Elections

The disfranchisement of a single legal elector by fraud or intimidation is a crime too grave to be regarded lightly.

—Benjamin Harrison

The elections for the vacant positions on the board of directors is the next business on the agenda.

This is the most important part of the meeting and it needs to be done in a fair and transparent manner.
"The mountain wants another four years but
we have decided to worship the moon."

Election for the owner-resident position
In August 2012, Justice Newbould ruled that the election for the director that is elected by the owner-residents should be held first so that the unsuccessful candidates will have the opportunity to run for the director positions that are elected by all the owners.

The court ruled that no disability should be placed on a unit owner, either for running or voting, unless provided for in the Act, the declaration or the by-law of the condominium corporation, and none was so provided.
(Court File No. 06-CL-6587  12-08-07 )

The process
The chair will state the names of all the candidates that have submitted written nominations for the position of director that is reserved for voting solely by the owner-residents.

The chair will then open the meeting for nominations from the floor. All persons that are at the meeting and indicate that they will allow their names to stand, will be added to the list of candidates. Nominations do not need to be seconded.

Any person at the AGM, who is entitled to vote, may request a recorded vote for any item scheduled for a vote.

The nominations may be closed by the chairman or by a motion from the floor.

Voting
A ballot may have been handed to everyone who is entitled to vote by the scrutineer when they registered. The chairman instructs the owners on the manner of voting.

Counting the ballots
The chairman and the scrutineers will count the ballots and the proxies.

Once the totals have been confirmed, the chairman will announce the result and declare the successful candidate duly elected to office.

Election for other board vacancies
The election for the other candidate or candidates will follow the same steps as stated above.

Objections
Objections to the proxies or ballots must be made at the meeting or the person making the objection may be deemed to have waivered any irregularity.

Every voter has the right to challenge proxies and ballots and should be given the opportunity to make their representation to the chairman. Representations should not be made to the scrutineers.

Motion to destroy the ballots
The chair will call for a motion to destroy the ballots. This should only be challenged if there is good reason to suspect election fraud.

Inspecting the proxies
The proxies must be retained by the corporation for 90 days following the date of the meeting. Owners have left an AGM and stewed for some time convinced that there were some irregularities with the proxies.

A few days or weeks later, they write to the property manager stating that they want to examine the proxies. On the appointed day, they arrive at the property management company office and find that the pile of proxies they can examine have been reacted so they cannot read the:
1. owner's names.
2. the unit numbers.
3. the signatures.

The manager claims that he is protecting the owner's privacy and that although they have a right to examine the proxies but they do not have a right to see how the principals directed their proxies to vote.

There are two problems with this. It prevents the owner or owners from being able to tell if there is any evidence of election fraud by the use of proxies.

Secondly, there is no such thing as a secret vote in a company meeting. All the proxies and ballots can be inspected by any owner either during the meeting or after. (Nathan's Company Meetings Rule No. 178)

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