CascadeLakesResidents.com

March 23, 2023: BEFORE THE ELECTION/CLOSING OF THE POLLS

“Inappropriate Electioneering and Vote Harvesting by a Board Member/Candidate?”

Did a Board member/candidate have inappropriate access to the roster of members who had not yet voted and target and make contact with them in an attempt to harvest votes, when no other candidate had such access and ability? 

Let’s review the actual emails and then you decide.

The following email thread is among all Board members, Deborah Balka, the property manager, and her boss, Dawn Hogue.

RE:  Candidate/Board member with access to voter/nonvoter list

On Mar 22, 2023, at 5:49 PM, Director Arthur Andelson wrote:

All:
 
It has just come to my attention that a board member who is also a candidate contacted a member and advised that member that they haven’t voted yet and to please get their vote in. That member was surprised because they had already sent in their ballot. That member was then told by this board member candidate that they don’t have this member’s ballot.

Now why does this board member candidate have access to the list of who has voted and who hasn’t voted? Who else has access to the list of who has and who hasn’t voted so that phone calls can be made on behalf of certain board member candidates? 

This development is extremely troublesome and I would like some immediate answers.

Sincerely,

Arthur Andelson, Director

On Mar 22, 2023, at 6:15 PM, Director Sue Schmer then wrote:   

This is a major breach. What is going on here?
Sue

On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 7:05 PM Arthur Andelson then wrote:

All:

Where is the list of everyone who has voted and been verified and accounted for by FSR and why wasn’t/isn’t it locked in the black file cabinet drawer closest to the door where the ballots are supposedly locked and secured at all times? The only ones with access to that locked cabinet drawer should be FSR, period. They should be the only ones with a key to it.

It should never be left out and exposed at any time, period. This reminds me of the exposed revocations to the failed recall ballot where they weren’t in the locked drawer and they were leaked, too.  FSR is responsible for the chain of custody of all of this.

The silence of all the rest of you is deafening. What’s going on here?

Sincerely,

Arthur Andelson, Director

Then again at 8:59pm on March 22, 2023 Director Arthur wrote:

All:

Attached is a screenshot of the incoming call from candidate/HOA president Jeff D. Green to the member's cell phone. This call lasted 2 minutes and 44 seconds and was placed from Jeff's home phone number at 5:01pm this afternoon, March 22, 2023, the afternoon before the election. Note that it shows an incoming call from 561-734-3752, which is Jeff's home number. Now I want an explanation as to why Jeff called this member claiming this member didn't vote because unless he had the checklist of all incoming ballots from members, he would not know that. 

Arthur Andelson, Director

At 11:03pm on March 22, 2023 Director Sue wrote: 

Just read this before going to bed. I believe a response is needed.

Sue

Dawn Hogue, Deborah’s boss, responded at 10:01am on March 23, 2023:

Good morning,

For clarification, no other individual other than FirstService Residential is the keeper of the records and no one has access to the roster.  Historically it is not uncommon that we receive inquiries from board or residents as to how many votes have been collected throughout the process.  It is also not uncommon for board members or residents to reach out to the community to remind them to vote.

See you all tonight.

Kindest Regards,

DAWN HOGUE

Sr. Regional Director

Director Sue responded at 10:32am on March 23, 2023:

Just read your email regarding your explanation. As someone who is acutely aware of the rules and regulations, what is uncommon is for any person running for office or current board member to personally contact a member to inform him/her that they haven’t voted. The issue is how that person knew who didn’t vote when only FSR was to have this information? How was this information obtained?

This is not a trivial matter and needs additional investigation.

Regards,

Sue

Director Arthur responded at 10:37am on March 23, 2023:

Dawn,

Dovetailing on what Sue wrote below: that’s not what happened here. What was reported as having happened was that the HOA board member/candidate contacted the member and advised the member that he was aware that the member had not voted. The only way for him to have made such a claim was if he had seen the roster. So please don’t divert the conversation to something that we’re not talking about here. A better response would’ve been to state that you would be undertaking an immediate investigation as opposed to white washing it by deflecting because there’s been a pattern established which I mentioned earlier, when the revocations to the failed recall petition were somehow leaked out of Deborah’s office and those members were then harassed.

Arthur Andelson, Director

At 11am this morning, the aggrieved member went into the property manager’s office and voted.  Said member reported that Deborah, the property manager, told him that she told Jeff Green, the HOA president/candidate, that there were people on his block who hadn’t voted yet, and specifically this member, and that this member is not a snowbird.  She said that the member was home and could therefore vote [in time]. 

What other members did she tell him to contact?  Did she also tell other board candidates to contact members on their blocks, or chairpersons, or anyone else?  Which candidates were left out and were not told or given voter names of those who had not yet voted so they could make contact with them? 

We know for a fact that the T.A.G. team of candidates Tony D’Agrosa, Alice Silver, and George Klein were never contacted about this.

So this was specific targeting of members who had not voted by the president/candidate who was given inside information about these members so that he could personally solicit them and urge them to vote for him.  The call referenced above lasted 2 minutes and 44 seconds, which is a lot longer than one needs to simply say “please vote.”

So you decide: is this election tampering and was vote harvesting going on, with inappropriate access to the roster by one candidate/Board member? Did this give an unfair advantage to this candidate/Board member?  Is this grounds to overturn the election and redo it if this candidate wins re-election tonight?

  Your faithful scribe,

  Vicki Roberts