FAQ

Announcements/Helpful Links

	Success @ CACM Expo 2008
	www.davis-stirling.com (California)
	NRS 116 (Nevada)

FAQ

	Why should we use The Ballot Box?
	We do not have funds in our budget allocated for the services of an outside elections inspector. How can we afford your service?
	What does The Ballot Box do differently from other vendors and even our management company to encourage the maximum return of ballots so that we reach quorum at the first meeting?
	How do you count the ballots so quickly?
	Do you only count by scan ballot?
	What do we need to provide to you to perform our election/vote service?
	What information will be displayed on your website about our community’s election?
	Can we vote electronically for our election?
	Can we distribute election materials via electronic media such as email?
	We want to encourage our homeowners to return their ballots by paying for their postage. How can The Ballot Box help?
	We have, in past elections, distributed proxies for use in our election. Do you use proxies in your service?
	(California accounts) Historically, it has taken us more than one meeting to get enough ballots returned to establish the quorum that is required in our governing documents. Will you attend our adjourned meetings?
	(California accounts) We do not usually reach quorum at our first meeting. For our adjourned meeting, we only want to send the election materials to the homeowners who did not return the ballot the first time. How can The Ballot Box help us with this?
	We are a new community and still have Declarant (Builder/Developer) representatives serving on the Board. Can you conduct our election?
	We are a large master community and have Delegate Districts. Are you familiar with our type of community and can you conduct our election?
	What happens to the documents from the election process after the election/voting has been completed?
	What if one of the homeowners in our community wants to inspect and manually count the ballots after the election is completed to verify the results?
	We have received a proper signed petition and now need to conduct a recall of the Board of Directors. Can you help us with this?
	Do you work with our legal counsel?
	We recently conducted our election and annual meeting and just found out about your service. Can we book you now for our election next year to get it on the calendar?
	We are a self managed community, without a Management Company, can we do our own election?

Q	Why should we use The Ballot Box?
A	At The Ballot Box, we do more than just count! We are an impartial, independent, third party vendor, not associated or affiliated with any homeowners association, Board of Directors, Attorney Form, Management Company or CPA Firm. We specialize in homeowner association election and voting services and that is all we do! Whether your community is professionally managed or self managed, we can help you with anything and everything related to your election or voting needs. Received a petition to recall the Board? Amending CC&R’s or Bylaws? Need to get a special assessment approved? Need approval for an increase in assessments more than the Board can approve on their own? We are the experts to help you with these voting processes and more. Anyone can come to your meeting and count ballots, but we specialize in homeowner associations. We understand the industry, the services and even the ‘politics’! We provide quality service, protect you from exposure to liability and do our best to reduce the time you must spend involved in the process of conducting your election or voting matter. [Top]

Q	We do not have funds in our budget allocated for the services of an outside elections inspector. How can we afford your service?
A	Are you sure? Most communities have expenses allocated for management services including not only the monthly base fee but the ‘billable extras’ which are the costs that change each month. These costs are usually for postage, printing, copying, mailer stuffing fees, extra meeting attendance and such. Since we perform the services the management company would be charging you to prepare and conduct your election, you are just paying us instead of them. Our costs are comparable with the costs from a full-scale, high quality management service to perform these same services. [Top]

Q	What does The Ballot Box do differently from other vendors and even our management company to encourage the maximum return of ballots so that we reach quorum at the first meeting?
A	At The Ballot Box, we customize postcards which are used in addition to the distribution of required election materials to encourage both candidate registration for those interested in serving on the Board as well as reminders to homeowners to return the ballot after it is distributed. We feel that more awareness of your homeowners of their upcoming election, more homeowners will participate. [Top]

Q	How do you count the ballots so quickly?
A	We have portable, automated equipment which quickly slits open the envelopes to allow for minimum labor and wait. The Ballot Box has also developed a custom ballot (available upon request and especially beneficial for large communties) and scanning machine which scans the voting results of each ballot directly to our laptop very quickly. We can count between 400-600 ballots per hour. Even our manual ballots are small and do not require unfolding, which saves time at the meeting. [Top]

