WEBVTT
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Thank you.
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Okay, yeah, so let’s get going on the, I’m sure we could talk football all day, but I’m sure we could talk football all day, but I could at least.
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But let’s get into football all day, but I could at least, but let’s get into the program for today.
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This is the 13 session of the Marcus hour, feature, which has featured Stephen Marcus and myself, Jake Barkus.
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And technically we said last episode was the one year anniversary that was technically the twelfth episode.
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This is the thirteenth is actually the one year anniversary of doing the Marcus hour webinars and podcasts.
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So this is a exciting feature. A new era that we talk about, the technology wave, what’s changing in communities, and, and all of that.
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And what we’re going to be discussing today is really implementing electronic voting mainly as well as virtual meetings.
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And the effect that it has had on community associations.
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Jake, you want to say something about. See YA typical plug.
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Oh, of course, of course, yes. And A typical plug for CAI, Community Associations Institute, that this is the, go to, organization for any community associations, whether unit owner, board member, property manager, vendor, what have you, community associations institute, has been the go to source.
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In New England, we deal with Claudette Carrini. She is the, she is the, president, Stephen.
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Exactly.
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Executive director and yeah she’s.
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Oh, she’s, she’s the boss of all of us. So yeah, I’m a dictator.
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Whenever one dictated.
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Yeah, right, exactly. And we’re also involved nationally, as well as CAI, Southeast Florida.
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And, yeah, that it’s a great organization, as well as CAI, Southeast Florida.
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And, yeah, that it’s a great organization. If you don’t know about CAI, we highly recommend joining.
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We could probably actually provide whatever guidance that CII, Knowing voices AI national has on electronic voting right now.
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But for today’s episode, we wanna get into, yeah, you know, guidance for electronic voting and.
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Book offs, pretty close, yeah.
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Alan, and I might put your last name Oh, okay, that wasn’t bad. Alright.
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So, Alan, he will be our special guest today. And he is the founder of ONR.
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And he is the founder of ONR, which is a, is the founder of ONR, which is a, is a software that does strictly, it revolutionizes the community management with electronic voting.
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And the standard for efficiency and transparency in voting. I will get into a lot of, you know, what comes with electronic voting, debug some of the myths about privacy and security, talk about the legislation and we’ll also get into, so, Allen is mostly in Florida, which has had a, enacted statute since 2015, regarding electronic voting.
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In Massachusetts, there’s still pending legislation. There’s nothing in the statute or in the condominium act.
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About. Electronic voting. So we’re gonna kind of use Florida as our kind of guideline because with a lot of condo and community association issues.
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If it happens in Florida, it’s generally gonna make its way up through throughout the nation.
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And that includes New England. And so, so that’s just something that we want to, look at as guidance.
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We’ll talk about the bill that’s currently in Massachusetts. And yeah, so we’ll get into it.
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So, for background, if you don’t know already, Stephen and I work at all. And Marcus, we represent in Massachusetts in Florida.
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As well as New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine full service community associations, law firm.
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Whatever you need, where we’re here to help, whether it’s a, you know, unit owner issue, board issue, property managers, whatever you need, we, can, we have handled it.
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So, we will. Be ready to go on that. And, yeah, in this Marcus hour, we generally try to provide educational informational sessions.
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And yeah, where you’re into this so It’s been, it’s been fun.
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So thank you for joining for the one year anniversary. And I will share the screen, cause we’re gonna do.
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A PowerPoint presentation.
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And here we go.
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So that’s all of us.
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That’s Stephen on the left, me on the right and Alan on the on the bottom.
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And we’re going to be discussing implementing virtual meetings and electronic voting in your condominiums.
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Thanks for having me.
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So Alan, thank you for joining us. Absolutely. Anything you’d like to add before we kind of kick it off?
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Well, you think number one is just on the CIA thing. We actually met through CAI.
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So just a heads up. It’s a great place to meet other other vendors and other peers in the industry as well.
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Replacing in great plug I’ll definitely go for that. As for online voting and more generally, Florida, we’ve been doing this for a while down here.
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We are in a few states now but as to your point we’ve seen a lot of things happening in Florida first.
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That just happens to be because there’s a lot of associations down here. And online voting became a thing down here.
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Prior to, COVID and all these, special circumstances because they were a lot of second homes.
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And it was tough to get people to participate physically in an analog process. Obviously COVID Just like everywhere else in the United States accelerated the need for a lot of these services and I’m so happy that we’re in the United States accelerated the need for a lot of these services.
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And I’m so happy that we’re discussing this now in the Northeast with the focus of how we can make the process better there as well.
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Excellent. Thank you, Al. Yeah, that’s a great point. Yeah.
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And Alan and I, we met, yeah, at a, it was a CIA event. And yeah, fantastic.
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Fantastic resource, good go to, electronic, voting. And, yeah, so here’s kind of his description, all about ONR.
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Yeah, that might be that might be best.
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It’s a lot, a little bit of a nice sort there, but you want me to tell them just a quick quick story there but you want me to tell them just a quick quick history quick story here yeah Yeah, I’m not gonna really live for line.
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We could be here 20 min, but just general story here. So not really a background in property management per se, just a very very very active resident in my community, eventually joined the board, realized that there were a lot of issues with tools and the experience that residents had for many different things.
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But specifically voting was nightmare and and it was very impactful for everyone. So we took a stop at online voting.
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ONR became the first online voting company out of Florida. And that’s the first thing come to keep in mind there as you look at options there’s different ways you could go about this.
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You can go and hire a law firm to do this for you, meaning they develop the software themselves or you can work with a law firm that works with other platforms.
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It’s standalone platforms like ONR and a few others that we’ll discuss in a little bit.
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But generally speaking, you probably won’t have software people doing software and lawyers doing lawyer stuff. That’s usually the way it works best.
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That’s a good point. Yeah, I don’t know anything about technology, so I’ll leave it to the, to the experts to kinda guide the ball.
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And so needless to say after after a few years, few rounds this spreads like wildfire.
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Covid hits. Obviously there’s a big need for for these types of services. At this point, we, we service close to a thousand communities doing online voting and other things as well.
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Online voting for us means a lot more than probably what you guys are thinking about, which is just once a year or twice a year.
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Online voting means surveys year-round, online voting means ratings and reviews. It means signing concerns.
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It means really participating year round and reviews, it means signing concerns. It means really participating year round and making it easy for us to do that.
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And like I said, it all starts with one use case, which is, hey, let’s get the vote in and see where we take it from there.
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Yeah, and that’s also, I mean, you hit on a couple of really good points. This is not just, as I mentioned, this has been codified in Florida statute since 2015 and there’s still legislation out there regarding online voting.
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And virtual meetings. As far as meetings, yeah, it’s not just a, and yeah, again, this was pre COVID, it has been around for a while and Massachusetts is kind of behind on the 8 ball.
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Stephen, you’ve had to touch on the the current bill. And legislation that’s out there, in the current session of Massachusetts.
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And I believe it’s until July 30 first of this year.
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Okay, so. COVID. In terms of legislative action.
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Sort of, slow down and. Dramatically in Massachusetts. In 2020. Where?
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The only issues that the legislature was focusing on were COVID related, health and safety issues.
