The purpose of this page is to share information between owners since this information might not be readily available elsewhere. It is possible that the information below has mistakes, omissions, or is stale.
It's that time of year again! Creston House is having an election for its Board of Governors.
This year there are eight candidates for the five board positions. Good luck to everyone, and let us remember that we are all in this together.
The 2026 candidates are listed below in random order:
* incumbent: see tenure information at Overview
Note that this is the first year the 2025 amendment to our by-laws will be in effect. As such, the two candidates that receive the most votes will receive two-year terms.
As you may know, the Florida 718 condo statutes have well defined rules that state how an election must be run. These statutes are law and supersede our Creston House by-laws when conflicts occur.
To ensure a fair vote and election process, which all candidates deserve, a petition is being circulated to have a Florida state election monitor oversee our election to ensure compliance with Florida law.
You can read more about the election monitor process and the $400 fee charged to our HOA at the DBDR Condominium Ombudsman site.
If you would like to sign the petition or discuss this further with a fellow owner, please send an email to info@ch-owner.org with your questions or to request a call back.
Note that you can either sign a paper version of the petition at Creston House or sign electronically from your remote location.
The text below is copied verbatim from a 2024 Prolicense board member certification handbook. It is provided as an example to convey the detail and complexity required by Florida state law in executing an election fairly.
At the meeting, the first order of business should be for the impartial committee appointed by the board to collect the ballots cast at the meeting.
All of the ballots and envelopes are then handled by the committee.
Other business of the board may proceed while the committee carries out its verification duties.
1 Any exterior envelope not signed by the eligible voter must be marked “disregarded” or contain a similar word indicating that the ballot in the envelope will not be counted.
2 The signature and unit identification on the outer envelope must be checked against a list of qualified voters, unless previously validated at a meeting of the committee.
3 The voters should be checked off on the list as having voted. Then, in the presence of any unit owners in attendance, and regardless of whether a quorum is present, all inner envelopes are removed from the outer envelopes and placed into a receptacle.
4 As soon as the committee begins opening the outer envelopes, the polls are closed, and no more ballots can be accepted. (If electronic voting is in place, then voting ends once the electronic votes are accessed.)
5 The inner envelopes are then opened, and the ballots removed and counted in the presence of the unit owners.
6 Any inner envelope containing more than one ballot must be marked with the word “disregarded,” or some other word indicating the ballots are invalid and cannot be counted.
7 All envelopes and ballots, disregarded or not, must be retained with the official records of the association.
8 Valid ballots are then counted by the members of the impartial committee. Ballots that don’t contain votes for all available choices must be counted for the choices made.
9 The results are announced.
10 The new board members take their places at the time the meeting adjourns.
11 Unit owners may request monitoring of elections by an ombudsman, who is an attorney appointed by the Division. The Ombudsman has the authority to review secret ballots cast at a vote of the association when reviewing election misconduct.
12 Any challenge to the election process must commence within 60 days after the election results are announced.
The preceding "Counting the Votes" section is © Copyright Prolicense Education 2024
Page last updated: 3/17/26