Firstly, we must correct an error from last week's update. Ben Singer works for The Standard, not Unum as we erroneously reported. If we could award extra points or votes to him and his colleague (Scott Mottern brought the error to our attention) for being gracious we would. Our respect for the integrity of this effort prevents us from doing so -- more on that in a minute. Still, many thanks to both Singer and Mottern for understanding the error was unintentional and that it is regretted.

The contest is entering its final phase. All votes must be submitted by February 18. We're not going to provide an update on the standings this week. We'd planned on doing so, but voting irregularities have emerged.

We warned readers against ballot stuffing in the January 22nd edition of this newsletter where we wrote:

"No ballot stuffing. We'll only allow one vote per person as best as we can determine. We'll also likely discount votes from company colleagues, i.e. we won't count votes from Bill, Michael or Eric's colleagues at their respective employers."

Nevertheless we're receiving dozens of votes from carrier employees in support of their nominees. We're also experiencing ballot stuffing by independent benefit firms. We've had some instances where a firm principal has directed their staff to submit votes. Some of these votes (submitted via email) clearly indicate that they are being cast at the direction of the firm's partners.

Believe it or not this contest was meant to provide some value and service to brokers and advisers considering which carriers to present to their clients. Broker after broker we interviewed for our coverage of the group disability market in the February issue of Employee Benefit Adviser said that service was a primary focus and concern. Independent evaluators of the disability market have said the same thing, stating that there is relative parity among the products offered by the dozens of carriers.

We're making one last appeal to some of our readers to take this a little bit more seriously. Think about your book of group disability business and please recommend one carrier rep you believe offers the best service in the market. This is meant to be "for brokers, by brokers."

Thanks again for reading and participating. We'll weed out the questionable votes and provide interim tallies next week, revealing the winner in this newsletter on February 20.

Maybe that's too long for your next fix of group disability coverage from EBA. If that's the case, you are in luck. Cigna's Jim Jacobsen recently spent some time with us talking about disability trends. Check out our interview with the Jacobsen, Cigna's VP of product for the carrier's group insurance division, at EBA's Raw Bar.

Comments? Questions? Please email Robert L. Whiddon, editor of Employee Benefit Adviser.