Last semester, when most students were voting for their society officers by hand, the Beta Gamma Delta Patriots were voting by text via voting software called Top Hat.

Top Hat allows society members to vote for their candidate of choice by texting in the name of the nominee. The one-time votes are recorded instantly and immediately displayed on a laptop or projector screen. Using technology should help prevent the errors and recounts that come with voting by hand.

Top Hat was launched in 2010 at five universities with 3,500 student users and has now been used at 500 universities by about half a million student users, according to tophat.com.

Beta was able to use this software for free as a test run for future potential use by other societies. With a quick set up and easy-to-use interface, Top Hat offers flexible classroom options that extend far beyond a society election. Top Hat is popular with professors because it integrates well with PowerPoint, D2L software and many other LMS systems, and has many valuable educational uses.

Beta Gamma Delta found the Top Hat software to be a great help in society elections and looks forward to using it more in the future.