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And things of that nature. during a, declaration of, emergency for, the state.
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But. Even though the state may have. Come up with some virtual solutions such as court appearances.
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By zoom or whatever the courts are using it never yeah got to the level where they looked at the say i know England Massachusetts lac suggestion which yeah is the virtual virtual meetings and and electronic voting.
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The, for, for reasons I’m related to whether the bill is good because it seems like it’s an opener for the legislature that this makes sense for.
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Community associations for the same reason it makes sense for the state. Is that, Jim, it is, who is.
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Okay, down the road to like mid April. for a committee hearing at which point we hope that it will be reported out.
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And at that point, July, 30 first date that Jake mentioned. Our formal sessions. Are held the for 19 months between July first Go to Yeah, 19 months after, which is like, so from January for us to, July 30 first.
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2024 so it starts in January first 2023 most of the legislation passed the message.
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It passes in June of July of the eighteenth to nineteenth month. So, will, will pass a concerns in the meantime.
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We don’t believe that. Electronic voting or meetings are possible unless an association amends its kind of medium documents so hopefully like a legislative legislature will act.
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Because of our confidence that the mass lack is very strong. It’s set it up by Matt Gaines, with Michael Sri, Arm and Brooks, in Peter Westfavor or back in management.
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Since we are hopeful that it will pass. We thought it was a good time to talk about what does that mean.
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Upon passage, how is it implemented and executed. And as Helen said, Oh, alcock and mike as well, stick to lie.
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And I’m at the, software and, app people, deal with that.
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So we thought it was a good time to, tell associations how this works. And at least discuss the products that the webinar has.
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And then, see yeah if there if you have questions or comments will you get to them during the program or post program will send out the PowerPoint the last page is Allen’s, the email.
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Contact information. But, next week they’ll receive a PowerPoint answers to the questions and if we don’t get a question, answer the questions, we’ll answer those.
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Yeah.
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Well. And Jake was the one more thing that you. So that you wanted to provide to.
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Attendees.
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Yeah, so yeah, feel free to ask any questions in the chat. Any questions that we don’t get to during today’s session, we can answer via an email that we send out with the presentation that’s recording video.
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But before we get into it, I know it was just election season. A lot of annual meetings were happening and something that Stephen touched on.
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Yeah, Florida, the statutes there, they have an opt-in clause, which is basically you can opt in to vote.
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You don’t have to, or I should say opt into electronic vote. You don’t have to do it electronically.
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There are still in person meetings and we encourage in person meetings. But just for ease of, and yeah, since COVID happened.
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It’s been a lot more common. I know as a, as in court, it’s it’s virtual, hearings, virtual depositions, as well as, yeah, virtual meetings with our communities.
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But before we get into it, yeah, I know it was just election season. I do want to launch a poll question, but before we get into it, yeah, I know it was just election season.
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I do want to launch a poll question, which you should see in a moment. We do what kinda wanna know what our audience is today, so we’re gonna ask what state your association, or company if you’re a property.
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Manager or vendor, it’s located. We provided the 5 states that we represent in, as well as other.
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We also want to know is your association or clients using an electronic format. And our third question, what have you noticed as far as voting in your community?
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That is, do you use electronic voting? Do you not use electronic voting? In your meetings, what have you, and what have you noticed as far as community engagement?
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And if you want to raise your hand actually to that last question, how many of you have had issues in your community or communities that you represent reaching a coreum or getting people to participate?
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And, and yeah, it’s yeah, I see a lot of hands already being raised. So we’re here to help and this is why electronic voting is kind of a, it’s not the of full proof solution, but it’s a way to help.
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And I think, Alan, you could probably touch on that. What have you noticed as far as community involvement, in light of in, in light of electronic voting.
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Sure, sure. So few things you guys hit on there that I think are relevant and that is that.
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We don’t know what Massachusetts it’s gonna come out, Mike, but I’m pretty certain it’s not gonna force anyone to to vote online.
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It will certainly provide hopefully the option to do so. And what we’ve seen, for example, in other states where We’ve been doing this for a while is.
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There might be, you know, only a handful of people do that first and then the second round there’s more people, more people, and then to building out.
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But there is the concept that You could still have in person meetings and the idea is absolutely half those in person meetings but have more meetings because none of them have to be in person.
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Not everything is as important as the yearly meeting where you’re electing the directors or whatever it is.
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There might be other things you need to be able to tackle. So that’s a really important component.
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The other one that I think it’s worth noting and thinking about is that Online voting if you only think about this as the tool to cast the final vault meaning for your election or our really important thing, change in amendments.
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Then you can’t miss the whole point because the idea is to involve the community throughout the decision making process.
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And half surveys and have ratings and half polls like the one that we’re having today and do all these things, you know, in a better life where to take the association.
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By the time the decision needs to be made, usually people are a lot more aligned. And the challenges, if you want to do this in an organized way, you’re probably going to need a tool that’s specialized to help you without these things because if not it’s just going to be a bunch of different tools and it’s gonna be really a lot of work on everyone to get these people to engage.
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So, Alan, what type of surveys have, you run into across the country in terms of
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Yeah, so let me give you a perfect example. This one I like to tell a lot of story.
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Condo, it had 2 pools. And one of the pools hurricane comes by and does a lot of damage, right?
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So the insurance is willing to pay for it and the board decided that it would be a great idea to change that second pool.
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They already had a change to the second pool to a barbecue area tennis court area. And they would try to get this folder there was a material duration goal they would try to do the vote they tried a few times They could never get enough people to participate.
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Well, when they actually ran the survey, they realized that more people actually wanted to leave the pool because that pool had sunlight during the afternoon and the other one did it.
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People didn’t care enough to vote against the project. They didn’t care enough to vote for it.
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And it never passed and everyone assumed that’s what the community wanted and it wasn’t the case.
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So service can be as relevant as that. Service can be as irrelevant or not relevant but less legally important like What do you want want to do for a Fourth of July party?
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Is it a barbecue or is it pizza? Right? So that’s the kind of thing that we’re thinking about.
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It’s constantly gauging your community and being able to do it with the right folks. So owners do owners things, residents do resident things, tenants to 10 things.
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So and so forth. Does that make sense?
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Absolutely.
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Yeah, that makes sense. And and how are, how are people notify? I’m assuming that if you were doing a survey.
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It was about the pool when you were in March. You don’t wanna wait until.
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July until the results come in. I assume that with and I’m totally ignorant about technology, but I’m assuming with the technology that somehow people get a text or an email or something.
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To know that the survey is. I’m going, but I’m not really sure.
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Yeah. Okay. So that’s a good point. And it’s not.
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Text or email or it’s usually and or ideally and because Usually people want to be reminded in different ways.
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So if you can send them an email, that’s great. We all know how tough it is to get people’s attention with the emails nowadays.
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We get flooded with emails every day having the ability to send out text messages as reminders for things that are important are great.
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If you actually have an app, that’s dedicated to this, then you can push notifications. You can have little red things on top of the app.
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That’s usually pretty good at getting people to to act. But ideally what you have to do is make it easy for people to be able to participate.
