By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(May 21, 2026) As Ocean Pines Association’s annual election draws closer, five candidates have stated their intent to run for the three seats up for grabs on the association’s legislative policymaking body.

The OPA is preparing for its yearly summer election, in which residents are asked to decided who will represent them on the association’s board of directors.

The board is made up of seven OPA homeowners. Every member must be elected by a majority vote of the association’s citizens, and appointees serve three-year terms. These terms are staggered so that different members are up for reelection in separate years.

In this year’s voting cycle, the terms of three incumbents are expiring, and each is seeking reelection to the board. These candidates for reelection are Director Elaine Brady, a second-term candidate; Association President John Latham, a second-term candidate; and Director Patrick Lehnerd, who was appointed to the governing group in March following the resignation of former director Steve Jacobs. Lehnerd is a first-term candidate.

In addition to the returning campaigners, challengers Amy Peck and William Pickett are seeking election to the board as first-term candidates.

According to OPA Board Director Jeff Heavner, who also serves as the liaison to the elections committee, the team has announced key upcoming dates for the election.

The candidate filing deadline closed on Tuesday after being extended from May 11 to solicit additional contestants. The candidate orientation is set for May 26, during which the ballot positions of the board hopefuls will be determined via a random draw.

The candidate forum is scheduled for Saturday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Clubhouse meeting room. Each candidate will have the opportunity to give introductory remarks, answer three rounds of impromptu questions from the elections committee, association members, and one another, and deliver closing statements.

Residents may submit questions for the forum to elections@oceanpines.org until Friday, June 5.

The community’s election provider, MK Election Services, will mail and email ballots to all association members eligible to vote in the 2026 cycle on June 22.

“The elections committee is working hard to ensure that all eligible association members receive a ballot and that their vote counts,” Heavner said.

Ballots must be returned to the association by noon on Aug. 5. The votes will be counted on Aug. 7, and the OPA annual meeting to certify the results is slated for Aug. 8.

Heavner said MK Elections will provide residents with various ways to cast their votes: hard-copy ballots by U.S. Mail; hard-copy ballots that can be dropped off in the box in the Administration Building at White Horse Park; and electronic voting.

Heavner added that it is important for homeowners to know the Worcester County ballot box in the administrative parking lot is not the receptacle for the OPA election.

The board member assured that while there are various ways for citizens to submit their ballots, precautions are being taken to guarantee that each vote is counted only once.

“MK Elections has a strong protocol in place to prevent duplicate voting,” he said.

More information on the OPA election is forthcoming. Heavner said that residents can expect announcements in the recurring This Week in the Pines newsletter, important dates displayed on the community’s electric signs, and details included in upcoming episodes of the Ocean Pines podcast.