JOSH DAVIS/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Rick Turner, left, and Ocean Pines Elections Committee Chairman Steve Habeger last week discuss materials and important dates for board of directors candidates.
By Josh Davis, Associate Editor
(May 17, 2018) A candidate letter was approved and other election materials were reviewed during an Ocean Pines Elections Committee meeting last Friday.
The election timeline in the community has accelerated because the filing deadline for the board of directors expired last week. Reportedly, 10 association members filed, but names were not immediately announced.
According to an election committee timeline, informational letters to candidates will be sent June 4, and a candidate draw and workshop was scheduled for June 8. The candidate draw determines ballot order.
Candidate forums were scheduled for June and 20 and July 14, and ballots are set to be mailed July 10 and are due back Aug. 8.
Ballot counting and voting results are scheduled for Aug. 10 and the annual meeting, when election committee officials announce and certify the winners, was set for Aug. 11.
Elections Committee Chairman Steve Habeger said the date and location of the candidate draw could change, based on the availability of candidates.
“I am told that some of the candidates currently work and they may find Friday [June 8] a very difficult day, so we may move it to Saturday, June 9,” he said. “We want to be as inclusive as possible.”
Habeger said the candidate letter would include a request for a short bio and responses to three questions, for use in association publications. He said the questions were “basically held over from last year.”
Last year those questions were:
- Describe your thoughts about OPA finances. What do you think is going well and what needs to change?
- Describe your thoughts on OPA amenities. What is going well and what needs to change?
- Describe what you feel you would bring to the OPA BOD.
Habeger noted the second forum was optional and would be determined if needed by the committee, but added, “I suppose it’s looking a little more likely these days” because of the large number of applicants.
Election signs may be displayed starting on June 1 and must be removed by Aug. 19, Habeger said.
Under new election guidelines, for the first time vote totals will be announced and broadcast immediately after ballots are counted. Habeger said ballot counting itself would be public, but probably would not be filmed.
“We could broadcast [processing the ballots] through the Scantron, but that’s like watching paint dry,” he said. “There’s nothing that says we can’t, but it’s only the end results that people are interested in.”
The committee unanimously approved the candidate letter, 5-0.
Also during the meeting, Habeger said he and his wife decided they would not display candidate signs on their property.
“There’s no prohibition. It’s our right to support anyone that we want, but we have decided it’s just not appropriate for me in my position.”
Committee member Rick Turner said he would follow suit.
“Since I’m on this committee and I take my responsibilities here to be available and fair to all the candidates, and my wife is on the search committee … we are going to take a similar position to Steve,” Turner said.
He added the election could be “I think the most contentious in the 20 years I’ve been here.”
Committee members also reviewed drafts of an agenda for the candidate draw and workshop, and scripts for announcing ballot totals and election results.
Habeger said questions for the candidate forums would be, at least in part, developed using association member feedback. He said that would be advertised on the Ocean Pines website, in the summer newsletter, and by word of mouth.
Questions can be emailed to elections@oceanpines.org and anonymous questions can be mailed at the attention of the elections committee to OPA, Inc., 239 Ocean Parkway, Ocean Pines, Maryland, 21811.
Habeger said the committee would distribute a list of topics to the candidates prior to the forums.
“I’m looking to improve that process so that the candidates are challenged fairly,” he said. “Our objective is to get an informed electorate, so asking questions is important.”
The next regular committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 8 at 10 a.m. in the Marlin Room of the community center on 235 Ocean Parkway.