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And that is usually by notifying them and setting automatic reminders that will let everyone know that their vote is still open and they haven’t cast their vote in will remind them 4, 5, 6, 10 times prior to that boat closing for a few days.
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And that’s how you really drive some of that participation. It’s about getting people to engage when the time is right for them.
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So how do, so I’m an owner and one of these communities.
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How do I know that those? Something going on on the. Yeah. And I apologize if my questions are.
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Yeah, sure, sure, sure. No, they’re based, they’re really, they’re really important. They’re really important because you have to come into the door.
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If not, we can’t serve you in the restaurant, right? So the whole idea is you get an email to set up your account or you get a text message to set up your account.
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However, the association wants to configure it. You click on the link. You set up your password.
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And now we have your email, your password, your phone number, you can come in and authenticate yourself.
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The ADIs, you come in and you authenticate to make sure that it’s the right person that’s voting.
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If you just want to an NEMO with the results, apparently, must choose it so you could do that as well.
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But do you know who the email is coming from? The important thing here is it’s not just a public website where anyone can go and cast their votes.
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There’s no that there’s no point in that what you want is not an open blink, but you want this is not an open blink, but you want this as link where people want this as a link where people can come in and they can cast their vote securely and something that I think it’s important that people can come in and they can cast their vote securely.
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And something that I think it’s important and a lot of people ask about is, well, can you guys guarantee that those notifications are delivered right to your point.
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What if I miss out? What if I don’t get that text message or that email? So make sure that you’re working with the system that can have those records for the association’s perspective.
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And you can go back and look at the record and say hold on the email was delivered and actually it was opened.
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You know, a few days prior so we can, you know, prove that the worst communication, that delivery.
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I’m thinking about this from 2 sites because it’s about the resident knowing, but also about the association knowing that the messages were delivered, right?
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And you’re able to track that with the right software.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, so if there were a challenge in court, which, sometimes happens and happens more in flower.
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It happens.
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Okay.
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There’s enough information that You have to show that messages were sent and received.
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Hmm. Yeah, yeah, so we’ve been in business since, 2016, to be exact.
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2018, very specifically with this, with the software. There’s been contested elections because it happens.
00:24:54.000 –> 00:25:06.000
It’s a common process. A few of them have actually gone to court and we’ve been courts of peanut and the amount of information we can provide usually overwhelms.
00:25:06.000 –> 00:25:07.000
The people that are requesting this information because when you do things online, everything’s recorded. Everything is recorded.
00:25:07.000 –> 00:25:22.000
We can tell you where who from what device, what time, what token, what this, what that, and all that information something can’t do with analog processes.
00:25:22.000 –> 00:25:26.000
You don’t have that type of data to be able to look at. You don’t have that type of data to be able to look at.
00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:35.000
So from the association’s perspective. The more people that vote online, the better records that they’re going to have and better position they’re going to be if anything is contested.
00:25:35.000 –> 00:25:43.000
Yeah, and yes, there was a brief aside. Not that is the core topic, but.
00:25:43.000 –> 00:26:03.000
If you have an association with 300. You let’s assume with electronic voting, you have less vehicles or or even meetings you Yeah, plus vehicles, it’s good for the environment.
00:26:03.000 –> 00:26:04.000
Paper.
00:26:04.000 –> 00:26:15.000
And all that. And, and it’s easy to do. You don’t have to think about OH GEE, I have to drive over to the clubhouse or I have to go to this site, to attend a meeting.
00:26:15.000 –> 00:26:20.000
So, so that’s the thing. That’s the thing as well. What we see to your point is.
00:26:20.000 –> 00:26:30.000
The people that vote online are not only the people that were voting and participating on paper before. They’re also the people that weren’t because they didn’t have the time where they couldn’t make it.
00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:39.000
From the environmental perspective, and the time management perspective. Printing out papers, stuffing envelopes and emailing them is probably the worst thing you can do.
00:26:39.000 –> 00:26:50.000
And we’ve seen associations cut down on that expense tremendously to you and offset any cost that online voting might have for them and in in space.
00:26:50.000 –> 00:26:59.000
Right, and I think this is something we discussed before, and it’s It’s all, you know, when people think about implementing and in Florida, it’s a lot more streamlined with the statute.
00:26:59.000 –> 00:27:12.000
To basically mirror the language of the statute, you’re good to go. In Massachusetts and the other states we represent, there is no statute and And this slide, we kind of discuss the emergence of electronic voting and virtual meetings.
00:27:12.000 –> 00:27:21.000
As you can see, in the green states, which includes Florida, which includes actually looks like the majority or most of the states.
00:27:21.000 –> 00:27:38.000
Compared to the rest. Remote me are contingent on and associations governing documents charter bylaws if governing documents are silent, the state nonprofit or business corporation act allows remote and virtual meetings.
00:27:38.000 –> 00:27:51.000
There are also our blue states. It looks like main is one state we represent that is blue a state statute governing community associations allows for remote or virtual meetings.
00:27:51.000 –> 00:28:02.000
And then there are gray states which it looks like Massachusetts is the only one. And that is, emergency powers enacted by COVID allowed a state of emergency.
00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:08.000
For associators to meet remote or virtually and then there’s a few khaki states we do represent the new Hampshire as well which is one of them.
00:28:08.000 –> 00:28:32.000
There are no applicable statutes. A remote meetings are contingent on the articles of corporation charter and bylaws and now This is actually a graphic from CAI, in national, I believe, dog, Balman, runs the CIA national, that’s another shout out to see AI.
00:28:32.000 –> 00:28:45.000
And this is a great kind of feature. Just showing. You know the biggest thing is in my opinion, a lot of what’s happening in Florida ends up spreading throughout the state or throughout the country.
00:28:45.000 –> 00:29:03.000
Makes its way up the northeast makes its way across the country. Any issue, insurance, the reserve study issue that’s going on in Florida, structural integrity and that, all kind of stems from the unfortunate Champlain Towers collapse in 2021.
00:29:03.000 –> 00:29:10.000
But it’s no different with, online voting. And, virtual meetings.
00:29:10.000 –> 00:29:16.000
And this is the future that we, you know, everyone was saying, this is the new normal during COVID.
00:29:16.000 –> 00:29:28.000
This will be the new normal in community associations and in Allen and I were and Stephen were discussing before this webinar a little bit about, you know, you can try to create the wheel yourself, but we don’t recommend it.
00:29:28.000 –> 00:29:40.000
You may try a survey monkey or a Google poll or something like that. And as Alan mentioned, yeah, email right now is fine in Massachusetts for voting.
00:29:40.000 –> 00:29:58.000
You can send an a vote via email, but that’s it’s not the it’s not allowed in Florida and it’s something that we need to keep in mind moving forward and why it makes sense to use a software like ONR to kind of ensure that this is.
00:29:58.000 –> 00:30:02.000
This is this is properly implemented in your communities you want you want to do it right.
00:30:02.000 –> 00:30:05.000
Yeah.
00:30:05.000 –> 00:30:06.000
Okay.
00:30:06.000 –> 00:30:10.000
And What’s that, Stephen?
00:30:10.000 –> 00:30:24.000
I was gonna say, yeah. that, going on to the, you’ve made a statement and I just wanna clarify it.
