Electronic Voting

JohnK40 (West Virginia)
Posts: 59

Posted:

A shot in the dark ...

Whether it be a new Director or a change in pool hours "mail out" voting at my HOA is a nightmare. The mailing cost and labor to "stuff" envelopes has led to members ... just not being asked.

For years I've been watchful for an electronic means "to vote" without success.

I'm not looking for a recommendation only asking if you know of a process successfully used by your HOA.

MarkR21 (North Carolina)
Posts: 710

Posted:

Www.electionbudy.com

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 501

Posted:

There are two ways of looking at this:

1) Surveys - these are informal straw polls of people's opinion. You can e-mail out survey links to everyone you have an address for, and ask for feedback. This works great to gauge homeowner interest in a subject prior to making a decision as a Board. Pool hours would be great. We use the survey tool provided through my Office 365 account.

Technically, since the surveys are setup to be anonymous, one could fill out the survey 5 times and try to skew results, so we take the results with a grain of salt. In our community, homeowners don't do this monkey business and thus we rely heavily on survey results for decision making.

I advertise that every adult is invited to fill out the survey, so some homes get to says in the poll while other homes get one. This isn't a legal vote.

2) Votes - these are formal opinions cast by members of our homeowners assocation. Each property gets precisely one vote. To gather the votes appropriately, we mail everyone a 5 digit code, and then they put that code on the ballot (electronic or paper) along with their address. The two pieces of information, one which is known only to them and the property manager, ensures that each house is voting for themselves and gets only one vote.

One caution with voting: Everybody gets a chance to vote, whether or not they use electronic stuff. We have mailed out ballots in the past and put QR codes / web links allowing people to vote electronically if they desire. Most vote electronically as it is easier. Some fill out paper ballots and e-mail pictures of the ballots to the property manager. One filled out the paper ballot and mailed it in. Main thing is that everyone gets a chance to vote.

We used the Office 365 survey tool for the electronic ballot, since it was free for us to use.

JohnC73 (Massachusetts)
Posts: 344

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 07/26/2022 7:53 AM
There are two ways of looking at this:

1) Surveys - these are informal straw polls of people's opinion. You can e-mail out survey links to everyone you have an address for, and ask for feedback. This works great to gauge homeowner interest in a subject prior to making a decision as a Board. Pool hours would be great. We use the survey tool provided through my Office 365 account.

Technically, since the surveys are setup to be anonymous, one could fill out the survey 5 times and try to skew results, so we take the results with a grain of salt. In our community, homeowners don't do this monkey business and thus we rely heavily on survey results for decision making.

I advertise that every adult is invited to fill out the survey, so some homes get to says in the poll while other homes get one. This isn't a legal vote.

2) Votes - these are formal opinions cast by members of our homeowners assocation. Each property gets precisely one vote. To gather the votes appropriately, we mail everyone a 5 digit code, and then they put that code on the ballot (electronic or paper) along with their address. The two pieces of information, one which is known only to them and the property manager, ensures that each house is voting for themselves and gets only one vote.

One caution with voting: Everybody gets a chance to vote, whether or not they use electronic stuff. We have mailed out ballots in the past and put QR codes / web links allowing people to vote electronically if they desire. Most vote electronically as it is easier. Some fill out paper ballots and e-mail pictures of the ballots to the property manager. One filled out the paper ballot and mailed it in. Main thing is that everyone gets a chance to vote.

We used the Office 365 survey tool for the electronic ballot, since it was free for us to use.

QR Codes is a great idea! We have tried twice to pass a by-law allowing an electric voting "option" and it narrowly fell short of the 2/3 voting requirement to update the by-law.

I will be trying to pass the electronic voting by-law again and I think it has a better chance to pass thanks to the information I discovered on this site. Unbeknowst to the entire association they have always had the ability to vote "absentee like" by using a "directed proxy". Thanks to this page, our association will be accepting "directed proxies", before this year we only accepted "general proxies"

John

MichaelT21 (Arkansas)
Posts: 501

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnC73 on 07/26/2022 9:54 AM

Posted By MichaelT21 on 07/26/2022 7:53 AM
There are two ways of looking at this:

1) Surveys - these are informal straw polls of people's opinion. You can e-mail out survey links to everyone you have an address for, and ask for feedback. This works great to gauge homeowner interest in a subject prior to making a decision as a Board. Pool hours would be great. We use the survey tool provided through my Office 365 account.

