QHRRP 8000-120

Election Tabulation Committee (ETC)

 

Review/update responsibility
 Vice President
Revision
 14 Oct 2024
Reference
 Bylaws

Florida Statute 720.306
ETC
 The Election Tabulation Committee (ETC), selected by the Vice President shall comprised of seven (7) property owners and submitted at the February Board of Director’s meeting for approval.
Morning of annual meeting
 On the morning of the Annual Meeting the ETC will follow these procedures…

Step Action
1 On the morning of the Annual Meeting in March, members of the ETC will meet at the POA office and validate all election outer envelopes received to date.
2 Check all outer envelopes…

  • Envelopes with both signature and legible address will be marked with a large red check .
  • Envelopes that are missing a signature and/or a legible address will be marked with a large red .

Note:  Red X envelopes are banded and never opened but kept with other election material.
3 Gather envelopes marked with a large red check  and validate that the property owner of the address listed on the envelope is current with any fee, fine, or other monetary obligation to the association.

If … Then …
this is the first envelope received from this address and this address is current with any fee, fine, or other monetary obligation to the association place the second large red check .
If this is the second envelope received from this address write SECOND on the envelope and set it aside.  See Note.
this address is not current with assessments write NC on the envelope and set it aside.  See Note.

Note:  SECOND and NC envelopes are banded and never opened but kept with other election material.
4 Open the double red checked  outer envelopes only, remove and separate the proxy and inner envelope containing the vote. The proxies can be counted at this time. The inner vote envelope IS NOT to be opened at this time.
Evening of annual meeting
 On the evening of the Annual Meeting, no earlier than 30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting all seven (7) ETC committee members will…

  • Meet in a secured room to accept additional outer envelopes that were received between the time of the earlier validation meeting ending and the start time of the evening annual meeting. The cut off time for vote submission is the scheduled start time of the annual meeting.
  • Validate the additional outer envelopes received using the same process from earlier in the day.
Tabulation of ballots
 Follow these steps to tabulate election ballots…

Step Action
1 Immediately after validation of newly received outer envelopes the ballot envelopes will be divided into three equal stacks.  Six members of the ETC will break into pairs of two. The seventh person will coordinate the distribution of the envelopes and collection of the tally sheets.
2 Each pair of two will be assigned one of the three stacks of the ballot envelopes to start tabulating votes on the tally sheet marked “count 1”.
3 One person will open and call out the candidate names as listed on the ballot and the other team member will record the vote on tally sheet “count 1”.
4 When all envelops in your one-third stack have been opened and all votes marked on the tally sheet both team members will sign the tally sheet and give the tally sheet and the open stack of ballots to the coordinator.
5 After all three pairs have turned in their stack of ballots and tally sheet to the coordinator, the coordinator will assign each pair one of the other stacks for a second count on a tally sheet marked “count 2” following the same protocol from the first count.

 
Final tabulation of ballots
 Follow these steps to finalize the ballot count…

Step Action
1 The coordinator will add up votes on each tally sheet “count 1” and transfer each tally sheet results onto the master vote count sheet under “count 1” and total the votes for each candidate.
2 The coordinator will add up votes on each tally sheet “count 2” and transfer each tally sheet results onto the master vote count sheet under “count 2” and total the votes for each candidate.
3 Gather the master vote count sheet under “count 1” and “count 2”.

If … Then …
count 1 and count 2 totals match you are all done! No third count is needed.
count 1 and count 2 totals do not match but the total count between 3rd and 4th place is greater 1%
count 1 and count 2 totals do not match and the total votes between any of the likely winning candidates is 1% or less a third vote count of these candidates only must take place.  (1% of 500 total vote envelopes received = 5 votes)
1.      the vote count identifies a tie between two or more candidates for 3rd place the tie will be broken by a “toss of coin” (reference, First Amendment of The Bylaws, First Election, dated 12/30/2005)

 
Delivery of votes
 When complete, all election material will be packed and given to May Management.  The coordinator will deliver to the Vice President the master vote count sheets, with the newly elected Board of Directors members names clearly marked.