00:30:24.000 –> 00:30:39.000
So people can vote by email. in Massachusetts that would only be If the association has amended their documents, trust the bylaws.
00:30:39.000 –> 00:30:58.000
To provide for. Voting by email the issue is that documents that Yeah, have to be signed in Massachusetts and therefore that had, that have to be an amendment to.
00:30:58.000 –> 00:31:07.000
Say that the email didn’t have to be, signed. So, but just clarification on that.
00:31:07.000 –> 00:31:15.000
On the trends coming from Florida and from California. Oh, like, 25 years ago.
00:31:15.000 –> 00:31:33.000
It was a, the Miami kind of met in cluster. One of the speakers said there was 6 bills on bingo and, that particular year so we sort of look at the trends.
00:31:33.000 –> 00:31:47.000
To predict the future of what’s gonna happen in New England or the rest of the country. We look typically to the Florida and California check those a question about what about
00:31:47.000 –> 00:32:01.000
Oh yeah, so Rhode Island. On this appears to be a blue state so a state statute governing community association allows for remote or virtual.
00:32:01.000 –> 00:32:10.000
So there is something on point there. Yeah, and I kinda wanted to get into some of the poll questions while we have a moment here as well.
00:32:10.000 –> 00:32:17.000
So it end up being, yeah, the most. Is your association or clients using an electronic format?
00:32:17.000 –> 00:32:31.000
The majority of you, voted no. And as far as what have you noticed as far as voting in your community, the most that we saw is we do not use electronic voting and have issues.
00:32:31.000 –> 00:32:44.000
With voting slash community involvement so yeah i mean i think that kinda goes to the core of what we are kind of looking at here and kind of how we get more people on board.
00:32:44.000 –> 00:32:45.000
With voting.
00:32:45.000 –> 00:32:46.000
Yeah.
00:32:46.000 –> 00:33:00.000
One attendee has. Responded that they’ve been using. A software application. I’m gonna mention the, election runner.
00:33:00.000 –> 00:33:13.000
Dot com. for voting has worked nicely to rise, to raise percentage of participation and to be able to report.
00:33:13.000 –> 00:33:23.000
I’ll phone in results. I’m assuming that. On our, has the.
00:33:23.000 –> 00:33:33.000
The same same capabilities and my guess is that I want to participation rises as electronic voting is permitted.
00:33:33.000 –> 00:33:45.000
Sure does. So few individual apps out there that are just for voting. You mentioned one of them there’s a handful out there.
00:33:45.000 –> 00:33:54.000
First of all, if we wanted to take a step back, you always have, again, if legislation permits, I’ll throw down legislation is a little bit more focused.
00:33:54.000 –> 00:34:06.000
But if legislation permits, You can kind of build your own. You can build your own process. You can have people voting, you know, like you said by mail if the association allows it or or have a Google forms on and so forth.
00:34:06.000 –> 00:34:15.000
But at the end of the day, all you’re really doing is making it more difficult to whoever is managing this because they probably already have a lot on their plates to begin with.
00:34:15.000 –> 00:34:20.000
And having a whole process where they’re coming in and they’re building it, their own is usually not the best way to go.
00:34:20.000 –> 00:34:28.000
So. Then you’re left with other apps out there that do this specifically. So you’ll run into some maps that just do voting.
00:34:28.000 –> 00:34:38.000
And you’re running to some apps that do voting plus some other things. We happen to do voting plus a lot of things, but it doesn’t mean we’re not great at online voting itself as well.
00:34:38.000 –> 00:34:51.000
In terms of pricing, would you can expect again you could do it yourself probably with off-the-shelf tools But you’re usually gonna pay somewhere around, you know, 600 to a thousand dollars a year for the association all in.
00:34:51.000 –> 00:34:56.000
That’s probably what you’re gonna be paying closer to a thousand. You’re gonna get better features.
00:34:56.000 –> 00:35:07.000
You’re gonna get automated reminders. You’re gonna get text message reminders. You’re gonna get a good, support team helping you set up the vote and, set up everything to go.
00:35:07.000 –> 00:35:15.000
Towards the lower end of that 500 600 a year you’ll get a very basic app probably just a web app that sends emails could work as well.
00:35:15.000 –> 00:35:19.000
There’s gonna be a little bit more work on your end to set it up and go.
00:35:19.000 –> 00:35:28.000
But all in all, this is Penny’s. Compared to what you’re saving. I mean, you not only are you saving a bunch on mail-outs and direct costs like that.
00:35:28.000 –> 00:35:39.000
But also the fact that you can get things done. I mean, at the other day, let’s not lose sight of what we’re really trying to do here, but does on our offer, it’s not an online voting platform.
00:35:39.000 –> 00:35:47.000
That’s the shovel. The whole is quorum. The whole is you get participation. You get enough people to do something that is good for the common good of the association.
00:35:47.000 –> 00:35:53.000
And that’s what we’re really offering here. We’re offering the opportunity for everyone to participate in their own way.
00:35:53.000 –> 00:36:09.000
So I’m gonna answer a little. A little differently because the what I got the question that was asked was that the person using a and runner.
00:36:09.000 –> 00:36:10.000
Yeah, your pass.
00:36:10.000 –> 00:36:21.000
Dot com. says that it’s raised participation and we put a loting results by, in terms of what software to, use, first, all last sound for his.
00:36:21.000 –> 00:36:27.000
Website but then let me take it over from there.
00:36:27.000 –> 00:36:28.000
Sure, so again.
00:36:28.000 –> 00:36:31.000
Somebody asked your website to know what your website was.
00:36:31.000 –> 00:36:34.000
Absolutely. So it’s on our APP. Com. You can sign up there.
00:36:34.000 –> 00:36:39.000
There’s a whole section on voting. If that’s what you want to see, you can see everything else as well.
00:36:39.000 –> 00:36:46.000
Of course, we’ll be sharing a follow-up to to this webinar with with our contact information so you can get a hold of us.
00:36:46.000 –> 00:36:54.000
I think something that’s important as well just to answer very plain and upfront. The reason why you do online voting is to drive more participation, period.
00:36:54.000 –> 00:37:02.000
That’s the driver behind it and you’re going to go and we’ve seen not some of our communities go to 85 90 95% participation.
00:37:02.000 –> 00:37:06.000
So any of the decision.
00:37:06.000 –> 00:37:07.000
Oh, sorry about that.
00:37:07.000 –> 00:37:18.000
Let, you’re only supposed to give your web address. And then my, and then my comment is, my, and then my, and then my comment is, my suggestion because, you want unbiased opinions.
00:37:18.000 –> 00:37:34.000
Is the for CAI members and Jake didn’t say that. International nonprofit, but it is a nonprofit for education and guidance for associations.
00:37:34.000 –> 00:37:45.000
They have some kind of CAI open for. Where board members and managers. Post things and the beauty of it is yet answers across the United States.
00:37:45.000 –> 00:38:04.000
At at this point internationally. So, the purpose of today’s webinar was to talk about the fact that electronic voting exists.
00:38:04.000 –> 00:38:21.000
I think as with anything else, whether it be lawyers or any, anything else, whether it be lawyers or any, anything else, they’re gonna be different levels of, which applications software is that you need.
