withdrawing candidacy

[Guest marcia]

Our associations management refuses to resend new ballots omitting a candidate who withdrew after the orginal ballots went out. Some votes were cast and received , however this amount was small, since the candidate withdrew soon after. The management company stated they consulted with the associations lawyer, who advised that the annual meeting and original ballot stay in play. The votes casted for the withdrawn candidate will not be counted , and the homeowners will lose theor vote. Recasting a new vote for another candidate will not be allowed. The lawyer just happens to be on the board and up for re-election. Is this all legal? Isn't this a conflict of interest , and do the homeowners really lose the ability to vote for another on the ballot other than the withdrawn candidate?

[Gary Novosielski]

Our associations management refuses to resend new ballots omitting a candidate who withdrew after the orginal ballots went out. Some votes were cast and received , however this amount was small, since the candidate withdrew soon after. The management company stated they consulted with the associations lawyer, who advised that the annual meeting and original ballot stay in play. The votes casted for the withdrawn candidate will not be counted , and the homeowners will lose theor vote. Recasting a new vote for another candidate will not be allowed. The lawyer just happens to be on the board and up for re-election. Is this all legal? Isn't this a conflict of interest , and do the homeowners really lose the ability to vote for another on the ballot other than the withdrawn candidate?

Withdrawal of one's candidacy is not an official act. It is a suggestion to voters that they should not vote for you. If ballots were already printed, there is no need or justification for halting the vote because this person's timing was poor. His name can be dropped if and when you need to do a second ballot, but even then it is not required.

It is always improper to interrupt a vote, once some votes have been cast. But nobody is losing their vote. The votes cast for the candidate who withdrew must be counted, and if he wins a majority, he is elected unless he immediately declines.

I don't understand why you think people are losing their vote. I can understand how they would feel betrayed by a candidate for whom they voted, only to have him withdraw, but they should be angry at the candidate for being unreliable, or at themselves for voting for him in the first place.

But they have no case for a new election. Maybe they'll be lucky and nobody will get a majority, and they'll have a chance at a second ballot.

But I do wonder at the management company's taking such a major and apparently autonomous role in running the election. Questions on voting should be presented to the assembly, not to some lawyer who is also a candidate. But in this case he happens to be right.

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Well, he's right the vote can't be stopped. He's dead wrong if he was the one who suggested that legal votes for an eligible person by legal voters should not be counted. And if he was, nobody should vote for him.

[hmtcastle]

The votes casted for the withdrawn candidate will not be counted , and the homeowners will lose their vote.

Over General Robert's dead body!

Anyone who tries to deny a member's right to vote for whomever he wishes should be removed from office (with a healthy coating of tar and feathers).

[Guest Guest]

Thank you for your quick reply. This clarifies my and other homeowners concerns regarding what happens to their vote if cast for the withdrawn candidate. I guess the communities management company is collecting the votes and bringing them to the annual meeting. They will be opened then. I have just learned that if one has already voted for the withdrawn candidate, they can show up at the meeting and recast their vote. The unfairness comes in play for the many who have left to return to their other homes. This is in Florida and we have many snowbirds who sent in their ballots and then departed. They obviously would not present to attend the meeting to recast votes , thus , the management stated their votes would not count ,which I agree is an odd thing to say. But again, your comment was very helpful and i will take it to the meeting with me Friday.

[Gary Novosielski]

Thank you for your quick reply. This clarifies my and other homeowners concerns regarding what happens to their vote if cast for the withdrawn candidate. I guess the communities management company is collecting the votes and bringing them to the annual meeting. They will be opened then. I have just learned that if one has already voted for the withdrawn candidate, they can show up at the meeting and recast their vote. The unfairness comes in play for the many who have left to return to their other homes. This is in Florida and we have many snowbirds who sent in their ballots and then departed. They obviously would not present to attend the meeting to recast votes , thus , the management stated their votes would not count ,which I agree is an odd thing to say. But again, your comment was very helpful and i will take it to the meeting with me Friday.

Can't you fire the management company? They sound dangerous. Those are decisions that only the membership can make.

It would be irregular but I believe allowable for members to retrieve their unopened ballot if it can still be identified as theirs, before the votes are counted. But anyone who does not change their vote must have their vote counted. If those whose votes were not counted could have affected the election, either by electing someone or, as is more likely, by denying someone a majority, this would constitute a continuing breach of the rules that could invalidate the entire election.

Dangerous, I tell ya.