Disclosing Vote Tally

Started by AnnaD2 • 8 replies • 1287 views

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AnnaD2 (Florida)
Posts: 960

Posted:

We had our annual meeting and when it came time to announce the winners of the board, our property manager was getting ready to announce the board member winners and the vote tallies. I instructed him to only read the names of the five people who won. He said that other associations read the vote tallies.

For the last 90 days we've had a proxie/ballot open to vote on planting a privacy hedge. It didn't pass and we posted the vote tallies---how many said "yes", how many said "no" and how many "didn't vote". (It failed by two votes.)

Anyway---now a couple of people have asked that we disclose the tallies of the votes for the board members; just as we did for the voting on the hedge. We can't disclose which people voted for who (whom?) but people are saying that since every other election discloses the totals that they have a right to that information, too.

I get their point. I know I'll read a lot of "bantering" about this topic and that's what I'm looking for. "Is it to embarrass someone"; "What can be gained by this?";

But my question is how do OTHER associations handle this? Do you post or disclose the information?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FRIENDS AT HOATALK!

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

The appointed "Teller" gives the results of the vote to the presiding officer to announce. Yes, the actual vote tally should be given. No need to announce abstentions.

Simply:
80 yea
60 nay
motion passes.

or

Mr. Jones - 30
Mr. Smith - 24
Mrs Brown - 15
Mr. Jones is the elected treasurer.

This is entered into the minutes, which is the legal record of the HOA.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Anna,
This is exactly how we do it also--like Susans association.

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

The numerical results of the vote should be made known. That is "public" information (public meaning that your members are entitled to know). Many states require it; parliamentary procedure demands it.

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

And no, you don't disclose which people voted for whom. Even the tellers shouldn't know. The name of the person voting shouldn't even be on the ballot. Ballots should be anonymous. How many votes each candidate received should be disclosed.

TimH1 (Alabama)
Posts: 17

Posted:

Agree with all postings except Bruce's final note: that the names of those voting should not be on the ballot. We accept our printed ballots to be dropped off at the clubhouse mailbox at the homeowners convenience (voting anytime over a 10 day period, generally), and anyone could copy our ballot and cast multiple votes; therefore, we put an address label on the back side of the ballot, to ensure "one vote per household" as dictated by our CCR's.

TimH1 (Alabama)
Posts: 17

Posted:

P.S. the tabulation does not disclose who voted for whom, just that each household submitted only one ballot. The ballots are shredded after compliation.

BruceF1 (Connecticut)
Posts: 2,535

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TimH1 on 11/27/2008 6:18 AM
Agree with all postings except Bruce's final note: that the names of those voting should not be on the ballot. We accept our printed ballots to be dropped off at the clubhouse mailbox at the homeowners convenience (voting anytime over a 10 day period, generally), and anyone could copy our ballot and cast multiple votes; therefore, we put an address label on the back side of the ballot, to ensure "one vote per household" as dictated by our CCR's.

It is still possible to provide anonymity if it is done properly. Absentee ballots for public elections are handled in a manner consistent with preserving the anonymity of the voter yet insuring that each eligble eligble voter has only one vote, so there is no excuse for an HOA not to do something similar.

Completed ballots are sealed in a blank envelope and sealed, thus insuring anonymity of the ballot. The blank envelope containing the ballot is then placed in an outer envelope and sealed and the address label provided by the HOA is affixed to the outer envelope across the seal.

When tabulating the absentee ballots each envelope with its address label affixed is examined to insure that there is only one envelope for each household entitled to vote. The envelopes are then counted.

The outer envelopes are opened and discarded and the inner, blank envelopes are placed in a pile and counted. The number must agree with the first count. The pile now contains anonymous ballots and we know from the previous step that there is only one envelope per household.

The inner envelopes are opened and each must contain only one ballot. If there are multiple ballots (unlikely, unless someone is terribly dishonest) the multiple ballots must be discarded. The ballots are counted and the number of ballots must agree with the number of envelopes in the first and second steps (unless ballots had to be discarded). The votes are then tallied, and are completely anonymous. We also can guarantee there is only one vote per household unless the envelopes and ballots were tampered with during the process just described.

This doesn't require a lot of extra time. Mostly it's just the cost of a second envelope.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Bruce,

This is exactly the procedure my assn uses. We have mail-in ballots and none are accepted at the meeting. Our bylaws were changed a number of years ago requiring the mail-in ballots when it became impossible to obtain a quorum for the annual meeting (the mail-in ballots are counted toward the quorum). AZ law prohibits proxies and does allow mail-in ballots.

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