The Ocean Pines Elections Committee hosted a virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 14, to discuss candidate eligibility, timelines, events, and regulations for this summer’s Board of Directors election.
Five candidates vying for two spots
An voting sign is pictured in front of the Ocean Pines Community Center on Primary Election Day.
File photo
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
The Ocean Pines Elections Committee hosted a virtual meeting on Tuesday, May 14, to discuss candidate eligibility, timelines, events, and regulations for this summer’s Board of Directors election.
The Ocean Pines Board of Directors, a seven-member volunteer group, is the community’s governing body.
Following the meeting, Ocean Pines Public Relations and Marketing Director Josh Davis issued a press release with the names of the five Board of Directors election candidates. The contenders were declared eligible to run by OPA Secretary John Latham.
Residents Sherrie Clifford, Jerry Murphy and Amy Peck have opted to challenge incumbents Rick Farr, the current board president, and director Jeff Heavner for the two available seats.
The candidate forum will likely take place in mid-to-late June, allowing contestants to publicly share their positions and promises. Questions will not be shared with the campaigners early; they will be pulled from a hat. Residents are encouraged to submit their inquiries for the runners at elections@oceanpines.org.
According to Elections Committee Chairman Tom Piatti, Ocean Pines homeowners who are ineligible to vote for violation or HOA fee reasons will be notified promptly to allow ample time to amend any holdups before the voting deadline. Approximately 800 residents were unable to cast their ballots last year.
“We expect that when those ineligible letters go out, people will come back, resolve their ineligibility, and then we’ll have the vendor send them a ballot package,” Piatti said.
While paper ballots will be collected, the Elections Committee expressed their preference for electronic voting.
“I am anxious to see how the online voting goes here,” the chairman said. “We had 833 online votes in 2022…we had a few more in 2023, but online voting is important. It saves us money because we don’t have to deal with business reply mail costs and the vendor’s processing of those paper ballots.”
The Pittsburgh-based MK Elections Services has been hired as the vendor to handle OPA’s 2024 voting cycle. The company was chosen because it offers observable ballot counting.
At the conclusion of the May 14 meeting, Piatti announced he was resigning from the Elections Committee. While the Ocean Pines resident will remain a homeowner in the community until the end of June, he is relocating to North Carolina on May 30.
The Eligible Candidate Draw and Workshop, which determines ballot order and seating during candidate forums, is set for Friday, May 31, at 2 p.m. in the Blue Room of the Administration Building.
The voter eligibility deadline is Tuesday, July 2. The last day for residents to cast their ballots is Tuesday, Aug. 6, and the votes will be counted and announced on Thursday, Aug. 8.