Dear Spring Run Member,

I had a request to explain Spring Run’s current voting system, which is timely since we are smack dab in the middle of that season. Remember, the deadline to turn your ballot in this year is St. Patrick’s Day, Friday March 17^th at 5 PM. You may vote for up to 4 candidates, but no more than that, or the ballot will be declared invalid.

Here is a brief history, followed by an explanation of the process. Prior to 2006, you would get a ballot that you would fill out and return, but the Neighborhood Representatives actually had the option of casting your vote as completed, or to cast as the NR saw fit. In 2006, the Neighborhood Reps voted their power away and gave it to the people, which was the “One Door, One Vote” initiative. The NR’s voted to change the Bylaws and then the Declaration, forever removing their ability to ever cast as they saw fit. Although you may hear phrases that sound like the NRs still vote, it is simply a echo of the language that remains in our Governing Documents. Just substitute “Owner” for “NR” and you’ll be fine.

Fast forward to 2017. Holy Cow… it’s been 11 years already.

From the Amendment to the Bylaws Sec 3.4(b) recorded February 2007:

Again with the Neighborhood Representative language, which makes it confusing. Here is the procedure, as simply as I can explain it:

• The Member fills out and mails or returns their ballot to the Admin office
• The Admin office files the unopened ballots by Neighborhood
• On the Tuesday and Wednesday prior to the Annual Meeting, the NR for each Neighborhood, the GM, and the Controller all sit together and open that Neighborhood’s ballots.
• Votes are then counted directly from each ballot onto a Tally Sheet, and the percentage of votes they receive within each Neighborhood is also recorded.
• All UNCAST votes are then reallocated to each candidate according to their percentage of votes received in each Neighborhood, and added to the CAST votes, for a new Total number of Votes.
• The four candidates with the highest vote totals, added together from each Neighborhood, are elected to the Board of Directors.

The issue of Uncast votes seems to cause the most confusion, and often times the most heartburn. Some people say it should be changed while others feel it is fair. Regardless, it is officially part of our Declaration and our Bylaws, and it would take an affirmative vote of 75% and 51% respectively to alter it. Or in other words, it won’t happen any time soon, so let’s just talk Uncast votes…

The number of Votes each Neighborhood gets depends on 1) the number of open seats up for election (in this case, there are four), and 2) the number of units in the Neighborhood. For example, there are 4 open seats, and Autumn Lake 1 has 40 units, giving Autumn Lake 1 a total of 160 possible votes. If half the units vote, that will leave at least 80 votes uncast, and if people vote for less than 4, additional votes remain uncast. Those uncast votes are totaled and given back to the candidate in their respective percentages. If Candidate Smith gets 20 votes cast for him, his percentage is calculated as follows: 20 votes cast / 160 total votes equals 12.5%. When we reallocate the votes, Candidate Smith will get 12.5% of them. Of course, the percentage will be different in every Neighborhood.

I hope this explains things sufficiently, but I am sure there will be questions. Just reply so we can discuss it. Thank you and don’t forget to vote!

Mike