2025 Voting form and the Quick vote

Nationwide Building Society introduced the “Quick vote” (QV) mechanism in 2006. This was the year after the last Member Nominated Candidate stood for election in 2005.

Since that time, there have been no Member Nominated Candidates or Member Resolutions put forward, so the use of the QV hasn’t been tested in the situation where Members have their own items on the agenda that may be different to the Board’s own recommendations.

This therefore brings the use of the QV, and how it impacts voting form design and voting behaviour, into focus in 2026.

Restore Trust has campaigned extensively against the introduction and use of the QV mechanism by the National Trust (this video is a useful summary).

Both the National Trust and Nationwide use the same facilitator (or scrutineer) for their elections: Civica Election Services (CES). This is why Nationwide digital ballots are managed through CES domain names and email addresses (CESvotes.com if you want to add it to your safe sender list).

In the case of the National Trust, Restore Trust’s 2023 report (The effect of the Quick Vote on democracy in the National Trust) makes reference to CES advising the National Trust on the use of the QV. Restore Trust also make it clear in their report that not all organisations supported by CES use the QV – some have taken the stance not to include it in their ballot process and voting form design.

Nationwide voting pack (2025)

Eligible voting Members of Nationwide Building Society (see Voting Conditions on this page for the eligibility rules) receive a voting pack either by post or electronically.

In 2025, I received in the post:

• Chairman’s letter (A4 front, back) – including codes to vote electronically
• Voting form (A4 front, back) – features the quick vote prominently at the top
• Notice of AGM (A5 trifold – cover, digital version here) – date and time, resolutions, how to vote and attend
• Who are you voting for? (A5 quadfold – cover, digital version here) – short biographies of those seeking election to the board
• Review of the year 2025 (A5 booklet – cover, digital version here) – a selection of information taken from the full annual report
• A free-post return envelope (DL size – front, back) – for those voting by post

Electronic voting

In 2025 I also investigated how the quick vote is presented when voting electronically. This short video shows that similar to the paper ballot, the Quick vote features prominently at the top, effectively “above the fold” on a mobile device, such that if you check the box, before scrolling down, you do not see the rest of the form and the underlying resolutions.

Appointing a representative

You can see at the top of the back of the voting form, that the Society supports the option for the Appointment of a representative. This is also available to those that access the voting form online.

Some Members chose to appoint me as their representative last year. When I logged in to cast my votes on the day of the AGM, I was presented with the option to cast multiple votes across the resolutions, based on how Members asked me to vote. For those that wish to do the same this year, you can add my name and customer number as requested:

• JAMES SHERWIN-SMITH
• 7161359006