It is amazing how the OPA Board of Directors election process has waffled back and forth regarding Internet voting.

The first use of Internet voting took place when Colette Horn was OPA president during the 2022 election. Subsequent issues related to so-called "weighted" ballots required by the election contractor for owners of multiple lots created havoc, resulting in as many as 200 or more valid ballots not counted in an election where about 13 votes decided a board seat.

The entire election committee resigned. A new committee was appointed with a fair number of association members concerned over the appointment process. Eventually, the committee was formed under the capable chairmanship of Tom Piatti.

The committee recommended, and the board under the presidency of Doug Parks agreed, that the 2023 election would not include Internet voting.

In a supplemental report from the Elections Committee issued on January 19, 2023, Piatti wrote: "Based on the processes OPA underwent and our in-depth research, the EC (Election Committee) desires to not just temporarily suspend online voting, but to discontinue online voting altogether. The results of online voting cannot be audited."

Piatti correctly pointed out that Internet voting requires OPA to "trust" totally in any company handling Internet voting. He wrote, "Perhaps 'trust' is why we do not vote electronically in Federal elections. Thus the EC cannot ensure a secure, safe and valid online and phone-in option for voting. However, that is not the case with paper ballots that can be tabulated by scanning or secured in the Admin Bldg. and rescanned and/or manually recounted or both if election results are challenged."

So, what happened in the recent 2024 election? The Election Committee and/or the board ignored the recommendation regarding the elimination of Internet voting. Nothing, absolutely nothing, regarding the very valid concerns over trust originally addressed by Piatti has changed.

Internet voting is of little significance unless the election results are very close. That was certainly not the case this year. However, in any election with very close results, or if a candidate challenges the results, any recount could only be done with paper ballots.

By any reasonable measure, the election contractor, MK Elections in Pittsburgh, performed a professional job counting the paper ballots this year. Association members could view the process via an online ZOOM call that, as a practical matter, added nearly $7,000 to the cost of the election.

Interestingly, an MK Elections manager commented that they could do the counting right here in Ocean Pines. The counting and scanning process took a few hours with several MK people and several hired "temp workers."

The OPA Board of Directors should consider eliminating Internet voting. Bring the entire paper-ballot-contracted counting operation back to an OPA facility where Election Committee members can supervise the process - as they are charged to do. Allow observation of the process by association members - something long sought by many individuals over a decade or more, including former board member Slobodan Trendic. Eventually gained, the in-person observation option for association members ended when the process was moved to the West Coast two years ago.

Return the OPA election process to the KISS principle. Allow only paper ballots. Have a qualified contractor count the returned ballots in an OPA facility, allowing association members to observe. Most importantly, this would allow a full recount or verification of every ballot cast in the event of a close vote or an election result challenge as allowed in OPA's governing documents.