What started as an innocent effort to reform the way Board elections are conducted has run way off-course and should be interrupted until there is sufficient time to refine the wording, educate people, and arrive at a consensus before submitting the questions to a formal vote.

Because the matter of two year terms for Board members was justified as a transitional issue from "developer" to "homeowner" Board, I thought it was appropriate to remove the option for cummulative voting at the same time. Cummulative Voting was written into the CC&R's for the sole purpose of facilitating the election of the first homeowner to the Board. That was accomplished with Jim Witherow's election in 1998.

Cummulative Voting does not affect the number of votes each unit owner can cast in Board elections (one vote for each position being elected - currently five votes per unit). It only affects the way voters may distribute those votes among the candidates. Under the Cummulative Voting option, all eligible votes may be cast for a single candidate. If the cummulative voting option were eliminated, the average homeowner could only cast one vote each for up to five different candidates.

By Stewart Sexton