Technically, since the surveys are setup to be anonymous, one could fill out the survey 5 times and try to skew results, so we take the results with a grain of salt. In our community, homeowners don't do this monkey business and thus we rely heavily on survey results for decision making.

I advertise that every adult is invited to fill out the survey, so some homes get to says in the poll while other homes get one. This isn't a legal vote.

2) Votes - these are formal opinions cast by members of our homeowners assocation. Each property gets precisely one vote. To gather the votes appropriately, we mail everyone a 5 digit code, and then they put that code on the ballot (electronic or paper) along with their address. The two pieces of information, one which is known only to them and the property manager, ensures that each house is voting for themselves and gets only one vote.

One caution with voting: Everybody gets a chance to vote, whether or not they use electronic stuff. We have mailed out ballots in the past and put QR codes / web links allowing people to vote electronically if they desire. Most vote electronically as it is easier. Some fill out paper ballots and e-mail pictures of the ballots to the property manager. One filled out the paper ballot and mailed it in. Main thing is that everyone gets a chance to vote.

We used the Office 365 survey tool for the electronic ballot, since it was free for us to use.

QR Codes is a great idea! We have tried twice to pass a by-law allowing an electric voting "option" and it narrowly fell short of the 2/3 voting requirement to update the by-law.

I will be trying to pass the electronic voting by-law again and I think it has a better chance to pass thanks to the information I discovered on this site. Unbeknowst to the entire association they have always had the ability to vote "absentee like" by using a "directed proxy". Thanks to this page, our association will be accepting "directed proxies", before this year we only accepted "general proxies"

John

The truly great thing about absentee voting in our state is that every vote counts toward quroum. Last year, we met quorum prior to the first attempt at the annual meeting, which was great.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I'm curious about JohnK's OP where the owners seem to vote on things like pool hours. Is that what you Bylaws require???
Attitudes about such things are best found by doing a survey such as MichaelT does.

Electronic voting isn't permitted in Calif. But because absentee/mail-in ballot are permitted and count for quorum, we always make quorum.

Are you sure E-voting is allowed in W. Va HOAs?

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I'm curious about JohnK's OP where the owners seem to vote on things like pool hours. Is that what you Bylaws require???
Attitudes about such things are best found by doing a survey such as MichaelT does.

Electronic voting isn't permitted in Calif. But because absentee/mail-in ballot are permitted and count for quorum, we always make quorum.

Are you sure E-voting is allowed in W. Va HOAs?

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

JohnK

I do not see the need for owners to vote on allowing electronic voting. Either State Law allows it or not regardless of your Bylaws.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelT21 on 07/26/2022 7:53 AM
There are two ways of looking at this:

1) Surveys - these are informal straw polls of people's opinion. You can e-mail out survey links to everyone you have an address for, and ask for feedback. This works great to gauge homeowner interest in a subject prior to making a decision as a Board. Pool hours would be great. We use the survey tool provided through my Office 365 account.

Technically, since the surveys are setup to be anonymous, one could fill out the survey 5 times and try to skew results, so we take the results with a grain of salt. In our community, homeowners don't do this monkey business and thus we rely heavily on survey results for decision making.

I advertise that every adult is invited to fill out the survey, so some homes get to says in the poll while other homes get one. This isn't a legal vote.

2) Votes - these are formal opinions cast by members of our homeowners assocation. Each property gets precisely one vote. To gather the votes appropriately, we mail everyone a 5 digit code, and then they put that code on the ballot (electronic or paper) along with their address. The two pieces of information, one which is known only to them and the property manager, ensures that each house is voting for themselves and gets only one vote.

One caution with voting: Everybody gets a chance to vote, whether or not they use electronic stuff. We have mailed out ballots in the past and put QR codes / web links allowing people to vote electronically if they desire. Most vote electronically as it is easier. Some fill out paper ballots and e-mail pictures of the ballots to the property manager. One filled out the paper ballot and mailed it in. Main thing is that everyone gets a chance to vote.

We used the Office 365 survey tool for the electronic ballot, since it was free for us to use.

There are free and easy ways to conduct surveys where people can on,y vote once.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnK40 on 07/26/2022 6:05 AM
A shot in the dark ...

Whether it be a new Director or a change in pool hours "mail out" voting at my HOA is a nightmare. The mailing cost and labor to "stuff" envelopes has led to members ... just not being asked.

For years I've been watchful for an electronic means "to vote" without success.

I'm not looking for a recommendation only asking if you know of a process successfully used by your HOA.

Well, yes, there are reputable services that provide secure online voting. A quick Google search will find them for you.