Handling of Ballots

Susan

Our Association is in the final stages of amending our Bylaws and to put to a vote of the membership. We will have volunteers collecting secret ballots, but will have the H/O's sign a roster , saying who the ballot was handed over to.

The process will go like this.

1) Set a date for the ballots to be verified to meet quorum requirement and then counted
2) Mail out nominating forms for BOD candidate
3) Mail out ballots 30 days prior to election cut off date or special meeting date.
4) First two weeks after ballots have been received by H/O's, Election Committee will tally ballot count.
5) On the Saturday before the third week starts, an community event will take place allowing H/O to drop off their ballots, ask questions and then vote, all while enjoying a hot dog, taco and beverage.
During the event, the Election Committee will tally the ballot turned in and a list will be given to volunteers to go door-to-door to gather the final votes.
6) Last two weeks, volunteers will go door-to-door to gather the balance of ballots. Each volunteer will have a ballot, two envelopes, one inner and one outer to conform to secret ballot rules. The ballots would be turned in daily to one of the Election Committee members residing in the community.
7) Election Committee will verify the results of the election and announce at either the special meeting or next board meeting.

Absolutely you can go door to door. Unless there is a rule that the ballots must be mailed in, then who cares how they get delivered. My 55+ HOA, has a checklist in the office and a dropbox hanging on the door. Every ballot is numbered by it's unit and is checked off as they come in. There is a phone call committee that also calls the day before any election or vote is due. They have a team that goes out to collect missing ballots. The purpose is to get maximum vote results and there is nothing wrong or illegal in doing this as long as those ballots are sealed in an envelope and not tampered with.