By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(July 31, 2025) Ocean Pines homeowners will have until this Wednesday, August 6, to cast their votes for the three open seats in the community’s board of directors’ election.

The Ocean Pines Association’s Board of Directors, a seven-person body tasked with community-wide police setting, has three positions available for this year’s annual election. Four candidates are running. The winners will each serve three-year terms.

Campaigning for this year’s voting cycle are Stuart Lakernick, Steve Jacobs, Monica Rakowski, and Amy Peck. Lakernick, the body’s current president, Rakowski, treasurer, and Jacobs, director, are incumbents, vying for another term on the board. Peck is the sole challenger. Peck ran last year and is looking to break into the governing group once again.

The OPA Elections Committee met on Monday, July 28, to discuss the team’s roles and responsibilities for the week leading up to the ballot count. According to committee chair Steve Ransdell, electronic voting will formally close at 4:30 p.m. on August 6. The drop box located at the neighborhood’s administration building at White Horse Park will be open to collect voting forms until noon on Aug. 6.

The elections team will collect the drop-box ballots upon closure and send all materials obtained throughout the voting cycle in one lump shipment to MK Election Services, the Pittsburgh-based firm OPA has contracted with to handle this year’s board selection process.

Part of OPA’s decision to work with MK Election Services again, as they also oversaw last year’s election, was because they offered an observable count. Reiterated throughout this voting cycle and years past is the community’s commitment to transparency, particularly when choosing the homeowner association’s governing team.

Ransdell stated that an in-person count of all ballots will be viewable at the OPA Administration Building on Friday, August 8. A Microsoft Teams link will also be provided for virtual viewing.

The election outcome will be announced upon the conclusion of the formal count. The Elections Committee will be tuning into the count to review any questionable votes. A questionable vote is one that unreadable to the machine that processes the ballots. Ransdell said that these are typically easy to decipher, wherein an association member puts an ‘x’ next to a candidate’s name rather than filling in the corresponding bubble. The vote is still counted if the committee reaches a consensus on what the homeowner meant. If the form is confusing, even after further inspection, the ballot is discarded.

The final results will be certified at OPA’s annual meeting on Saturday, August 9, at 9 a.m. at the Ocean Pines Community Center’s Assateague Room, provided that a quorum is reached. If the meeting on August 9 does not have a quorum, the OPA Board of Directors will hold a special meeting to confirm the election outcome.

The election chair maintained that this year’s voting cycle has been running smoothly.

“Things have been proceeding well,” he said.

Also of note for 2025’s board election is a referendum included on the voting materials for community funding, amounting to a little over $3 million, to be allocated toward the reconstruction of a new fire station for the community’s south end. OPA officials and fire department personnel maintain that the upgraded facility, with more space and repairs to improve current decrepit conditions,  is vital for the emergency services group to continue providing exemplary service to the neighborhood.