05-03-2018, 10:21 AM
Because of the serious delay in the timeline, it appears the board decided to hire a printing company that would insert the district election ballots into the envelopes costing the association more money. Volunteers were on standby to stuff envelopes after the ballots got printed up, but the board and GM were so far behind..... I have no idea if the board even voted on this at the last board meeting and how much extra this is costing us. People who were there to the end of the meeting don't recollect a board vote.
REASON for the serious setback in the timeline? The Nominating Committee as you know disqualified current president Craig Crelly as a viable candidate for Dist 6. At the April board meeting, the board meddled in the election by overturning the NC's decision. The domino affect they caused from this maneuver is this....the NC gave the board the draft ballots in MARCH, and because the board wanted to put Crelly on the Dist 6 ballot, they had to wait another month until the April board meeting to vote to qualify him. This put the whole schedule a month behind FOR CRELLY. Adding another candidate to Dist 6, taking it to 3 candidates, then meant a Preferential ballot had to be used instead of a regular ballot, which the NC did not provide as it wasn't applicable with the NC having qualified 2 candidates for Dist 6.
This illegal board maneuver set off another chain of events. They didn't want to use the ballots the NC had created and presented to the board at the March board meeting. The printed sample ballots the GM and Murdoch worked on for each district didn't get sent to the NC until last Tues 24 April, for their review. The ballots per the bylaws are supposed to be mailed out to the districts by May 1st after the Nominating Committee has reviewed them and then they're printed up.
The NC reviewed the ballots and told Patrick Murdoch, board appt'd rep, what corrections needed to be made. One of the most obvious was the inclusion of each candidate's lot and block number, which is personal member information that the board is supposed to protect. This has not been past practice nor is it legal to serve up someone's lot and block numbers on hundreds of ballots. The NC didn't hear back after multiple attempts by the NC chair to contact Murdoch wanting to see the "corrected" ballots before they went to the printer. This past Monday P Murdoch contacted the NC chair saying the ballots are at the printers and the ballots are already printed with the block and lot numbers on them.
The NC chair advised that the ballots will have to be removed from their envelopes so that the personal information can be blacked out manually. There was no further communication until yesterday when the NC chair was told the ballots were at the HPP office ready to be mailed out. It is assumed this means the envelopes are sealed and stamped.
Some candidates have objected to the ballots going out with their personal information on them. The last the NC chair was told was that the ballots were on hold now. The NC wrote to the board this morning as the GM and some board members don't see a problem with the lot and block number going out on the ballots.
If this wasn't enough drama, one of the Dist 6 candidates decided to withdraw this past Sunday from the elections. It had to do with the board illegally adding Crelly to the Dist 6 ballot. This blatant board maneuver has made many think this will not be a clean election.
The preferential ballots we believe were already printed, also ready to go, with the same personal information on them. The board hasn't told the NC yet whether they retracted the Dist 6 ballots and reprinted regular ballots in it's place after they learned of Dist 6 candidate, Thomas Fuchtman, withdrawing. Having a 3 way split vote when there's only 2 candidates is NOT GOOD. So at this time, the NC chair is waiting to hear from the board.
(edited for clarity)
REASON for the serious setback in the timeline? The Nominating Committee as you know disqualified current president Craig Crelly as a viable candidate for Dist 6. At the April board meeting, the board meddled in the election by overturning the NC's decision. The domino affect they caused from this maneuver is this....the NC gave the board the draft ballots in MARCH, and because the board wanted to put Crelly on the Dist 6 ballot, they had to wait another month until the April board meeting to vote to qualify him. This put the whole schedule a month behind FOR CRELLY. Adding another candidate to Dist 6, taking it to 3 candidates, then meant a Preferential ballot had to be used instead of a regular ballot, which the NC did not provide as it wasn't applicable with the NC having qualified 2 candidates for Dist 6.
This illegal board maneuver set off another chain of events. They didn't want to use the ballots the NC had created and presented to the board at the March board meeting. The printed sample ballots the GM and Murdoch worked on for each district didn't get sent to the NC until last Tues 24 April, for their review. The ballots per the bylaws are supposed to be mailed out to the districts by May 1st after the Nominating Committee has reviewed them and then they're printed up.
The NC reviewed the ballots and told Patrick Murdoch, board appt'd rep, what corrections needed to be made. One of the most obvious was the inclusion of each candidate's lot and block number, which is personal member information that the board is supposed to protect. This has not been past practice nor is it legal to serve up someone's lot and block numbers on hundreds of ballots. The NC didn't hear back after multiple attempts by the NC chair to contact Murdoch wanting to see the "corrected" ballots before they went to the printer. This past Monday P Murdoch contacted the NC chair saying the ballots are at the printers and the ballots are already printed with the block and lot numbers on them.
The NC chair advised that the ballots will have to be removed from their envelopes so that the personal information can be blacked out manually. There was no further communication until yesterday when the NC chair was told the ballots were at the HPP office ready to be mailed out. It is assumed this means the envelopes are sealed and stamped.
Some candidates have objected to the ballots going out with their personal information on them. The last the NC chair was told was that the ballots were on hold now. The NC wrote to the board this morning as the GM and some board members don't see a problem with the lot and block number going out on the ballots.
If this wasn't enough drama, one of the Dist 6 candidates decided to withdraw this past Sunday from the elections. It had to do with the board illegally adding Crelly to the Dist 6 ballot. This blatant board maneuver has made many think this will not be a clean election.
The preferential ballots we believe were already printed, also ready to go, with the same personal information on them. The board hasn't told the NC yet whether they retracted the Dist 6 ballots and reprinted regular ballots in it's place after they learned of Dist 6 candidate, Thomas Fuchtman, withdrawing. Having a 3 way split vote when there's only 2 candidates is NOT GOOD. So at this time, the NC chair is waiting to hear from the board.
(edited for clarity)