Selling Secret Ballots at Front Desk

Purchased? For how much?

The blank ballots are being sold at the cost of printing.

Our By laws allows the use of proxies. When we had our election orientation meeting, the chairperson explained the rules. Anyone collecting proxies would turn them in, they would be verified, and then on election day, we would buy the exact number of blank ballots needed to convert our proxies to ballots at a cost of .34 cents per ballot.

Those were the rules explained to everyone. Now I find out that at least one candidate was able to go up to the front desk and just buy some blank ballots so that he could take those door to door. What really stinks is that a cash drawing is available this year for anyone who votes via secret ballot. Proxy voters are not eligible. So, that means this candidate is using secret ballots, and can tell people they're entered into the cash drawing, while the rest of us are collecting proxies, and these people are not eligible for the prize. And who's keeping an eye on the blank ballots? The teen-ager manning the front desk? Shouldn't those be kept under lock and key and every ballot accounted for?

What stinks even more is that the people who made up the rules (charging proxy holders .34 per ballot and making proxy voters ineligible for the prize) HATE proxies, and the charge of .34 per ballot was intended to punish those who use them. I collected 240 proxies last year. Geez- so now I am being charged to serve as a volunteer? I shouldn't have to pay for a blank ballot- they should be thanking me. If we don't make quorum, we just wasted printing and postage for 3,400 homes. I think providing a couple hundred blank ballots to me so we actually have an election is worth it, don't you think? And I'm not whining about having to pay what they claim is a "negligable fee". I really can't afford it. My family is single income. I'm a stay at home mom and our mortgage is $3,500 a month and we have to watch every single penny and we honestly cannot afford this! My husband and I have no money to donate to help out our community, so we donate our time.

Oh yeah- and one of this year's election committee members was last year's board president. He called me last year when I was a challenger and told me "you don't know what you're getting yourself into. If you get elected, you'll get sued and lose your home." After he discovered I had collected 240 proxies (I was smart and kept them a secret until the election day) he was able to "miracle" 35 or so secret ballots. He claims he went door to door and asked people if they still had their ballots, and that's how he collected them. I doubt it. I knocked on 800 doors last year and NOT ONE person could find their secret ballot. I think the GM gave this guy a stack of blank ballots. Our GM KNEW that several of us took exception to this last year, and here she is again this year, giving ballots out to some, and not to others.

What do I do?

Lisa,

Lot of strange goings on here. At least to me. I must admit, I've never heard of anything like this before. I think you need to check the Davis-Stirling Act to see if anything like this is described there. Although, it may not be covered there. You might also have to check California's laws governing corporations.

Two things jump out at me though. One is that a current president should never be on a nominating committee. Standard parliamentary practice advises against this. Another is the statement that "if you get elected you'll get sued." For an HOA your size, I assume you have D&O insurance. That's what that is for. It's to protect the board members in case they get sued. Also, I would bet that your documents and your state laws include provisions for indemnifying board and committee members. That means that the association agrees to pay for your defense and cover any damages awarded (which is why they buy D&O insurance - so the insurance company pays that instead).

Hi Mary, and thanks for the response. I am currently a Director, but was in the minority in a close vote in which the majority (who dislike proxies) voted to:

a) charge proxy holders .34 cents per secret ballot
b)not disclose who has or has not voted to the election committee, the directors, or the candidates

Each homeowner received a ballot in the mail free of charge, but as you all know, most people throw it away. Most of us have the same dilemma- no proxies=no quorum. The majority of the Board doesn't want to make quorum. Why? Because they get to keep their seat without working for it. Obviously, it makes it darn near impossible for a challenger to ever have a shot to get on the board, especially with such a large HOA like ours. I knocked on 800 doors, and so did a couple other people, and we barely made quorum- the first time in over 4 years.

A judge would most likely overturn that election.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=02443615612+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
Jane

Lisa,

On gosh this sounds worse than the Florida election in 2000.

http://www.cahomelaw.org/ has some info on small claims court.
Jane

HI all,
sorry I didn't reply sooner, but I have been busy collecting proxies, etc. As of today, we still do not have a full accounting of the "extra" ballots, and the staff is getting defensive and offended that we would dare question them on this after all the dedicated years they have served our community. Well in my opinion, an employee shouldn't get so offended when all anyone is asking for is an accurate accounting of the ballots...especially when it's the HOA's accountant we're asking! There shouldn't be any hurt feelings- it's just business.

I know I could file a suit and stop the election, but that's not what I want to do. We have a HUGE HOA- 3,400+ homes, and the printing/mailing of new ballots alone would cost another $10,000, not to mention the anger and loss of confidence the homeowners would have if we threw out the election. I think it would be a terrible blow to the morale of everyone.

I'm going to have to choose my battles. With all the foreclosures and thousands of dollars a month in bad debt write-offs and a slumping economy, I would feel awful about wasting another 10k for another election. The four other candidates who were excluded from the opportunity to purchase blank ballots have all decided to let it go for now, and just chalk it up to yet another ruse from the opposition to prevent quorum so they can appoint their old pal to the vacant seat, or cheat their way into it by pilfering ballots.

I am still in awe of their bumbling duplicity- GEEZ- with all the time they spend plotting and scheming, they could have just spent the time collecting proxies! Sometimes I want to shake them and yell, "It's just an HOA board, and you don't even get paid! You shouldn't want to win so bad you're willing to cheat!"

No.. how much you want to bet that they have a friend who has a printing shop?