Board revises M-06 to allow outsourcing of OPA elections

Parks, Jacobs agree that more changes are likely to governing documents

By ROTA L. KNOTT Contributing Writer

Having agreed last month to hire a Washington-state based company as the Ocean Pines Association’s new elections voting contractor, the Board of Directors on June 17 formally approved changes to Resolution M-06, Elections and Referendums, to bring that governing document in line with its new elections procedures.

Director Rick Farr offered a motion to approve the amended resolution on second reading.

The motion carried unanimously, but several directors said they were voting in favor simply to move the process forward in time for this summer’s election.

They noted that more changes to the resolution will be needed in the future as the Board continues to refine the elections process.

While the revised resolution reaffirms that the counting of ballots remains as the responsibility of the

Elections Committee, new language clarifies that it can be done “either by the Committee itself, or the Committee may delegate this responsibility to an independent contractor hired …” to do the job.

Another updated section of the resolution addresses the remote ballot counting operation.

The revision states that “association members may witness the ballot counting process remotely but will not be privy to vote totals during the counting process nor engage in any way with the ballot counting process, Elections Committee, consultants, or Association staff.”

That means when the ballots are counted by the OPA’s new elections vendor, Election Trust of Bainbridge Island, Washington state, there will be no audio streaming of the event, only video.

A similar “video-only” policy has been effect in previous years when the Elections Committee handled the ballot counting.

The revised resolution says the ballot counting will be conducted in a room of sufficient size to accommodate the process and remote viewing of the process for association members who want to observe the count.

It specifies that the room “shall be properly equipped to allow clear remote viewing for association members wishing to observe the count. The Committee may request the assistance of a computer consultant and designated association staff.”

Director Steve Jacobs said he would vote for the motion because the changes to the resolution were vetted by both the Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee and the OPA’s legal counsel.

However, he pointed out that language in the resolution doesn’t agree with the association’s bylaws, particularly regarding timing for certain election activities.

That will need to be addressed in a future amendment to the resolution, he said.

Jacobs said he wasn’t finding fault with the work of the Elections Committee, which spent hours revamping the process for the 2023 election.

“This Elections Committee had a lot on its plate,” he said, adding that he didn’t always agree with its decisions but “wouldn’t quarrel with the effort.”

The current priority is ensuring that the proper procedures are in place for the election coming up this summer, Jacobs said.

However, he added, that it is incumbent on the Elections Committee, Bylaws and Resolutions Advisory Committee, and the Board to work together to align M-06 and with the by-laws in the future.

“This situation where we are faced with trying to get this done with the election coming up in two months should not reoccur next year,” Jacobs said.

A similar 11th hour amendment process occurred last year to accommodate electronic voting, which the Board has suspended for this summer’s election.

He said the discrepancies between the documents in the dates for accomplishing tasks reflect his view that the Board is rushing the process this year.

OPA President Doug Parks agreed in part.

“This isn’t the end,” he said.

After conducting the upcoming election, he said the OPA and the committees will have more data to evaluate, adjust the process, and integrate online voting again in the future.

“I would fully expect homework,” he said, adding “I suspect this will not be the final change to M-06.”

Last month the Board approved a contract with the Washington State firm of Election Trust as a single point of contact to conduct and perform all printing, mailing, receipt and counting of all votes for the upcoming election.

The Board had previously approved the Election Committee’s recommendation that the 2023 election will be conducted with paper ballots only.

As an option for future elections, Election Trust can provide a hybrid balloting platform of vote-by-mail and online voting. The firm can tabulate, scan, audit and archive ballots using a federally certified system.

The option of a hybrid ballot platform as well as a live observation via Zoom, counting and report of all the ballots is included in its services.