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No doubt that pre-meeting voting overcomes the question of owners simply not being able to attend meetings but it also creates a transparency issue. In a face-to-face meeting we see who votes but with pre-meeting voting all we get is the result.
Is there any way of forcing the chairman of the meeting to actually disclose the details of the pre-meeting votes? If not, how do we know he didn’t simply fudge the numbers? I can’t find anything in the Strata Management Act that provides for an audit of the votes.
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Propose a motion to your next AGM that the identities of the owners who voted prior to the meeting, and how they voted, must be declared at the end of the vote unless it has been agreed that it should be a secret ballot. It is no less private than a show of hands.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
How is the electronic voting done? There should be a record of it, that could be printed off and then you could check? You could ask for this?
The pre-meeting voting records would be part of the records of the owners corporation, and should be able to be viewed by owners. Whilst the viewing of the voting records would likely take place some time after the meeting, it would at least be possible to verify the actual votes lodged.
@Court, if you are an owner, the strata manager has to provide you access to records within 14 days of you making a request. They can only charge $34 for first hour, and $16 per hour after that. Ask just to view the voting records specifically (while you’re at it you may as well request a copy of the strata roll too – this is a very useful thing to have to be able to communicate with other owners; and you might also want to request anything else you might want to view). Put your request in an email.
@Court also check this page from Bannermans, which explains that any owner has right to owners records, and owners don’t even need to make a section 182 request (so shouldn’t have to pay, but a fee may be charged for preparing documents for inspection):
“There seems to be a common misconception that an owners corporation requires permission from its strata managing agent to access the strata roll and other records maintained for it by its agent. That access is often denied, frequently citing privacy law concerns. This is a misconception, because these are the owners corporation’s own records and it is entitled to them under various legal principles.”
“An inspection under Section 182 of the SSMA is not required. That is a procedure available to third parties, e.g. lot owners and is not required by an owners corporation, which is after all seeking access to its own documents, for which it requires no authority.
The privacy laws do not prevent an agent from disclosing, to its principal, information collected or held on behalf of its principal. In fact, the privacy legislation permits personal information to be collected, held, used or disclosed if required or authorised by law. The collection/access in issue is required by various provisions of the (“SSMA”). In other words, there is no sound basis for an agent to claim privacy concerns as a basis for withholding access.”
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