Ballot stuffing
Marking
the
ballots
Marking the units numbers on ballots may intimidate the voters as they
feel that the board and manager will retaliate against the owners who
vote against the board's wishes.
Ballot boxes
I don't know why providing a proper ballot box seems impossible for
some property managers and lawyers. I was at two condo owner meetings
lately where ballot and proxy integrity seemed to be an unknown concept.
If the Iranians got
this part of voting right, why haven't our condos?
At a requisition meeting, the property manager used a large open black
plastic bin. There was no lid. He laid the black bin on the floor by
his feet, half out of sight, and just dropped the proxies into it, one
by one as they were registered. Later, the ballots were dropped into
the same large open box.
At the requisition table, loose ballots were laying about. I protested
to the Chair and the ballot handling improved but just slightly.
Empty
ballot box?
A few years ago, when I was first fighting the board at my previous
condo, I met a condo activist who told me of the AGM at his condo where
they managed to elect a new majority to the board and remove the
property management company.
The property manager ran the registration desk and the condo
corporation lawyer, was the Chair.
Prior to the election, an owner asked the Chair to open the ballot box
so the owners could see that it was empty. The Chair became indigent
and stated that the manager had an excellent reputation in the industry
and making such a statement was an insult and completely uncalled for.
A big argument broke out and the "empty" ballot box fell onto the
floor. About twenty filled-in ballots fell on the floor.
Some reputation!
Sure it's
empty
At
an AGM in January 2014, the property manager used a large paper box
with a slot cut in the top for the ballot box. A little better than the
last example but not much.
When the Chair asked the owners to place their ballots in the box, a
couple of owners demanded to know if the box was empty.
The Chair, a condo lawyer, said sure. He opened the box and said the
only
thing in here are the proxies and a few ballots for the people who
already voted and left the room. He picked out a pile of proxies and
ballots and then waved the paper box around and said: "See, the box is
empty" before putting the proxies and ballots back in. Then the owners
added their ballots.
I was dumbfounded. What was next? A cream pie fight? However, the
owners seemed to be satisfied.
Clear plastic containers are both cheap and readily available almost
everywhere from Canadian Tire, department stores, book stores, grocery
stores to Grand & Toy. You can get them at Home Depot for only
$5.00.
Why don't the managers and the lawyers buy two; one for the proxies and
one for ballots. They can fit easily in the trunk of their cars.
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