Q	Do you only count by scan ballot?
	No, we will count manually, not a problem. Although, it takes longer to count by hand and we encourage the use of the scan ballot for our larger communities. We still have portable, automated equipment which quickly slits open the envelopes to allow for minimum labor and wait. [Top]

Q	What do we need to provide to you to perform our election/vote service?
A	We need the following for the basic election service: A copy of the CC&R’s and Bylaws A copy of the current, adopted election rules, noting the date of the duly noticed meeting where the rules were adopted. An electronic member list with owner names, property addresses and mailing address. (.xls, .csv or .txt files work great) [Top]

Q	What information will be displayed on your website about our community’s election?
A	As part of our service, each community is provided their own unique community page to include all information and documents for their election/vote process. Information will include the location, time and date of the meeting, candidate information and photos (if they registered on our site), the meeting notice, agenda, voting instructions, election rules, CC&R’s, Bylaws, minutes from the previous year and any other document pertaining to the election (with the exception of the ballot) that is provided to us. As our website is updated daily, homeowners and managers can watch the quorum countdown on the community home page as ballot envelopes are returned (California accounts). [Top]

Q	Can we vote electronically for our election?
A	Unfortunately, no. Both the Davis-Stirling Act (California) and the NRS 116 (Nevada) prohibit electronic balloting and voting for homeowners association elections at this time as the votes are required to be secret. Should the law change in the future however, The Ballot Box will offer electronic voting for our Association clients. [Top]

Q	Can we distribute election materials via electronic media such as email?
A	Yes and no. While the Davis-Stirling Act (California) and the NRS 116 (Nevada) do not prohibit electronic distribution of materials for the election, the ballots themselves must be returned in hard copy form, in double sealed envelopes. We haven’t figured out how to send envelopes electronically just yet, but we may be the first to do so! Notices, agendas, and other materials may be distributed electronically, but since electronic distribution is only optional for owners who authorize it, and you have to send the ballots by mail anyway, everything still goes by regular, first-class mail. We will be happy to send everything but the ballot by both email and standard mail for as many of your homeowners as we are provided email addresses. [Top]

Q	We want to encourage our homeowners to return their ballots by paying for their postage. How can The Ballot Box help?
A	At The Ballot Box, our return envelopes use a business reply postage feature through the U. S. Post Office so that your homeowners do not need to affix their own stamp (encouraging more returns!). This allows for maximum efficiency and lowest cost. Many management companies do not have business reply envelopes. In order to pay for the postage for your homeowners to return their ballots, all return envelopes must be stamped with $.42 and soon $.43 in postage. This means that whether the ballots are returned or not, the Association spends the money for the postage. For very large communities, this is a significant expense and waste of money, because only a limited percentage of owners participate in the annual election process. [Top]

Q	We have, in past elections, distributed proxies for use in our election. Do you use proxies in your service?
A	Proxies are not a requirement in the election process, they are an option. Because of the changes in the law, and the requirements for secret ballots, proxies are more cumbersome than helpful in most elections. The use of proxies also provides more opportunity for fraud in an election. At The Ballot Box, we do not send proxies as part of our election process. We use every measure available to us to ensure that the owners votes are unable to be fraudulently cast. [Top]

Q	(California accounts) Historically, it has taken us more than one meeting to get enough ballots returned to establish the quorum that is required in our governing documents. Will you attend our adjourned meetings?
A	Yes. While our contract includes one meeting attendance, our hourly rates are reasonable and we will come back as many times as it takes to get quorum for your election. We can always adjust our contract to include one adjourned meeting if historically, the community reaches quorum at the adjourned meeting. [Top]

Q	(California Accounts) We do not usually reach quorum at our first meeting. For our adjourned meeting, we only want to send the election materials to the homeowners who did not return the ballot the first time. How can The Ballot Box help us with this?
A	We track and note each return outer envelope to determine who has returned their ballot and who has not. If the annual meeting/election date arrives and quorum is not achieved, we can send a second set of materials, including another ballot only to those owners who did not return them from the first distributing. This helps reduce costs for the Association. [Top]

