Forum: Is this new proxy farming voter fraud?

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If an owner signs a proxy form with a blank space on it, can anyone insert another name later?

Some strata problems just keep coming back to haunt us.  Take proxy farming, that sneaky tactic whereby strata committee members – usually chairs – would ask for proxy votes to “save owners going to meetings” then use them to wield autocratic power in their blocks.

We thought that had been killed off by the 2016 NSW Act which limits proxies to one per 20 lots, per owner. However a Flatchatter has alerted us to a scheme where the secretary asks owners to make them their proxy, then fills in the blank “substitute” proxy space with the name of a crony when their allocation of proxy votes is used up.

Is this legal? Surely if the form is signed with blank spaces, it should not be filled in with any name, at the secretary’s discretion. If the form is signed with blanks, shouldn’t the blanks remain untouched?

Needless to say, this “voter fraud” has resulted in the secretary and their cabal exercising an iron grip on the strata committee – exactly what the limit on proxies was intended to end.

What can our frustrated Flatchatter do about it?  Your suggestions HERE, please.

Elsewhere on the forum

  • Who’s responsible for an asbestos lean-to, attached to common property, but which doesn’t appear on the plan?  That’s HERE.
  • Special levy funds won’t be refunded after project they were to pay for is abandoned.  That’s HERE.
  • Can I sell without telling the purchaser that there is mould that might be caused by a common property defect?  That’s HERE.

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