EWUA Financial Malfeasance & Bullying

Inspector Questions

Election Inspector Questions

After receiving the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the Election Inspector had the following questions. The Board is divided on how to answer the questions and, as a result, both the dominant Board faction and the minority faction are providing their own set of answers, with the inspector left to decide how to best interpret the instructions given.

What is black is the Inspector’s questions.

The titles of sections and the minority responses are in bold.

Inspection Team 

  • Inspection team volunteers would like the attorneys for all parties to acknowledge appointment of Bob Eagan and Patty Miller as volunteer elections inspector and confirm they have no objection to either appointment.

Response: The minority objects to Bob Eagan, as he signed the petition to recall three of the directors, indicating his bias.

Response: The minority was to be included in all communication between the Inspector and any party. That has not happened, and we would like a copy of the communications that occurred prior to the signing of the MOU.

Proxy Acceptance/Security/Storage

  • Is there a safety deposit box at Banner Bank for storing proxy cards once picked up at the post office?  If so, please provide Election Inspector immediate access.
  • Is there a process in place for any Proxys delivered to/received at the EWUA office?
    • Have all staff been trained on this process?

Response: Any proxy that is not delivered directly to PO Box 24 from the proxy giver should be validated by the Inspector with the proxy giver.

 Proxy Validity & Verification Process

  • Inspection team would like confirmation that membership records have been cleaned up since the last election that required referencing multiple datasets in order to validate proxy cards.  Will EWUA be able to provide a single spreadsheet to the inspection team that contains all information needed to validate a proxy? 

Response: The MOU requires EWUA to provide a paper copy and a spreadsheet containing: 

  • The membership name, tax parcel number (TPN), and account number for each tax parcel with a membership.
  • b. The service address of the property served
  • c. The name of the member and agent(s) who can vote for the entity.
  • d. The contact information for the member, including:
    • i. Mailing address
    • ii. Phone numbers
    • iii. Email addresses
  • Section 7 of MOU states Attorneys for the Association and the Minority Members shall have the ability to review the proxy card submissions for accuracy.  A process and timeline need to be put in place for this to occur.  The Election Inspector would like the attorneys to articulate the expected timing and process for their review (in advance of meeting, after the meeting, before/after certification of the results?)

Response: The proxy card inspections should be reviewed in person with no electronic transmission of confidential proxies or ballots to anyone.

  • Section 11 of the MOU states that staff will not participate in the verification or counting of the proxies.  Election Inspector would like this clarified that Corey Harrington or Anna Van Gelder will be available to answer proxy validation questions on Friday Sept 20th and Sept 27th between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm and on Saturday Sept 28th between the hours of 9:00 am and end of meeting.  The Election Inspector will retain possession of the Proxy Cards at all times and will only allow staff to view the signature instructions section if needed to assist with the verification.

Response: All communications between Election Inspector and EWUA staff, directors, and attorneys shall be in writing and copied to all directors and attorneys.

Proxy Vote Process

  • The Election Inspector believes that further clarification on the expected voting process is needed.    Currently proxies can be submitted via the PO Box provided or given to designated Proxy Holders.  Members can also represent themselves at the meeting.  In order for all proxy cards to be validated, they must be received by the Election Inspector at some point prior to tabulating the votes.  Doing this live at the meeting is not realistic.  We need to develop a process for the combination of designated proxies mailed to the PO Box with those sent directly to the Proxy Holders.  The Election Inspector hopes that provisions laid out in Section 7 of the MOU, to ensure the continued confidentiality of any individual member’s vote, will allow for some flexibility on this process.
    • Is a live vote by the member or a designated proxy a requirement or is the expectation that all votes will be submitted via Proxy Card or Appendix A Paper Ballot (for members who attend the meeting to vote in person)?

Response: It is our understanding that all votes shall be by paper ballot and proxy cards submitted to the Election Inspector. 

  • Should we request designated proxy holders hand off all proxies, submitted directly to them, to the Election Inspector as soon as possible?  If a live vote is needed the Election Inspector can validate the proxy and tabulate the combined votes assigned to each proxy holder and provide those numbers to them for voting purposes. 

Response: Yes, all proxies should be delivered to the Inspector as soon as possible to provide the Inspector an opportunity to review and validate.

Response: The Inspector should provide a copy of each proxy card to the designated proxy holder for their review.

  Response: The Inspector and proxy holders should work together to assure an accurate count. 

  • Does the inspector need to validate that the proxy holder voted the proxies as instructed?

Response:  Yes.  

  • If individual members will be voting live at the meeting, without submitting a Paper Ballot, there will need to be a process to validate the membership/representative upon entry to the meeting, a way to separate those individuals in the room so inspectors know who to accept live votes from, and validation of each person at the time of vote in order to record that vote on the spreadsheet.

Response: All votes cast at the member meeting are cast via a paper ballot. There are no voice or public-outcry votes.

