Electronic Voting Comes to the Bankruptcy Court

Released on PRNewswire a few days ago was a press release about the first bankruptcy court order approving electronic balloting procedures in a Chapter 11 case. Using a system developed by claims agent Upshot Services LLC, the Chapter 11 trustee for Pitt Penn Holding Company, Inc. obtained a court order allowing creditors to complete and submit their ballots using a website interface. Creditors can also use a paper ballot. The voting website is accessible here: http://www.upshotservices.com/pittpennvoting. The order is available here: http://bit.ly/1sbWuAE.See paragraph 20 for the language allowing the claims agent to accept votes by electronic, online transmission.

The advantage of using a system like this are obvious, and given the fact that technologies for obtaining electronic signatures are well established, this is a welcome step in reducing the amount of paper chapter 11 cases can generate.