Election Process & Material

Why has it been confusing about who can vote in the UPRD election?

When the UPRD Charter was written the voter eligibility paragraph did not capture some of the practical implementation implications.

Below are the key excerpts from the Charter:

“. . . . each Resident and each Owner shall be entitled to one vote per board seat. Provided however, no Owner may vote if there is a Resident residing at Owner’s address . . . unless such Owner has received a proxy from such Resident.”

“’Owner’ shall mean the owner of a freehold estate located in the UPRD, as appears by the deed of record, including a trustee . . .”

“’Resident’ shall mean a person over eighteen years of age who resides at one specific address within the UPRD for at least 183 days per calendar year.”

The Charter also states that:

“The Board shall use and rely upon the official records maintained by the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections, Property Appraiser and/or Tax collector in making the determination of whether a person qualifies as an Owner or Resident entitled to vote in an election of the Board.”

Unfortunately, Manatee County only has voter rolls for those who have registered to vote in the state of Florida, and the County Property Appraiser’s list includes owner information. In the Election Materials we have tried to clearly define Residents’ and Owners’ rights to vote.  These materials have been mailed to those on the Property Appraiser’s list in the expectation that the Property Owner can identify who in the household is eligible to vote. So, with guidance from UPRD legal counsel, the election volunteers determined the most practical way to reach all residents was to communicate with owners. Since most owners are residents or know who the residents are, we believe we have, in fact, reached out to all eligible voters.  In some cases ballots were inadvertently sent to both owners and their Trusts; the duplicate ballots that were sent to the Trusts have been canceled.   Communications on the UPRD website and in Club Weekly have also reached out to capture all potential voters.

Despite earnest efforts by the volunteers administering this election to make sure it runs smoothly and transparently, it has, indeed become confusing at times.  Your election team feels the Charter must be amended to define more clearly who can vote in UPRD elections, perhaps changing to a registration system or one-vote-per-home. Amending the Charter requires the Manatee County Board of Commissioners approval and a referendum in UP.

WHO IS RUNNING THIS ELECTION?

The Recreation District Manager is PFM, a firm based in Orlando, that is conducting this election with the help of three volunteers from UP. The election process is primarily spelled out in the RD Charter, Manatee County Board of Supervisors’ Ordinance 18-29.

WHO CAN VOTE IN THIS ELECTION?

The Charter specifies only UP Residents and Owners may vote for the RD Board. Owners are defined as those whose names appear on a deed of record for property within the RD. That would include all individuals – in a trust or corporation – who are listed on the deed. Residents are those, over age 18, who reside at a particular address within the RD for at least 183 days per calendar year. The Owner may not vote if a Resident resides at the Owner’s address unless the Resident has given a proxy to the Owner.

WHO CAN RUN FOR THE RD BOARD?

Only Residents (those over age 18, who reside at a particular address within the RD for at least 183 days per calendar year) may run for the Board.

WHO CAN NOMINATE PEOPLE FOR BOARD POSITIONS?

Owners and Residents are welcome to nominate UP Residents for the Board. Residents are encouraged to nominate themselves.

CAN I VOTE BY PROXY?

Absolutely. Details will be forthcoming.

WHEN AND HOW WILL I KNOW WHO IS RUNNING?

The list of candidates, with their photos and statements, is available at: universityparkrd.com/election-process-material. Candidate information was included in the RD and UPCC newsletters and will be included in the voting packet sent by US mail.

HOW CAN I GET TO KNOW ABOUT THE CANDIDATES?

An online Candidate Forum is planned at 1:30pm November 9. Instructions to access the Forum will be forthcoming.

HOW LONG WILL BOARD MEMBERS SERVE?

In order to have staggered elections in the future, the three candidates who receive the most votes in this election will serve 4-year terms; the other two will serve 2-year terms. In 2022, the RD election will determine two Board Supervisors who will serve 4-year terms.

WHO IS VOTE-NOW?

Vote-Now LLC is one of many private companies that conduct elections for a range of clients, including homeowner associations and professional organizations across the country. Vote-Now, based in Jacksonville, Florida, has over 22 years’ experience conducting web-based elections for over 250 clients around the US and the world. Check out their website at Vote-Now.com.

HOW WILL THE RESULTS BE ANNOUNCED?

The newly elected Board will be announced at an in-person meeting in the UPCC Lakeside Room on December 8. The meeting starts at 9:00am; in-person voting ends at noon. The results are expected to be announced by 5pm that day. Results will be posted on the RD website and announced in the RD and UPCC newsletters.