Purpose
To provide you with a centralized view of the ballots in which you are a participating on behalf of your organization; and to enable you to review balloted documents, cast your vote and submit comments on sponsor ballots currently in "Ballot" or "Recirculation #" stages.
A centralized view of your ballot groups is provided by scrolling down the screen; or, to select one specific ballot group for review, use the search mechanism provided (enter the Project/Standard #). To aid in this effort, it is helpful to know what the column headers mean.
Project Authorization Request (PAR) or Standard #: This is the PAR or Standard # assigned to your ballot. To review the PAR, click on the Project # and the system will open the PAR pdf documents as they were approved by NesCom. The list is sortable by clicking the column header.
Draft # <Filename>: If a draft or standard has been uploaded, it will be shown here -- access it by clicking the draft # <Filename>. This column is sortable by clicking column header.
Other Files: Additional documents for the ballot, if any, are posted here -- access it by clicking the file name.
Classification: This is the classification (or interest) category for your organization, and is used for the purpose of establishing balance. This column is sortable by clicking the column header.
Stage: This conveys the stage of standards development reached by the sponsor ballots. To find a ballot group currently accepting votes and/or comments, check this column for groups identified with "Ballot" or "Recirculation #" in the stage column.
Ballot Close Date: This is the date and time that the ballot will close (all ballot groups close at 11:59pm eastern time). If the ballot group shows only a time and no date in this column, it means that the ballot has not yet been assigned a closing date. This column is sortable by clicking the column header.
Vote: This is where you will cast your organization's vote for the current ballot for all ballots currently "open" (i.e., in the "Ballot" or "Recirculation #" stages). You can also change your vote after the Initial ballot or Recirculation ballot has closed. (See "Actions" below).
Actions: Two links are provided here:
"Comments" -- This link provides you with a mechanism to submit/review ballot comments submitted by your organization and view other organization's comments, within the parameters appropriate to the ballot stage.
Scroll down the screen or use the search mechanism (enter the PAR or Standard #) to find the ballot of interest to you.
Open/download the balloted document by clicking the Draft # <Filename> link.
If you cannot open a balloted document, the error you receive is typically caused by the size of the document. A system time-out or a slower connection speed is often the cause of the problem -- to fix, save a copy of the file to your hard drive; then:
Cast Your Vote
Click the drop down menu in the vote column for the ballot group.
Approve (Affirmative): This vote may be accompanied by comments suggesting corrections and improvements. Action on such comments is left to the discretion of the Sponsor.
Disapprove (Negative): This vote must be accompanied by one or more specific objections with proposed resolution in sufficient detail in a legible form so that the specific wording of the changes that will cause the negative voter to change his/her vote to "approve" can readily be determined. If a negative vote unaccompanied by comments, or a negative vote accompanied by comments not related to the proposal under consideration, is received despite these instructions, the vote shall be counted in the total tally of votes as a "negative without comment." The Sponsor is not required to conduct a recirculation ballot of "negative without comment" votes.
Abstain: This category is provided to allow for ballot returns from members who do not wish to review the document because of conflict of interest, lack of expertise, or other reasons. An abstention vote counts toward the vote response rate, but does not factor in on the approval rate.
You can change your vote as many times as you like until the date/time of ballot closing.
"Change Vote" -- If you vote "Disapprove," this link will appear after the ballot closes to enable you to change your vote to "approve" or "abstain" at any time up to the date of the RevCom meeting. A system notification will be sent to the voter, Working Group Chair, and Standards Representative (if applicable). The vote change notification will also be included in the RevCom submission.
Note that this feature eliminates the need for additional paperwork to be submitted to RevCom by the sponsor.
Auto-email Voting Reminders. Three auto-email reminders will be sent from myBallot to ballot group members who have not cast their vote -- 14 , 7, and 3 days prior to closing date.
Ballot Extension. If the ballot is "extended" (i.e., given a new closing date by the sponsor), the voter will see "ballot extended" in the close date field. If the voter clicks on that text, the following notice will appear: "Due to insufficient response, this ballot has been extended to 11:59pm EST on the date given above OR 11:59pm EST on the date at which the required 75% is reached, whichever occurs first. Please note that if you try to submit a comment before the date given above but after the 75% is reached, your comment will be rejected since the ballot has been automatically closed."
To submit comments, click the "Comments" link under the "Actions" column, to be taken to the "Comments" screen. There, you can submit comments:
- as single comment entry, where you will access an on-screen form to submit one comment at a time; or
- as offline comment entry (i.e., multiple comment entry). where you will access a selection of furnished templates, one of which you must use if you wish to submit multiple comments at one time.
VITALLY IMPORTANT : Review the specifications for comment submittal in the help page associated with the Comments screen. Your comment entry format must conform to those specifications or your comment upload will likely result in error code.
Show All: You do not have to submit all of your comments at one time for a ballot. You can submit more comments as often as you like as long as the ballot is "open" (in the "Ballot" or "Recirculation #" stage). Submitted comments will often appear truncated -- to display full comment text, select "Show All" on the comments screen.
Show Only "Disapproval" Comments: When submitting comments for "open" ballots (currently in the "Ballot" or "Recirculation #" stage), this box will appear unchecked. This means that all comments that you submit (associated with affirmative, negative, or abstention votes) will appear on the screen. If there were prior circulations of the ballot, the prior circulations' displays of comments, responses, and other data can be accessed by clicking the corresponding "recirculation #" button -- in those cases, "Show Only 'Disapproval' Comments" will be checked by default.
Accessing Comments Previously Submitted: Access to the comments you previously submitted, and the comments of other members of the ballot group, depend on the ballot stage:
Ballot Stage -- you can:
- submit and view your own comments;
- revise a comment you have previously submitted by submitting a new comment containing the modification.
Recirculation # Stage -- you can:
- submit and view your own comments;
- revise a comment you have previously submitted by submitting a new comment containing the modification;
- view other ballot group members' comments from prior circulations of the ballot only.
Ballot Close Stage -- you can:
- view your own comments, but cannot submit further comments.
- not view other ballot group members' comments.
Ballot Failed Stage -- you can:
- not view your own comments, and cannot submit further comments.
- not view other ballot group members' comments.
Comment Resolution Stage -- you can:
- view your own comments, but cannot submit further comments;
- not view other ballot group members' comments.
Submit to RevCom Stage -- you can:
- view your own comments;
- view other ballot group members' comments.