By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Ocean Pines Association recently reviewed this year’s Board of Directors election process.

In August, OPA homeowners voted to fill the two seats on the community’s governing group that were up for grabs. Then-President Rick Farr, who now acts as vice president, and Director Jeff Heavner, both incumbents, were reelected to serve three-year terms.

Since the election drew to a close, the OPA Elections Committee has reflected on what they feel went right and wrong throughout the process. The official report is public and can be found on the official Ocean Pines website.

Residents had the option to vote online or by paper. Elections Committee Liaison John Latham said that 28% of homeowners who cast their ballots did so electronically, which he believes was a success.

The online voting method was implemented in Ocean Pines a few years ago but was tabled in 2023. The Elections Committee opted to reintroduce it in 2024.

“Our goal is to give the owners additional opportunities to cast their ballot,” he said. “Some owners continue to like to cast a paper ballot and mail it in, or drop their ballot at the Police Station in the secured ballot box … it is a best practice to allow online voting … the Elections Committee received numerous comments about the speed and ease of voting using the electronic option.”

Latham said electronic voting will continue to be encouraged as it allows for speedier and more efficient ballot casting.

“With this method of voting, there is no need to interpret voter intention when ballots are not marked in a way that the scanner can read them,” the liaison said. “We do intend to continue offering the electronic ballot option.”

An observable count, where residents could watch MK Elections, the Pittsburgh-based contractor responsible for overseeing the process, scan the paper ballots, was encouraged by many homeowners for transparency’s sake.

However, Latham said attendance was abysmal when the observable count was set up in the Clubhouse Meeting Room. Residents had the option to come in person or tune in virtually, yet the majority of those who showed up were board members and Elections Committee members.

“The Elections Committee and the board got a lot of inquiries that were loud about the observable count, so we went through it and made sure we had it,” Latham said. “And then when we got there, I was one of four or five in the room, and then 10 online, and there were only a handful of actual owners…it takes several hours, and there is not a lot to observe, in my opinion. The end results are actually what the owners want to know.”

Despite the low interest, the association will still consider the observable count for next year, as it offers transparency to the residents.

Latham also said that some residents may have been confused about their options to turn in their ballots. Voters could fill them out online, mail their paper forms back to the association, or put them off in a drop-box at the Ocean Pines Police Station.

Officials found that because paper materials state “no hand-delivered ballots will be accepted,” some interpreted that to mean their votes would not be accepted at the police station drop off location. As a result, less than 200 materials were collected from the drop-box.

Next year, the Elections Committee intends to announce this option ahead of time and clarify that ballots will be collected from the police station.

Election leaders also hope to send electronic materials after paper ballots have begun to be delivered to coordinate when voters receive their items, clarify voting information like drop-off locations, educate voters on the need to update OPA records for ease of ballot casting and move the drop-off deadline earlier to allow ample time for materials to be shipped to the election contractor.

Latham maintained that OPA was satisfied with vendor MK Elections, who handled the process.

“The elections committee was pleased with the services from MK Elections,” he said. “They handle many other HOA elections and have deep subject matter expertise in providing election services. They were extremely responsive to any questions and concerns during the process.”

According to Latham, all but one member of the Elections Committee, Steve Randsell, who now acts as the chair, was appointed during the middle of the election. The liaison acknowledged the new group’s effort to execute the process with minimal hiccups. He also thanked outgoing chairman Tom Piatti for his help in creating a smooth transition.