WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Credit Union Times' Voting Poll is back with a revamped format that makes it easy to cast your vote. The poll resides on Credit Union Times' home page (www.cutimes.com) where participants can vote without jumping around to other pages (see illustration). Up-to-date results are shown shortly after a vote is cast, and visitors can log on throughout the day to see updated poll results. Cookies are used to guard against duplicate voting. It is the only place on the Credit Union Times site where cookies are used, and they are used solely to prevent individuals from skewing the results. No information about voters is retained by Credit Union Times. The first and current poll deals with private insurance, which was thrust to the forefront of the industry last year when the $3 billion Patelco CU converted to private insurance. Private insurance is again a hot topic as the NAFCU Board recently said all credit unions should carry federal insurance – that position is the topic of the current Voting Poll question. It's apparently an issue people care about. In a new record for a Credit Union Times' Voting Poll, approximately 3,100 people had voted as of press time. The question is as follows: Do you agree with the position of the NAFCU Board that all credit unions should carry federal insurance? * Yes * Not Sure * No Interestingly, the vote was neck and neck most of the way up until press time with those against NAFCU's position taking a slight edge. Approximately 50% were against the NAFCU position, while over 48% were for it, and less than 1% were unsure. The strong voter turnout didn't surprise NAFCU or ASI, two parties at the forefront of the debate. "In a nonscientific poll, I look at the total vote count to gauge the interest in the topic and in this case, as we knew and the Credit Union Times poll clearly demonstrates, it is obviously high, but apart from that, our goal is to explain our position and answer all questions that arise as we move forward," said John Zimmerman, NAFCU's Public Relations Manager. Nick Damopoulos, VP of Marketing for private insurance firm ASI, said the strong poll turnout confirms what he's been hearing, the industry is very interested in the issue and there is a great divide on the issue. "I think for a lot of people it's a fear factor, what happens if a privately insured credit union goes down. The argument just as easily can be, what happens if a large federal credit union goes out of business. Won't that taint the industry too? I'm sure of the people voting, very few have ever talked to us about our program," said Damopoulos. He believes the issue is about choice. "This poll clearly shows there's a group of people in the system that feel it's important for the industry to have a sound sovereign state chartering system, an unimpeded state chartering system, and there are those that want to take that option away," he said. Voting Polls will run for approximately two weeks. The private insurance poll will expire on March 21. Log on and cast your vote! [email protected]