00:38:21.000 –> 00:38:37.000
And, Allen is touting, the benefits of, versus a free or very cheap, online voting app.
00:38:37.000 –> 00:39:04.000
But essentially, you have to look at the price. Probably if you’re on say I open forum, if you’re members, your, that’s open to you, ask people in Florida, but their experience with electronic voting has been And, well, what apps they or software?
00:39:04.000 –> 00:39:08.000
They happen to like, does that pay around? That
00:39:08.000 –> 00:39:23.000
A hundred percent try listen to the biggest thing is anything is better than not doing anything at all, but just be aware that There’s going to be some tools that they’re going to take some more work to manage and if you have the time and willingness to invest in it, go for it.
00:39:23.000 –> 00:39:30.000
The one thing that we want is anyone that uses online voting to drive more participation. And That’s going to lead to better outcomes.
00:39:30.000 –> 00:39:46.000
It can lead to a better investment community. You have a few options out there. Especially if you’re in a state where it’s a little bit less defined, I think there’s a lot more leeway to some of the tools you can use when you get into some of the states where the legislation is a little bit more mature and it’s been well defined.
00:39:46.000 –> 00:39:53.000
There’s only a handful of players that can comply. For example down here in florida it would be very hard or almost impossible to comply with state legislation and do it yourself.
00:39:53.000 –> 00:40:01.000
Just because the amount of time and investment you would have to put in them is just not worth it, right?
00:40:01.000 –> 00:40:10.000
Just for one association, I mean. And that’s what we’re trying to drive here. It’s make sure you do something, give your people the ability to vote online and generally the community is going to be better off.
00:40:10.000 –> 00:40:11.000
Yeah.
00:40:11.000 –> 00:40:23.000
So, somebody asked. But they didn’t say what question it is. this person asked that’s a really important question.
00:40:23.000 –> 00:40:24.000
Which question?
00:40:24.000 –> 00:40:33.000
It would certainly be useful to repeat it again live. Yeah, if they. If the person can Kel us what question you’re referring to.
00:40:33.000 –> 00:40:38.000
They’re probably referring to what happens if the residents are not. They don’t know how to use tech.
00:40:38.000 –> 00:40:40.000
I, cause I answered that one on the chat. So.
00:40:40.000 –> 00:40:47.000
Hi. Alright, yeah, yeah, I’m not. Hey, yeah, question on using tech.
00:40:47.000 –> 00:40:48.000
Alright.
00:40:48.000 –> 00:40:55.000
And it would be that you also have to have a method for doing it. On, by paper.
00:40:55.000 –> 00:40:58.000
On paper. Sure.
00:40:58.000 –> 00:41:08.000
Old school.
00:41:08.000 –> 00:41:09.000
Yeah. Yeah, they’re not gonna force it.
00:41:09.000 –> 00:41:21.000
Yeah. And I would think any legislation or any practical application. By any, practical application, by any, management, kind of, many a manager would be, that of course.
00:41:21.000 –> 00:41:30.000
If you do not use the technology we’re gonna allow old school paper so that nobody is so it’s not exclusionary.
00:41:30.000 –> 00:41:43.000
There was a question. So if the legislation is passed and as it choose it, then the economy and backs not need to be amended to allow. Email.
00:41:43.000 –> 00:41:56.000
And my hope is because we don’t know. What the legislature will do while in session And.
00:41:56.000 –> 00:42:08.000
But our hope is that the legislation that passes is applicable. To any kind of many I’m created before on or after they.
00:42:08.000 –> 00:42:15.000
Pacted data of the, legislation so that every association doesn’t also have to, pass an amendment.
00:42:15.000 –> 00:42:31.000
So I, I believe if it passes, one, this question will pass. The second question is, I suspect.
00:42:31.000 –> 00:42:41.000
That that will eliminate the need to go through the amendment process. That’s the way we’ve done our legislation that CAI has proposed the Massachusetts from 1991.
00:42:41.000 –> 00:42:57.000
Till today. So I expect the same. For, the electronic voting. But,
00:42:57.000 –> 00:42:58.000
Yeah, as Mark Twain said, nobody is saved while the legislature is in session. So we don’t know what they’ll live with the bill.
00:42:58.000 –> 00:43:12.000
Florida’s statue is an opt in so you can still vote via paper, Yeah, and something that I wanted to actually.
00:43:12.000 –> 00:43:19.000
Ask Allen. Now, yeah, some communities are saying, yeah, they’re desperate to find the solution.
00:43:19.000 –> 00:43:32.000
O and R offers a platform to get more people involved, reach qu. Also encourages more meeting attendance on the issues that are an agenda or, annual meeting or an election.
00:43:32.000 –> 00:43:55.000
Now, for board members and property managers. What is your what other ways besides you know hounding for for people to submit votes what other ways can you kind of Encourage quorum or get more people involved.
00:43:55.000 –> 00:44:07.000
What kind of tactics do you use to kind of reach that? Reach, which you said, I mean, ONR is, is the application and it’s the electronic voting software, but.
00:44:07.000 –> 00:44:20.000
The goal is the service of reaching a core. What are some ways that you can kind of go about getting more people involved or what you’ve noticed as far as getting people to vote.
00:44:20.000 –> 00:44:34.000
That’s a good question. So. Let’s provide it into first of all. Hounding it sounds a little harsh, but let’s call it a stern or firm reminding is a really important tactic that should be used.
00:44:34.000 –> 00:44:42.000
The problem is if you have to do it manually. So if you yourself have to sit down every morning and write up an email or send attacks to get people to participate.
00:44:42.000 –> 00:44:55.000
You’re wasting your time. So having the ability to set these things to be automated and set these reminders to be automated and only notify the people that haven’t voted and really have a system behind you that helps you goes a long way.
00:44:55.000 –> 00:45:08.000
But on top of that, if you’re only using a tool, Once a year, you can’t expect everyone to know and how to use it and want to use it because it’s How many apps do you have on your phone that you only use once a year?
00:45:08.000 –> 00:45:13.000
Probably not that many. You either use them every day or you just left them there because you forgot about them.
00:45:13.000 –> 00:45:20.000
So the reality is like we want to get people on the app. Way ahead of the thought. We want to get people doing surveys.
00:45:20.000 –> 00:45:26.000
We want to get people doing ratings and reviews. By the time the vote rolls around, they’ll know what to do.
00:45:26.000 –> 00:45:35.000
Even better, you know where they are everything? Or close to every day probably on the Facebook page for the condo or the WhatsApp group.
00:45:35.000 –> 00:45:41.000
To chat with their neighbors. So if you can get all those features to be part of that same app.
00:45:41.000 –> 00:45:44.000
When the vote comes out, it’s gonna be very natural. It’s doing another thing, you know, they’re not going out of your way.
00:45:44.000 –> 00:45:54.000
Into different app. So that would be my advice. 2 things. Number one, get automation, get the system that will work for you with hands free mode.
00:45:54.000 –> 00:46:03.000
No one has time to really hound people on this. That’s a reality. And number 2, try to find the system that gives you more than just once a year, I vote and that’s it.
00:46:03.000 –> 00:46:05.000
And you’ll probably get a better traction as well.
