5/1/2007

Post Office admits error
Community Center ballot mailing compromised
By Bob Lassahn

Just when it appeared the Ocean Pines Association (OPA) Community Center question might finally be answered with some degree of certainty, yet another foul-up has surfaced. This time it involves the return of referendum ballots.

OPA General Manager Tom Olson confirmed the existence of the problem last week and advised that it was due to a glitch at the post office. In a letter to Mr. Olson dated April 27,  Postmaster Kenneth Carter explained the postal service failed to update its Postal Automated Redirection System thus resulting in some business reply letters to be returned to sender.  Mr. Carter said that the intercept system cannot track the number of pieces that have been returned.

In a statement released Monday, the OPA has decided to resend referendum materials to each owner to recast their votes.  All ballots from the first mailing will be destroyed.  To differentiate the new ballot from the first mailing, the ink on the ballot will be blue and will be enclosed in a new referendum packet scheduled to be sent out Friday, May 4.  Ballots must be received before 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 31.

OPA will not be charged for mailing the new ballot.  The postal service will pay for it.

This marks the second time a problem has occurred with a mailing regarding a Community Center referendum. In 2005 the lack of information identifying the lot owner on the return envelope made it impossible to track who had/had not voted.  The 2005 referendum marked the first time OPA contracted an outside vendor to handle ballots.

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