Under Strata Regulation 41 (2) the records of secret ballots only have to be retained for 13 months, rather than seven years.
However, to allay the fears of your owners, why not pass a by-law that says that, after the proxy forms in a secret ballot have been verified (possibly by an independent returning officer), their validity and value in unit entitlements recorded and their proxy holders noted, they will be placed in a sealed envelope which may only be opened subject to an order from NCAT.
You could then promote this idea to your owners in a very positive way.
I’m not sure if this would even need a by-law since you aren’t changing anything except what happens to the votes when they have been checked and verified.
So the motion might go something like:
Under the terms of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, Schedule 1, Clause 29 and the Strata Schemes Regulations 2016, Section 41 (2) and with due regard to the SSMA 2015, Section 180, the Owners Corporation agrees that, in the case of a secret ballot:
1. The committee will appoint an independent “Returning Officer”*
2. The Returning Officer will retain all proxy forms and ballots, verify them and record the Unit Entitlements attached to each vote while protecting the privacy and identity of the voting owners.
3. When the votes and proxies have been verified and allocated the proxies and votes will be placed an a sealed envelope.
4. The envelope will be stored in a secure place and will only be opened under the instruction of NCAT or a higher court, if ordered to, in the unlikely event of a challenge to the validity of the vote or election concerned.
*This will be a strata committee member from another scheme, or a strata professional, or a lawyer or JP or similar, who has no fiduciary or personal connection with the scheme.
Something like that could be passed by your committee then be promoted to owners under a “good news” newsletter headlined “Protecting Your Privacy”.
What do other Flatchatters think?