On July 1 2006 one of the principal changes to the Davis Stirling Act that was created 20 years before was enacted. It called for secret elections, whereby no-one was to know how a member of an association voted. To ensure northing nefarious happened, inspectors of election, 1 or 3, had to be appointed in advance and those selected had to have no relationship with the possible result. So Mary couldn’t be an inspector if George her husband, was running for office. The procedure was to use a two envelope system. The member cast their vote on the issue, be it next years directors, a special assessment, a revision to a major governing document etc. using this two envelope system. The outer envelope had to have the member’s name, which had to be handwritten by the member, their signature and information about their lot, be it lot number, address etc. so anyone could know that George and Mary had voted, but how they voted was to remain a secret from that moment on. The inner envelope had no markings on it. It contained the ballot which again had no distinguishing marks on it. That way whoever opened the inner envelopes could not for sure say how George and Mary voted unless they opened both envelopes at the same time. Hence the inspectors of election. The ballots are to be held by the inspector of election for 9 months to allow for a member audit and may be disposed of after 12 months. Presumably the management company gets to keep them for that special 3 months. This procedure of course changes the way directors are elected. Voting from the floor is almost useless and proxies are almost valueless also. Candidates making a rousing speech at the annual general meeting are past in fact the membership almost doesn’t need to actually meet anymore as no business is discussed or decided upon. Election results must be shared with members within 15 days.
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