A Closer Look at the 2026 USA Fencing Election
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After the 2026 Board of Directors election, USA Fencing published a detailed explanation of how the vote was run: who holds the ballots, what staff can and cannot see, how the counting method works, and what the audit log recorded. If you voted and wondered how the numbers add up, this is the explainer.
After the 2026 Board of Directors election, USA Fencing published a detailed explanation of how the vote was run: who holds the ballots, what staff can and cannot see, how the counting method works, and what the audit log recorded. If you voted and wondered how the numbers add up, this is the explainer.
Elections run on an independent platform
USA Fencing elections are administered on eBallot, an independent third-party platform. Your unique login comes from eBallot, not from USA Fencing, and the ballot itself is secret.
Staff can see that a member voted. They cannot see how that member voted. The link between a voter's identity and their ballot contents is not visible to staff or to the Election Committee.
That design has a practical consequence USA Fencing spells out: the organization cannot report group-level ranking statistics, such as what percentage of a given membership category ranked a particular candidate first. Those numbers would require breaking ballot secrecy.
Turnout in 2026
A total of 3,323 members voted out of 16,780 eligible, a turnout of 19.80%. In 2024, 2,334 of 12,092 eligible members voted, a turnout of 19.30%.
So both the eligible pool and the raw ballot count grew substantially, while the participation rate moved only slightly. The official page includes a breakdown by membership type for members who want to see where the votes came from.
How Borda Count works
Board elections use a Borda Count, as required by the Bylaws. With seven candidates on the ballot, a first-place ranking is worth 7 points, second place 6 points, and so on down to 1 point for seventh. A candidate left unranked receives 0 points. The two highest point totals win the two open seats.
The key thing to understand is that point totals are not vote shares. A large point total reflects both how many voters ranked a candidate and how highly they ranked them.
USA Fencing gave a worked example: 829 voters ranked Greg Husisian first, which produced 5,803 points from those ballots alone — 829 multiplied by 7.
The Fingerprint Report and voter support
eBallot maintains a Fingerprint Report, a timestamped audit log of every administrative action taken during the election. Two staff members had voter-support access, fewer than in prior cycles.
That access covered three things only: resetting a password, updating an email address, and adding a missing eligible voter — and each only after verifying the member's identity. It did not allow viewing or altering votes.
Across the whole election there were 12 support actions: 7 password resets, 2 email corrections, and 3 eligible voters added.
Two suspended members
After the voter list was pulled, two members were suspended. Both accounts were deactivated in eBallot, and both actions were logged. Neither account had cast a vote, so there was no effect on the outcome.
Who oversees the election
The Election Committee consists of four volunteer general members plus two athlete members selected by the Athletes Council. The committee sets the election timeline, reviews, tests, and approves the ballots, and resolves issues that come up during voting.
Members with questions can write to information@usafencing.org.
Why saber families should care
Board seats decide the governance direction of the sport your fencer competes in — referee development, transparency, and event structure all run through the Board. Understanding that the ballot is secret, the count is a Borda Count, and every administrative action is logged makes it easier to read results without guessing.
For the outcome itself, see our write-up of the 2026 election results, with Nona Lim and Greg Husisian elected to the Board.
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Official source
USA Fencing, June 4, 2026: A Closer Look at the 2026 USA Fencing Election. More coverage on our USA Fencing news hub.
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