One altered ballot

I've reviewed the ballots from our annual meeting, for the election of officers and there is ONE ballot that appears to have been tampered with. Seven people ran for the board and this particular ballot checked only two names; then hand-wrote (in black ink) a "write-in" candidate.

Upon looking at the ballots "someone" used blue ink and crossed off the write-in candidate. I have no idea if it was the original voter or someone on the tally committee who crossed out the name with blue ink. Our association does not accept "altered" ballots and declares them as improper and null and void.

But here is the stickler---the vote counting committee did not disclose this at the meeting. I only discovered it while filing all the paperwork from the meeting. Florida requires us to keep all this stuff on file for a year. So how do I go about disclosing this information??? This one ballot would not make a difference in "winning" election--the two other people on this ballot were beat out by double and triple the votes of the people who won.

But I want to make certain the tally votes are correct---and to let people know that improper voting is not acceptable, and also that the Meeting Minutes are accurate.

Thank you.

Anna,

Since, as you say, this one vote would not have made a difference in the outcome of the election, I would just let it go. However, you might want to have a talk with the tally committee members. In fact, they may be able to explain to you exactly what happened with that particular ballot. You may find that this ballot was not counted. Bringing this up to the membership would only cause unnecessary problems.

In SOME elections, the write in candidate has to reveal that he/she is in the running and soliciting votes. Heck, the write-in could have been for Mickey Mouse!

In any case, it seems the voters need some education as to proper casting of ballots, so be sure that's done next election.

According to accepted parliamentary procedure, when a ballot contains multiple questions or positions to be voted on, each question or position is to be considered as a separate ballot. (Page 402 of Robert's Rules, 10th ed.)

Thus, if a ballot contains, for example, seven names and there are five positions to be voted on, voters should be instructed to choose no more than five. Then if:

Write-ins are allowed and the ballot has five or fewer names checked and the rest is blank, the ballot is counted.

Write-ins are allowed and the number of names checked plus the number of write-in names do not exceed five, the ballot is counted provided none of the write-in names are not eligible for office. If any of the write-in names are not eligible for office, those names are disallowed and the remainder of the ballot is counted. It does not disqualify the entire ballot.

If the number of names checked plus the number of eligible write-in names exceeds five, the entire ballot must be rejected because there is no way to know which five the voter prefers.

If the number of names checked plus the number of eligible write-in names exceeds five, but some of the write-in names are not eligibe for office, the ineligible names are discarded and if the result is five or fewer eligible names checked and written in, the ballot is counted. Otherwise, it is rejected.

The voter is always given a chance to be heard and have his/her vote counted if at all possible. The voter is never "punished" by having the entire ballot rejected because he/she was behaving foolishly, unless there is no way to determine what the voter wanted.

This also how municipal elections are held. If you use paper ballots, look at the ballot next time you vote. If you are voting for, let's say five city council members and there are more than five candidates, the instructions on the ballot will usually tell you to vote for no more than five, or for up to five. You will not generally be told to vote for exactly five.

The ballots should have been sealed immediately after the election, so I'm not sure why anyone is looking at them now.

The ballot in question only cast two votes (of the 5 candidates) PLUS the write-in name, which is perfectly permissable. However, the write-in candidate MAY not be an eligble candidate.

Still not answered is WHY the name was crossed out and WHO determined that the write-in vote was not acknowledged.

"My association would have tossed it out as being not valid because of the write-in-M.M."

You don't mean the ENTIRE ballot, do you?

Just that the write-in was not recorded.

Which is what happened in the first place.

Donna---I'm with you. I do not feel that ballot should be counted at all. There is a strict process and time-frame for someone's name to be on the ballot at all. The seven people who were on the ballot submitted their letter of intent by the deadline; and also their "resume" letter by the deadline, and were thus entitled to have their names on the ballot.

There was one other person who had a wish to run for the board but their letter of intent did not reach the management company by the "due date" so they were excluded from having their name on the ballot.

ANY name hand-written on the ballot is not a legitimate vote; it looked like somebody's kid turned in the ballot, and if the unit owner doesn't understand the process, and follow the process then I'm not sure their ballot should count at all. This isn't a game---it's a serious, real, legal election.

Just so everyone knows (and doesn't think my association is totally uneducated) we do have four people count votes; with our p.m. overseeing the process. We also have the "two-envelope" proceedure; with checks and double-checks. I'm just surprised that one of THEM didn't question the hand-written, write-in candidate. I actually DID think to mention it (write-in candidates) before the counting started and I could kick myself in the butt for forgetting to talk about it (write-in's) ahead of time. But I guess this is where the education for next year needs to come in.

"Sealing" envelopes AFTER the voting??? I've never heard of that before.

Haven't found anything on FL 718 about keeping ballots for 7 years but I might be wrong. However, FL 720 says Minutes and insurance policies should be retained for at least 7 years. Bids received by the HOA must be kept for one year.

Anna,
Just as a verification, copied from 718;111----"12. Ballots, sign-in sheets, voting proxies, and all other papers relating to voting by unit owners, which shall be maintained for a period of 1 year from the date of the election, vote, or meeting to which the document relates, notwithstanding paragraph (b).Paragraph b is all other documents need saving for 7 years.

Just to verify then:
1) write-ins votes are not allowed in Florida
2) the entire ballot is deemed defective because someone wrote a write-in on it.
3) ballots can be handled at any time after an election, with no motion from the board.

That right, gals?

Anna- I was being sarcastic!

I believe all three of these statments to be false, and was looking for confirmation.

Sorry, Susan, I didn't realize your sarcasim. ("Sarcasam?) I missed your point and thought you were being serious.

I'm one of those "retail slobs" that has to work 60 to 80 hours per week right now, and I don't have a lot of time to sit and disect everything everyone says. When I read your reply at 2:00; a.m. when I got home from work, I thought you were being serious.

Please bear with me.