00:46:05.000 –> 00:46:27.000
I’ll get the hashes to answer. That, yeah, I’ve heard of the years, but, seems to be the answer that everybody says for getting people to a meeting, but, it has a downside of causing, people to be nauseous.
00:46:27.000 –> 00:46:39.000
Some of the, some of the associations and managers probably through the advice of some attorney, sitting on our ivory towers, told association boards or managers.
00:46:39.000 –> 00:46:53.000
Oh, send out a, yeah. Notice to the unit is that the yeah the board is considering a job line of the kind of minimum phase.
00:46:53.000 –> 00:46:54.000
Yeah, that’s where drive attendance.
00:46:54.000 –> 00:46:58.000
That will get a, I’ll get a lot, lot dissipation.
00:46:58.000 –> 00:47:18.000
I don’t wanna. Cause anybody illness because of, that, approach. But a softer way as I’ve been thinking about this has been if I were a management company or board.
00:47:18.000 –> 00:47:27.000
If the cost of this works out to about. $10 or less per unit. We would admitted it just seems like the 600 to a thousand or 1,200.
00:47:27.000 –> 00:47:41.000
It’s not a massive expanse getting ahead of the curve. Starting with the software.
00:47:41.000 –> 00:47:50.000
To do surveys Yeah, it’s certainly permissible. So, I know getting the vote to amend.
00:47:50.000 –> 00:48:03.000
The condominium bylaws a trust can be a difficult process or would prefer the legislation. But, I assume there’s no problem with people.
00:48:03.000 –> 00:48:04.000
Sure, absolutely.
00:48:04.000 –> 00:48:17.000
Using the software to get the owners used to it. By doing surveys because one of the questions was, I’ll just, down to, with that, change, come complaints.
00:48:17.000 –> 00:48:33.000
And somebody in the audience did bring up that that issue as to whether initially, people are freaked out.
00:48:33.000 –> 00:48:38.000
Bye, but the change. What’s your experience?
00:48:38.000 –> 00:48:45.000
Yeah, I mean, listen, there’s communities in there’s communities, right? I think we all, it would be unfair to say everyone is in the same boat.
00:48:45.000 –> 00:48:50.000
There’s some communities that are going to be a little bit more prone to adopt and technology than others.
00:48:50.000 –> 00:48:57.000
It doesn’t really have to do with H demographics. It doesn’t have to do with anything else other than where the association is at.
00:48:57.000 –> 00:49:04.000
So We’ve seen associations where there’s a huge vote participation because there’s a controversial subject on the table.
00:49:04.000 –> 00:49:12.000
Either the boards controversial or there’s to your point they’re considering racing dues, something that’s really driving people to want to participate.
00:49:12.000 –> 00:49:18.000
And sometimes that same association a year later doesn’t have that same participation because everything’s settled down.
00:49:18.000 –> 00:49:19.000
So it’s it’s about making sure you’re using the tool when you need the tool.
00:49:19.000 –> 00:49:35.000
And if right now you’re trying to do change condodocs, if you’re trying to do material durations, if you’re trying to do anything that requires a super majority of people to vote whatever that number is depending on your state and and your rules.
00:49:35.000 –> 00:49:40.000
You probably want to have to lean on technology to do that. It’s going to be very hard to do so otherwise.
00:49:40.000 –> 00:49:48.000
Generally speaking, we’ve seen associations that went from having a handful of decisions to many decisions made per year.
00:49:48.000 –> 00:49:53.000
And another thing to keep in mind is The way that you built this out is what makes sense for the association.
00:49:53.000 –> 00:49:58.000
So it’s not about opening up and doors box of complaints and now you’re getting flooded with complaints.
00:49:58.000 –> 00:50:06.000
It’s never about that. It’s about getting people to vote and cast their vote and do surveys and do things that are relevant for the decision makers like the board members.
00:50:06.000 –> 00:50:07.000
Yeah.
00:50:07.000 –> 00:50:08.000
That would be that would be my position there. I never see technology as a negative thing. I know that some people see it as a challenge.
00:50:08.000 –> 00:50:20.000
They might be overwhelmed. But again, who are you partnering up with? What are you bringing to your association?
00:50:20.000 –> 00:50:32.000
What company? Are they going to help you or are they not? And if you Go cheap. You usually find people that won’t be able to help you out.
00:50:32.000 –> 00:50:41.000
Awesome. And we did receive a, and yeah, I think, Our next slide we kind of get into.
00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:49.000
Okay, well that’s implementing debugging some of the miss on fear of less security and privacy.
00:50:49.000 –> 00:51:12.000
I think in some regards I’ve actually heard that electronic voting. Basically ensures that there is not any, you know, foul play, when it comes to voting, rigging, whatever.
00:51:12.000 –> 00:51:13.000
No.
00:51:13.000 –> 00:51:14.000
It now is there some type of stamp or something that ONR has that allows for there’s only one vote.
00:51:14.000 –> 00:51:15.000
Or etc.
00:51:15.000 –> 00:51:24.000
Yeah, so let’s say good. From top to down. So. First of all, now these we’re doing really important transactions online.
00:51:24.000 –> 00:51:31.000
People are moving money around, people are signing deeds, they’re buying property, they’re selling property.
00:51:31.000 –> 00:51:40.000
All these things are happening online nowadays. So the security now is at the level. Where we can do things online and guarantee to a certain degree.
00:51:40.000 –> 00:51:53.000
That it’s a secure transaction. Now. When you do online vote And you people vote online, there’s a lot more information that gets generated.
00:51:53.000 –> 00:51:59.000
What do I mean by that? Well, there’s records who connected where they connected from. What device they connected from.
00:51:59.000 –> 00:52:09.000
There’s a lot of this information that can be used later. On paper, I’m actually can imagine I’ve gone to a lot of yearly meetings in different states.
00:52:09.000 –> 00:52:13.000
And I always get baffled because we have this, you know, signature. And no one in the room claims to be a signature expert.
00:52:13.000 –> 00:52:20.000
Anyway, no one would dare say that signature is not the right signature. I don’t think it’s the right signature.
00:52:20.000 –> 00:52:24.000
Yet it’s the one thing that we’re using to authenticate people or their or their ballot or whatever it is.
00:52:24.000 –> 00:52:30.000
It’s so much easier to cheat on paper than online. So generally speaking, that’s my position now.
00:52:30.000 –> 00:52:39.000
Who are you dealing with and what are their security practices? There’s good actors. There’s bad actors out there. There’s good companies. They’re bad companies like anything.
00:52:39.000 –> 00:52:44.000
So when you are considering this, ask the people that you’re going to do business with, what are their security practices?
00:52:44.000 –> 00:52:49.000
Us at O and R, for example, we have a lot of security checkpoints to make sure that only the right people vote.
00:52:49.000 –> 00:52:54.000
Only the right people vote once. There’s no duplicate votes, but I can’t speak to every single player in the market.
00:52:54.000 –> 00:53:05.000
What I can tell you is it’s you’re gonna be generally speaking better off with online voting than not if you want to defend the position of the association later.
00:53:05.000 –> 00:53:12.000
Excellent. And yeah, we also we also received a question. A clause in, the governing documents.