Q	We are a new community and still have Declarant (Builder/Developer) representatives serving on the Board. Can you conduct our election?
A	Absolutely. We are intimately familiar with the voting processes which are unique to a community that is still under Declarant control. We assist the Board with establishment of a record date to ensure that only owners of record by a specific date can participate in the election, and can even advise management with regards to the specifics for the various different types of voting (Class A, Class B, Class C). [Top]

Q	We are a large master community and have Delegate Districts. Are you familiar with our type of community and can you conduct our election?
A	You bet. Depending on the Association’s governing documents and requirements, sometimes the Delegates vote and sometimes the homeowners vote, with the Delegates casting them on the owners behalf, and there are other differences depending on the community. We can assist the Board with all variations, including the election of the Delegates. [Top]

Q	What happens to the documents from the election process after the election/voting has been completed?
A	Believe it or not, the potential for ballot tampering could still occur even after the election. Ballots could be added or removed after the fact, and if a recount is requested because someone challenges the results, the results could then be different. Included with the cost of each service is the storage of all documents and materials from the election/vote process. Typically, the materials are stored by The Ballot Box for a year following the election or processing and are then returned to the Association for their permanent storage records. [Top]

Q	What if one of the homeowners in our community wants to inspect and manually count the ballots after the election is completed to verify the results?
A	Owners do have the right to inspect the ballots. Since we are not affiliated with the Board or management company, and since we prepare, distribute, receive, open, count and tabulate the ballots in front of everyone at the meeting, it is our hope that there will be reassurances to the homeowners and no one will feel the need to dispute the results. However, the ballots may be inspected by appointment just the same as if the management company was storing them. Hourly fees would apply. [Top]

Q	We have received a proper signed petition and now need to conduct a recall of the Board of Directors. Can you help us with this?
A	Yes. Recall elections are rarely pleasant, because it usually means a group of owners is unhappy with the current Board. By using The Ballot Box, the Board provides assurances to the membership that the recall election process is being conducted fairly and impartially. Since we prepare the ballots, receive them and tabulate them at the meeting, there is rarely a question of validity of the results. We conduct both the vote to approve the recall, and the election of the new Board if the vote passes all at the same time with one ballot and one meeting. [Top]

Q	Do you work with our legal counsel?
A	Yes. We are familiar with both the Davis-Stirling Act (California) and NRS 116 (Nevada) and the intricacies of the law with regards to election. We also understand that the interpretations of both of these bodies of law varies between law firms, and sometimes even between attorneys at the same firm. We will work with your legal counsel to ensure that the election is conducted with the understanding that the results will ultimately be defended by them in the event of a challenge to the Association. By ensuring that their standards have been met with regards to the interpretation of the law in conjunction with the community’s governing documents, this provides better assurances that if the results of the election are challenged, that the Association’s attorney has a better chance of defending the case, and the outcome being in favor of the Association. [Top]

Q	We recently conducted our election and annual meeting and just found out about your service. Can we book you now for our election next year to get it on the calendar?
A	Yes. We book elections a year and more in advance. [Top]

Q	We are a self managed community, without a Management Company, can we do our own election?
A	Yes, but we would not recommend it. As long as the ballots are received and counted by someone who is not serving on the Board or running for the Board, or related to someone serving or running, just about anyone can be a ballot inspector. But, that usually means someone from the community volunteering and even if the inspector is not related to any of the candidates or current Board members, there could still be a question as to the impartiality of the inspector if they are a resident of the community. It can also be a daunting and exhausting experience to count dozens if not hundreds of ballots and serve in the position of inspector, determining the validity of the ballots. Many communities also find it difficult to get volunteers to serve as the inspector. It is our opinion that it is in the Association’s best interest to use a completely impartial, independent, third party professional service. And, since our counting process is so fast, we can provide service for large communities in such a short period of time, why spend the time counting when it is not necessary? We have heard of communities with thousands of members where they count ballots during a several day process. We help those communities and others eliminate that work. [Top]



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