectable.
Quorum Tracking
Real-time progress shows accepted ballots against the participation threshold configured for the election.
Voter Reminders
See which eligible members haven't voted. Send targeted reminders to boost participation.
Election Record Export
Platform-issued PDF certificates, CSV results, and hash-linked audit records for union, committee, and counsel review.
How it works
From setup to exportable results in four steps
Set Up Election
Create ballot questions, set verification and voting window.
Upload Members
Import your union membership roster. Only listed members can vote.
Collect Votes
Share election link. Members vote from any device, any shift.
Close & Export
Finalize the tally and export the result, participation data, and audit records.
LMRDA compliance support
Election requirements
- Secret ballot elections for officer positions
- Equal opportunity for all candidates
- Reasonable notice to all members
- Members in good standing can vote
Documentation
- Timestamped platform events for review
- Timestamped voter verification records
- Ballot secrecy maintained and documented
- Exportable records for the required retention process
The DOL evaluates the full election, including secrecy, observers, candidate rights, notices, safeguards, and preservation of ballots and other records for one year. vote.direct supplies software and platform records; it does not certify LMRDA compliance. Official DOL guidance.
Resources
Related guides
Deep dives, compliance checklists, and best-practice playbooks for your organization.
Use Cases
Remote Union Elections: What the Department of Labor Actually Requires
A source-linked guide to remote electronic union officer elections, including ballot secrecy, mailed notice, observers, records, access barriers, and the limits of software.
Education
Union Election Rules by State: NLRB, Public Sector, and Internal Elections (2026 Guide)
Private sector unions answer to the NLRB. Public sector unions answer to 50 different state agencies. Internal officer elections follow federal law. And union representation petitions have been climbing in recent years. Here's how it all works, state by state, with the statutes.
Education
Online Voting Security: How to Prevent Election Fraud
How modern voting platforms reduce fraud risk through identity checks, encryption, and tamper-evident audit records—and what those controls cannot prove.
Protect your members' democratic rights
Start building a verified union election record today. Flat-rate pricing from $4.99/election. Email and SMS included.
Would rather not run it yourselves? vote.direct will run the election for you, from $199.