00:53:12.000 –> 00:53:25.000
So this is a Massachusetts condominium. A clause reads, there shall be an annual meeting of the unit owners on the second Tuesday and March of each year at 7 30 in the city of Taunton or at such a reasonable place in time as may be designated by the trustees by written notice.
00:53:25.000 –> 00:53:48.000
No, it’s, states do you need to amend before moving forward with e voting? And and and I think in this situation the election you know you can hold a election without an annual meeting and you can have an annual meeting without an election as well.
00:53:48.000 –> 00:53:59.000
And in this case, we’d need to see the full governing documents. But my position would be, well, you would need to amend, to allow for, voting, voting.
00:53:59.000 –> 00:54:10.000
And then you can move forward with that at your leisure, but it’s separate. It would be separate from.
00:54:10.000 –> 00:54:15.000
The annual meeting, assuming what I’m reading is.
00:54:15.000 –> 00:54:33.000
Who I think that the attorney who wrote that should call me on my cell (781) 413-5226.
00:54:33.000 –> 00:54:34.000
Yeah.
00:54:34.000 –> 00:54:43.000
Because we need a little more information on that No, but a lot of times Massachusetts that’s the election does happen at the annual meeting.
00:54:43.000 –> 00:54:47.000
General.
00:54:47.000 –> 00:54:48.000
Generally. But it’s not required. It’s not required.
00:54:48.000 –> 00:54:58.000
The, the, excuse me. Yeah, generally. Is that there’s nothing talking about it in the kind of, so.
00:54:58.000 –> 00:55:13.000
The documents don’t have to say that. The safest answer to the question is, that an amendment, short of legislation, on amendments to the bylaws, trust.
00:55:13.000 –> 00:55:25.000
Would be the safest way of guaranteeing that you were could you, things, virtually electronic voting.
00:55:25.000 –> 00:55:36.000
There may be some associations. Where, there’s no controversy in terms of the election.
00:55:36.000 –> 00:55:50.000
And. I know there have been cases where What the discussions with the attorney. The business risk away of G.
00:55:50.000 –> 00:55:54.000
If we do this, even though our documents don’t really say it. Is there a likelihood that is gonna be challenge?
00:55:54.000 –> 00:56:00.000
And if the answer is. Gee, we can hardly find people to run for the board.
00:56:00.000 –> 00:56:17.000
They’re gonna be 2 people running for 2 seats. I think it would be safe to say in that circumstance that, you probably could do it remotely.
00:56:17.000 –> 00:56:28.000
But otherwise you should demand or see what happens by the end of July to see if this legislation passes a formal session.
00:56:28.000 –> 00:56:39.000
But Jake’s right, the documents. They kind of minimax message does not require that the meeting that the elections only take place at a meeting
00:56:39.000 –> 00:56:41.000
And that’s yeah, that’s the same in Florida as well. You, you can have one without the other.
00:56:41.000 –> 00:56:49.000
But yeah, for your governing documents specify, then yeah, might be a different situation.
00:56:49.000 –> 00:57:11.000
Somebody asked the vegan vote by, yeah. unanimous vote of the board. there’s a risk to that as the, and the safest way is to do it by an amendment spotted on by the unit owners.
00:57:11.000 –> 00:57:19.000
But again you can make the business risk no, take the, make the business decision to.
00:57:19.000 –> 00:57:26.000
So, well, the boy, you, voted on it and there’s nothing controversial in terms of the election coming up.
00:57:26.000 –> 00:57:32.000
That’s something you should discuss with your manager and your attorney.
00:57:32.000 –> 00:57:40.000
Great. So yeah, we’re approached at the end of the session. Just kind of going through some of the questions that we’re getting.
00:57:40.000 –> 00:57:43.000
If you have any other, oh, we did get a question. It’s regarding a Rhode Island property and just as a disclaimer.
00:57:43.000 –> 00:57:53.000
I hit none of us on this on the panel right now, practice in Rhode Island, our law partner at all.
00:57:53.000 –> 00:57:59.000
He is a Rhode Island attorney. Our condo document state that the annual meeting will be held in person.
00:57:59.000 –> 00:58:28.000
Can the meeting be held via zoom instead of in person? As far as the states that we represent, this would need to be it can still occur via zoom if there is a is a amendment stating as such if it in the last question it states there shall be an annual meeting at 7 30 in the city of town or at such original other place.
00:58:28.000 –> 00:58:47.000
Now if the if the governing document said something along the lines of, you know, the meeting must occur on and some of them are so specific it’s kind of a kind of needs an amendment and is usually open to be amended or open to interpretation.
00:58:47.000 –> 00:59:08.000
I’ve seen some governing documents that are that state, oh, that must occur on the third Tuesday of March in the clubhouse and and that is super specific and that would kind of in my opinion would disallow for an annual meeting via zoom what do you what do you think on that Stephen it’s on as well.
00:59:08.000 –> 00:59:21.000
It, it, in most of the documents I, votes are usually, have to occur at meetings.
00:59:21.000 –> 00:59:31.000
So. Gelving again further into this, the, declaration of condominium or the bylaws.
00:59:31.000 –> 00:59:44.000
For a particular association in Rhode Island. I think would reveal whether, US suggestion is permissible or not.
00:59:44.000 –> 01:00:03.000
But if votes have to be at meetings and meetings have to be at a place, and, and person or by proxy that I think the only way of voting is by impersonal by by proxy.
01:00:03.000 –> 01:00:05.000
How’s that?
01:00:05.000 –> 01:00:11.000
Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, proxy is usually that’s kind of a I guess the original informal way of voting.
01:00:11.000 –> 01:00:22.000
Voting remotely. And now, yeah, now we have these applications and yeah, I mean, I’ve, been Alan a couple of times.
01:00:22.000 –> 01:00:33.000
At various events, and I, I trust what they’re doing in Florida and I trust that in Florida what happens in Florida does not stay in Florida.
01:00:33.000 –> 01:00:34.000
Yeah.
01:00:34.000 –> 01:00:36.000
It ends up making way up the coast. And throughout the nation and this is no different with electronic voting.
01:00:36.000 –> 01:00:49.000
We’re seeing so much evolve, especially since COVID. I mean, yeah, usually I think these type of, especially since COVID, I mean, yeah, usually I think these type of, seminars, especially since COVID.
01:00:49.000 –> 01:00:50.000
I mean, yeah, usually I think these type of, seminars would just be in person.
01:00:50.000 –> 01:00:58.000
And there’s so much good that has come with the emergence of tech, virtual and all that comes with that.
01:00:58.000 –> 01:01:03.000
And yeah, we’re even able to host these webinars, and all that comes with that.
01:01:03.000 –> 01:01:07.000
And yeah, we’re even able to host these webinars, across the nation across the nation across the nation across the, internationally as well.
01:01:07.000 –> 01:01:11.000
I don’t know if we have any, people from Europe or, what have you. We’d love to hear.
01:01:11.000 –> 01:01:17.000
I don’t think there were some other votes on the, where you voting from, questions.
