OCEAN PINES – Officials have agreed to extend election dates by two weeks following ballot delays.
In a special meeting Tuesday night, the Ocean Pines Board of Directors agreed to change the deadlines for the 2023 board election after learning that some association members had yet to receive their ballots from Washington-based contract Election Trust. The ballot deadline has been moved to Aug. 22, while the ballot count has been moved to Aug. 24 and the annual meeting has been moved to Aug. 26.
“I do think extending this out and giving everybody a better opportunity to get their votes in would be preferable and something we should do,” said Director Steve Jacobs. “It’s the right thing to do.”
In May, the board voted to hire Washington-based company Election Trust as the association’s new voting contractor. And in June, the association announced that the contractor would mail out ballots the week of July 11, with ballots due back by close of business on Aug. 8.
In recent weeks, however, it was learned that Election Trust had sent out election materials a week later than originally planned. As a result, some association members have yet to receive their ballots.
“This has sort of triggered because of what has transpired with the late arrival of the ballots to the residents of Ocean Pines as well as our part-time residents who also vote,” Jacobs said Tuesday. “The ballots were supposed to be mailed out on the 11th and by the 23rd or 24th of July they were just starting to come in.”
To that end, the board convened in a special meeting this week to discuss a potential change to the ballot deadline, ballot count and annual meeting. For his part, Jacobs said he wanted to see deadlines extended by at least one week.
“Our goal here is to have as many legitimate votes, ballots, counted as possible, and we’re in real danger of not meeting that goal …,” he said. “We’ve sort of had two questionable elections in a row. We now have a third, and it’s something we should look to address and avoid.”
Director Colette Horn agreed, noting that it was the contractor’s fault that ballots were sent out one week late.
“I think it makes sense to push everything back a week to give us at least the amount of time the election committee had intended the public to have to have their ballots in hand and look over the information and cast an intelligent vote,” she said.
Director Rick Farr, board liaison for the association’s elections committee, said Ocean Pines has remained diligent in reminding members to fill out their ballots and mailing them quickly. He noted, however, that the deadlines should be changed.
“I do think we should do our due diligence in ensuring our association members do have an extended period, what was the delay,” he said. “I think a week would be sufficient for that.”
Director Stuart Lakernick said he supported a one-week extension but suggested that the annual meeting continue to be held on Aug. 12.
“We keep our meeting on the 12th and the election can be certified afterwards,” he said. “We can have a special meeting to certify it, right?”
Association President Doug Parks said the board could hold a special meeting.
“If we have a quorum at the annual meeting, and we keep it on the 12th, we can do all the reports … and then choose to accept the results of the election at a special meeting, assuming we move things back a week,” he replied. “Or we could move the annual meeting back a week and do all of it at the annual meeting.”
Tom Piatti, chair of the elections committee, noted that while ballots were processed on July 18, they were not mailed to homeowners until July 19.
“What we are experiencing through the elections committee, through emails, through telephone calls, is that residents here have yet to receive their ballots,” he said. “And we don’t understand why.”
Piatti noted, however, that some ballots have already been mailed back to Election Trust. He said it could take a few days for members to have email confirmation that their ballots have been received.
“They are actually doing a good job, other than the eight-day delay,” he said.
During Tuesday’s meeting, elections committee member Tom Schwartz said he had talked to roughly 60 or 70 association members last week who had yet to receive their ballots. He argued that the deadline should be extended by two weeks instead of one.
“There’s no risk to the association pushing it out 14 days,” Parks said.
Horn, however, questioned if the association had enough information to extend the election deadlines.
“I’m concerned about fixing a date at all, considering we still have people that haven’t received their ballots,” she said.
After a lengthy discussion, the board agreed to extend the dates of the ballot deadline, ballot count and annual meeting by two weeks. The association’s legal counsel told directors this week he had concerns about complying with the bylaws should the annual meeting be kept for Aug. 12.
“If we feel like we’re getting the sense that Election Trust isn’t going to get us where we need to be … we’ll still hold the meeting on the 26th and then have a special meeting of the board to accept the results of the elections from the elections committee,” Parks said.
