Alex T. wrote:
That process would seem to indicate that you could require the application to be verified by a notary, thus ensuring that it is from a distinct individual. That is usually what NPO membership coordinators due is verify membership status, so it is not outrageous to ask someone to fill out a form, get it notarized and mail it to someone to be entitled to vote.
I personally don't like any notarization requirement, because not everyone has easy (and certainly not free) access to a notary public. In addition, I've actually never been a member of a NPO that required this, and I've been a member of several organizations that had votes. Perhaps it's different in the world of academic and professional societies (Cognitive Science Society, Association of Computing Machinery, IEEE, etc.), but they seem to consider the fact that they snail-mail you the materials to be a sufficient safeguard--if you tried to request 500 ballots to the same address, they'd notice and check into it, and it's unreasonably difficult for most people to stuff the ballot box by acquiring 500 different places at which they can receive mail. About half also additionally require either a photocopy of an ID or in the case of students or professors a letter from your institution saying "this guy really is a [student/professor] here".
-Mark