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ELECTION PROBLEMS
By
Jan Bergemann
Published March 5, 2021
It seems
this nation has more election problems than a street dog has
fleas. Starting with general elections down to elections in
community associations, many of these “elections” end up in
litigation and are decided by judges and arbitrators.
Elections
and recalls are among the hottest topics of arbitration cases in
Florida’s community associations. And there is always something
different, decided by arbitrators – not by the legislators.
In the
case Eric has blogged about on Monday, head-lined “VOTING
FROM ABROAD" the case was made that the so-called
two-envelope system actually only needs one envelope, because
arbitrators decided that the owner/voter can waive secrecy and
just put the ballot in the so-called outer envelope without the
use of an inner envelope. In reality, that makes it a
one-envelope system. So much for secret ballots!
In the
past there has always been a rule-of-thumb when counting the
votes: The number of outer envelopes had to equal the number of
inner envelopes and ballots. This rule of thumb can now no
longer be used, since the number of inner envelopes can now be
less than anything else.
Elections
are obviously a complicated issue in this country and the fact
that our country seems to be run by attorneys/judges and not by
citizens or legislators, doesn’t make it easier.
And now,
that our legislators in their infinite wisdom allowed electronic
voting, we will see our elections being decided by voting
machine programs that can be controlled from abroad, not by the
voters any more. So much for “VOTING FROM ABROAD”.
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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