By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Nov. 9, 2017) Sparked by an increase in invalidated ballots, the Ocean Pines Association Elections Committee continues to discuss improvements to the voting process.

Elections committee records indicate the number of rejected ballots jumped from 45 in 2015 to 129 in 2017. This year, the majority of uncounted votes, reportedly 72, were because ballots were received late.

“We’re talking about trying to get the ballots here on time so we’re actually able to count all of them,” Chairman Steve Tuttle said during a meeting last Friday. “What we’re trying to deal with is just part of my desire that everybody’s vote ought to count.”

The committee is proposing several changes to Resolution M-06, governing elections, including moving up the ballot due date.

Under current rules, results are announced during the annual meeting on the second Saturday in August. Ballots must be received two days prior, either delivered by mail to the post office or hand-delivered to a ballot box inside the Ocean Pines Police Station.

One proposal would move the due date one day earlier, which Tuttle said would make it easier to retrieve all of the votes. Others were not so sure.

“So, all we want to do is walk it back to pick up the stragglers?” Mark Heintz asked.

“No, we want to tell stragglers to not be stragglers, and if they straggle that’s their problem,” Steve Habeger said.

Habeger said one homeowner brought a ballot to annual meeting this year and asked him, “What do I do with this?”

“I didn’t tell him what I thought of,” Habeger said with a laugh. “I said, ‘Well, the election’s over, man. You can do anything you want with it.’”

Committee members also considered changing the language in the resolution to require ballots to be postmarked by a certain date, but, as Habeger pointed out, that does not necessarily mean it would be delivered in time to be counted.

“I get my ballot and I go to Tahiti and I drop it in the mail, it gets here a month late,” he said. “I think going by postmark is not what we want to do … it’s an uncontrolled variable.”

Habeger argued the current procedures were adequate.

“Thursday is the deadline, we count on Friday, we have the annual meeting on Saturday. That’s adequate,” he said. “The problem is that people were dribbling in afterwards and that caused us to be concerned over what, two tenths of a percent of our electorate?”

Others, including committee liaison Director Slobodan Trendic, said increased awareness efforts might be enough to reduce voter error. Ballot due dates could be visibly posted at amenities and reminders could be advertised online and sent to association members by email.

Tuttle said the elections committee could also reinforce important dates during candidate forums.

“Every association member in good standing deserves to have their ballot counted,” Habeger said. “What we want to do is help ensure that everybody’s ballot [counts].”

If the current rules remain unchanged, ballots in the 2018 election would be due on Thursday, Aug. 9, counted on Friday, Aug. 10 and announced on Saturday, Aug. 11.