Continued from page 23 deciding whether to appoint a volunteer member to serve as the inspector of elections or hire a professional inspector of election firm to run the election for the association.
WHAT ROLE CAN MANAGEMENT STILL PLAY IN AN ELECTION AFTER SB 323?
While management can no longer serve as the inspector of elections, that does not mean it cannot serve a role in the election process. While the ultimate responsibility for these items will always lie with the inspector of elections, the inspector can designate management to physically handle some of the tasks the inspector is responsible to perform. These include:
• Maintenance and update of voter and candidate registration list. Under SB 323, an association must maintain two new lists, a voter list, and a candidate registration list. Management can create and maintain these lists. It can also assist the inspector of elections in updating the list when a member or candidate requests their information on the list to be updated or be corrected.
• Mailing out ballots and election rules. The Civil Code states that the inspector is responsible for mailing “or causing to be mailed” the ballots and election rules at least thirty (30) days prior to the election. That means that the inspector can
direct management to prepare and mail out the ballots. While professional inspector of elections may perform these tasks as part of their services, others may direct management to perform this task, and any volunteer member who is appointed to serve in that role will need management to mail out the ballots and election rule (if the election rules are not posted on a website). Such direction should be provided in writing (an email will suffice), and that written direction should be saved so that if there is a challenge to the election questioning why management mailed out the materials it can be established that management performed that task at the direction of the inspector of elections.
• Receiving ballots and storing the association election materials and records after the election. The inspector of elections is not only responsible for mailing out ballots, but the inspector is also responsible for receiving ballots or designating where they are to be returned. In fact, the civil code states that the “sealed ballots, signed voter envelopes, voter list, proxies, and candidate registration list shall at all times be in the “custody of the inspector of elections or at a location designated by the inspector or inspectors until after the tabulation of the vote, and until the time allowed” for challenging the election has expired, at which time the custody of such records shall be transferred to the association. Therefore, the inspector can designate that the ballots are to be returned to management’s offices
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