01:01:17.000 –> 01:01:42.000
So, where, where are you attending from? Where do you manage? And so maybe there are people in Australia who are attending today, but it, you know, the point is there’s been a lot of more capabilities with online, voting and virtual meetings and, and ONR, we have Alan’s information here, co-founder of ONR, you know, check out the
01:01:42.000 –> 01:02:00.000
site. If you have specific questions relating to your association that they have seen the future in florida and it’s it’s evolving and yeah if you’re in Florida and you don’t use it, he’s the resource to go to if you’re in Massachusetts or a different New England state that we represent.
01:02:00.000 –> 01:02:19.000
We’re happy to answer any specific questions to implementing or amending the governing documents and ensuring that we do this the right way because yeah it’s important to get people on board but you want to make sure you do it right you want to make sure you do it right you can you can try to do it right you can you can try to do it yourself but that can you can try to do it yourself but that that can open
01:02:19.000 –> 01:02:28.000
yourself up to a lot of potentially, yeah, some, issues, with, with conducting and, and, and controlling the votes.
01:02:28.000 –> 01:02:32.000
So, yeah, anything else you want to add, and we appreciate you joining us today.
01:02:32.000 –> 01:02:42.000
Well, gentlemen, it’s a pleasure. Thanks for having me. Congratulations and honored to be the one year anniversary here.
01:02:42.000 –> 01:02:43.000
Yeah.
01:02:43.000 –> 01:02:44.000
Hopefully I can come back for the second year anniversary. If you guys will have me or before I it’s been great for those of you that have questions on online voting in general.
01:02:44.000 –> 01:02:57.000
Feel free to reach out. We can help you. We can definitely, you know, collaborate with Jake and Stephen here and provide you guys the best answer we can for wherever you guys are connecting from.
01:02:57.000 –> 01:03:03.000
And again, gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much. And thanks for inviting me.
01:03:03.000 –> 01:03:07.000
Hello.
01:03:07.000 –> 01:03:08.000
Okay.
01:03:08.000 –> 01:03:10.000
Absolutely, thank you. And on that note, yeah, I mean, we just got a, a message, to get with the program.
01:03:10.000 –> 01:03:19.000
So hopefully by next year we’re we’re more with the program in all states we’re more with the program in all states and O and R is is growing nationally so happy.
01:03:19.000 –> 01:03:29.000
And we apologize that. Our answers as it relates to the England are. Oh, very vague and uncertain.
01:03:29.000 –> 01:03:47.000
I know that you all, attended the program and everybody wants to, hear, yes or no, we can do this, or we can’t do this.
01:03:47.000 –> 01:04:01.000
When we’re near the end of the legislative session, as I said, I have full confidence in Matt Gaines and Peter West Haber, the co-chairs of the Massachusetts Legislative Action Committee.
01:04:01.000 –> 01:04:08.000
But they’re at the mercy of the legislature. I think the legislation will pass. And if it passes, then it’s very easy to regroup.
01:04:08.000 –> 01:04:23.000
To a, follow up to this webinar or at least to notify all attendees by by email.
01:04:23.000 –> 01:04:32.000
And, then we would have specifics. But it’s always anybody’s guess as to what.
01:04:32.000 –> 01:04:40.000
The legislature of Massachusetts or any other state. Might do with a bill. Before it actually passes it. So I apologize for that.
01:04:40.000 –> 01:04:51.000
If we’re in Florida, seems like we would have, 9 years worth of history.
01:04:51.000 –> 01:05:00.000
So they’re far ahead of the curve and we’re behind the curve. So, stay tuned.
01:05:00.000 –> 01:05:02.000
Thank you.
01:05:02.000 –> 01:05:03.000
Thanks, guys.
01:05:03.000 –> 01:05:07.000
Absolutely. Okay, oh, and one more thing is there bill number for the proposed Massachusetts legislation.
01:05:07.000 –> 01:05:10.000
What does the number again, Stephen? It’s
01:05:10.000 –> 01:05:12.000
Was it 1338?
01:05:12.000 –> 01:05:18.000
Yeah, I think you’re right. 1338.
01:05:18.000 –> 01:05:19.000
Alright.
01:05:19.000 –> 01:05:25.000
Yeah, House Phil, 1338. Hey, and I hope that say after April eighteenth when the committee hopefully reports it out of committee.
01:05:25.000 –> 01:05:34.000
Will be sending you something to call your. Representative than Sanders in your chat city of town.
01:05:34.000 –> 01:05:55.000
And we will certainly send all attendees, notice that the bill passes. Yeah or if the bill gets out of committee in terms of pushing your specific state reps and senators to vote yes on the bill.
01:05:55.000 –> 01:06:01.000
And just as a final part note, if you have any feedback, feel free to email us.
01:06:01.000 –> 01:06:17.000
Our emails are right there. And and any suggested you know seminars that we should hold in the future and we look forward to hearing from you and and getting any negative positive feedback whatever you have where we’re happy to hear it.
01:06:17.000 –> 01:06:18.000
But
01:06:18.000 –> 01:06:32.000
And, Jacob, yeah. We’ve captured all the Chat Q and and QA or all the questions so that post program of next week.
01:06:32.000 –> 01:06:44.000
People got the PowerPoint. as well as answers to the questions. And the answers, and, in both QA and chat.
01:06:44.000 –> 01:06:49.000
That’s correct, sir.
01:06:49.000 –> 01:06:50.000
Yeah.
01:06:50.000 –> 01:06:54.000
Hmm. Thank you, sir. And I mean, for those of us to choose this, maybe we’ll add to it a, yeah, copy of the proposed legislation.
01:06:54.000 –> 01:07:02.000
For, Massachusetts. And I thought there was one other thing that Al wanted us to.
01:07:02.000 –> 01:07:13.000
Include in that package that he thought might be helpful. So, Jake and Allen will, discuss that post program and hopefully you’ll receive something from us.
01:07:13.000 –> 01:07:22.000
Probably by the middle of next week. Thank you.
01:07:22.000 –> 01:07:28.000
Yeah, so keep keep an eye out for that. And yeah, I mean, we, we could have done a seminar on.
01:07:28.000 –> 01:07:36.000
Florida statute alone on Massachusetts house bill alone, but we appreciate you coming today and hope it was was useful.
01:07:36.000 –> 01:07:37.000
Thanks guys.
01:07:37.000 –> 01:07:40.000
So have a good. Good weekend everyone and thank you Allen for joining us.
01:07:40.000 –> 01:07:43.000
Thanks for having me take care.
01:07:43.000 –> 01:08:05.000
Alrighty, thanks everyone.
01:08:05.000 –> 01:08:12.000
How do I stop it again?
01:08:12.000 –> 01:08:20.000
Hmm.
01:08:20.000 –> 01:08:29.000
There are 6 people still on. But. But the seminar has has concluded.
01:08:29.000 –> 01:08:34.000
Yeah. I have a hard time figuring out how to.
01:08:34.000 –> 01:08:36.000
Stop it.
01:08:36.000 –> 01:08:46.000
Okay, there should be a, and for all. Something like that.
01:08:46.000 –> 01:08:47.000
No.
01:08:47.000 –> 01:08:54.000
If you leave the meeting. The meeting will be cut up.
01:08:54.000 –> 01:08:56.000
To do that.
01:08:56.000 –> 01:09:00.000
Alright
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