  Response: We suggest that the master Membership list be check-marked when proxy cards are received. Then, at registration at the meeting, if the validated Member has already submitted a proxy, then the master Membership list is marked that the Member received a paper ballot that will supersede their own proxy.

Response: To protect the integrity of the process, all ballots should be delivered into the hands of the Inspector who will verify the individual handing them the ballot has the authority to cast the ballot. The Inspector will then personally deposit the ballot into the ballot box. 

  • Is the intent that all proxy cards, regardless of how submitted, be retained by the Election Inspector per MOU Section 14.h?  

Response: Yes 

  • The Election Inspector acknowledges the preference for the tabulation to be completed during the Special Recall Member Meeting per paragraph 15 of the MOU.  In speaking with the Election Inspector overseeing the last, far more simplistic, election it was estimated that there were approximately 40 hours of work involved in ballot verification and tabulation.  In order to protect the volunteers from any accusations of impropriety, the Election Inspector is recommending that the proxy cards be allowed to be validated in advance of the Special Meeting but that no recording of votes would occur until all Proxy Cards/Paper Ballots have been received.  This process suggests it is highly unlikely a final tally of votes will be available at the meeting.

In support of this we would like, 

  • Clarification on when EWUA will provide a fully populated spreadsheet to the Inspection team.
  • Can a draft/sample of the excel spreadsheet be send to the Election Inspector immediately for review?
    • A process for any additions/modifications will need to be put in place.

Response: The Inspector recognizes the serious flaws of the November 2023 election. The MOU requires all of the necessary information to be provided to the Inspector for a quick and efficient count.  

Response: All parties must be copied on all communications, including this list. 

Response: The Inspector has the authority to create procedures to manage things not addressed in the MOU.

  • Election Inspector would like paragraph 15 of MOU be modified to state that the inspection acknowledges that the board would like the results during the Special Meeting or no later than October 2, 2024 however he will provide the results as soon as he is confident that they are valid and will take the time needed to accomplish this.

Response: The Inspector has the authority to take the time needed to perform his duties properly. It is far better to have a properly conducted recall process than to be subject to an arbitrary deadline that prevents the proper validation of the vote.

  • Sections 8 & 9 of the MOU provide the Election Inspector discretion in establishing the validation procedures.  The Inspector anticipates that some members will return proxy cards that provide clear unambiguous instructions on the member intent without designation of a proxy holder.  This would be the case if the member completes Section II Instructed Proxy without completing Section I with the designation of a proxy.  
    • Can the Election inspector determine these to be validate Proxies if the member is not present at the meeting?  What if the member is present at the meeting?

Response:  The Inspector has the authority to validate all proxies as the Inspector sees fit.

  Response:  The Inspector should use his best judgment and any methods needed to determine the intent of the proxy giver. 

  Response: The in-person ballot takes precedence over the proxy.  This may cause two votes to exist where only one should.

Response: We suggest that the master Membership list be check-marked when proxy cards are received. Then, at registration at the meeting, if the validated Member has already submitted a proxy, then the master Membership list is marked that the Member received a paper ballot that will supersede their own proxy. 

Special Meeting Format

  • Please share the agenda for the special meeting ASAP?
  • Are there any planned presentations or discussions prior to the vote? 

Response:  None are provided for in the MOU. If an agenda is provided, this is an agenda that should be accepted by all EWUA Board directors. 

Equipment/Technology/Facilities

  • Has there been any provisions for creation of a private work space at the Orcas Center to allow inspection team to work on tabulation in private on day of meeting?
  • Will EWUA be providing a computer/keyboard/mouse/monitor/flash drive for the inspection team to use?

Response: If the EWUA provides a computer/flash drive for this use, we suggest that all equipment be returned through Orcas Online from the Inspector so that confidential information can be professionally erased and no longer on the memory when it is given back to EWUA.

Unasked questions that we believe need to be addressed.

There are two primary avenues for potential fraud.  This recall is happening because of the accusations of fraud.

One. We ask that the Inspector, you, accept and review all ballots submitted at the member meeting prior to your depositing the ballot in the ballot box. We ask that you verify that the person delivering the ballot produces the same ID used to gain a ballot at the door. It may be very helpful to have an assistant or two at the ballot box.  We ask that these assistants not be associated with either of the recall parties, which would include volunteers and staff of EWUA.

There should be one ballot per membership. About 80% of all members have one membership. EWUA staff should be providing a complete list of members and their contact information as per MOU #10.  This will be necessary to prevent fraud.

Two. We ask that a random sample of the submitted proxies be called to verify that they were submitted by the person listed as the proxy giver. We ask that all proxies submitted in the 48 hours prior to the member meeting be each validated by contacting the proxy giver.  To preserve election integrity, the Inspector should choose assistants who are not associated with either of the recall parties.



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