“if those 6 are allowed to vote now why not some of the other 15,000+ that didn’t vote either?”

My answer is: Because they didn’t attempt to vote and have their vote messed up by Cvent and subsequently deleted.

I sat in the meeting the other night, and have read through the documents provided by RA Counsel. Honestly it doesn’t appear that the By-Laws cover this instance, the only section I see that applies is the Appeal process which states that if a candidate is aggrieved by a decision of the election committee or Secretary or Assistant Secretary, they may appeal the decision within 10 days of the decision. Mr Greenberg has made such an appeal. The By-laws state that an appeals panel made up of all directors who are not candidates in the election in question, shall promptly consider the appeal, and a majority of the panel shall constitute a quorum.

I think the problem arises out of the state statutes. Here is the section of the code that the RA legal counsel provided at the meeting:

The code says that no ballot, proxies or votes, nor any revocations thereof or changes thereto shall be accepted by the inspectors after the closing of the polls unless the circuit court of the city or county shall determine otherwise.

Similar to the hanging chads in Florida, the court is going to have to say “go back and get those 6 votes” before it is actually going to happen.

It’s just a shame how poorly mismanaged this process was handled. These 24 households that experienced the glitch should have been directly contacted in a verifiable manor and the elections staff should have made sure that the votes they did cast for the at-large position counted, and that they had the opportunity to specifically vote or not vote in the Northpoint election that they were entitled to vote in but were not given the option when they placed their online votes.

Since they were not effectively contacted during the election process and RA is bound by the law not to accept new ballots after the election without the court saying so, the issue is closed until a civil case is filed.

—

“24 North Point residents (who were owner/occupants) attempted to vote online and were only allowed to vote for the at-large candidate, they should also have been allowed to vote for the North Point representative. After RA discovered the error the deleted the initial 24 votes so that the people could revote in both races. They reassured the candidates that they would personally get in touch with all affected voters and make sure that they votes. Come to find out all they did was send a single email. Now after much prodding they admit that just 18 of the 24 revoted. That means 6 had their initial votes erased and did not revote. The question is after RA’s online voting system malfunctioned and RA deleted their votes is sending a single email sufficient follow-up. In my opinion no, every attempt should have been made to reach these people including phone calls. When you send an email you have no idea if it ever reaches the person. To me this is a prime example of voter disenfranchisement.”

—

“Given that Collins margin of victory was 2 votes (1 owner/occupant household) this calls into question the results of the election. If RA’s online voting system hadn’t malfunctioned the results might have been different. Doesn’t RA owe it to the voters involved to make sure that their votes are counted?”

—

“Given the board’s past treatment of Greenberg they should have known that a 2 vote victory for their (Chew) hand picked canidate would raise some eyebrows. They should have been out ahead of this one, particularly since the rest of the SBC canidates won their seats.

Unless there is more to this story? Get it together folks…”

—

“Just call the actual affected 6 households. A win-win for everyone involved with this “glitch”. Collins and Greenberg agree to the tally and not to pursue further – we’re done.”

—

“This issue is the one that will get me to comment when almost nothing else did.

An election process speaks to the credibility of the organization. If the process is flawed the organization is flawed and needs to be fixed. There has to be complete faith that a cast vote is a sacred vote otherwise what is the point of voting and what sort of candidate will be inspired to spend six weeks of time, money and energy in a non-election??

I would like to hear an explanation of how votes were deleted. By who and at one point? It took a lot to get me to post but this is the issue that did it.”

—

“Precedent was set to reach out to the six affected households again, when someone at RA had to directly contact the affected households, during the election, due to a “glitch” in the online system.”

—

“First RA did not volunteer the information about what happened. The squirmed and avoided direct answers until it was dragged out of them. This is not right and those involved should answer for their behavior.

Second Milton kept his mouth shut and let others shoulder the blame. Most conspicuous was Kate – who had a hand in the decision to delete the votes, took on following up and told people that it would be done right and then simply sent a single email that she did not know was ever received. She should not have shouldered or had the responsibility for these decisions. Milton Matthews as CEO the buck stops with you. How can you let one of your people stand out there alone? Shame on you,

Mistakes are made. Acknowledge them, put them right and learn from them. That’s a learning organization that can be trusted. Unfortunately that is not RA led by Mr. Matthews.”

—

“Mike Collins – keep your mouth shut and hope this blows over.

Every time you say that you understand voter rights but nothing can be done about it in this case you look bad.

I didn’t vote for you but I also don’t want to be embarrassed by you.

Please just keep quiet.”

—

“RA should have documented they reached the affected 24 households, documented the outcome, and validated the votes counted.

Any household that was not reached, should have raised a red flag, and all candidates as well as BDO notified.”

—

And the comments go on and on, as of the time that I am posting this, there are 56 comments up in arms over how the Reston Association has handled the election  glitch that caused them to then manually delete 24 ballots from the system.

1. A malfunction in the setup of the online voting system, setup with CVent, caused a problem with the initial electronic ballots.  24 home owner voters in the Northpoint area (and maybe some in other areas) were only presented with the At-Large position vote and never presented with the Northpoint candidates.
2. After the glitch was corrected, these 24 ballots were DELETED from the system, “to avoid duplicates”, and the home owners who’s votes were deleted were sent an email notifying them of the problem and giving them a new code they could use to vote online.
3. Of the 24 deleted ballots, all but 6 of the households re-voted, leaving 6 ballots (or 12 votes) unaccounted for.
4. In the election, 166 ballots were declared invalid for one reason or another, and 109 were declared partially invalid.
5. In the contested Northpoint Board of Director position, Mike Collins won by 1 ballot (2 votes).
6. Peter Greenberg, who lost by 1 ballot (2 votes) for the Northpoint seat, has formally asked the RA board and the elections committee to make sure that these highly motivated voters (as evidenced by their immediate participation in the election) be contacted to identify their voting intentions to insure that their votes are counted in the election.

So that is the situation.  Due to an election malfunction, 24 Ballots (48 votes) were DELETED, and very little follow-up was done explain the situation and make sure that these residents were able to cast their ballots.  As a result 6 of these home owners have been disenfranchised in the election.

The elections committee discussed the issue in the meeting, and decided that they would allow Mr. Greenberg and others inspect the invalidated ballots, they would allow BDO, the accounting firm responsible for counting the ballots, to provide Mr. Greenberg with more detailed information surrounding the 24 deleted ballots and the 17 re-votes.

The elections committee refused to take the further step, requested by Mr. Greenberg, of contacting the potentially disenfranchised voters, to clarify their intentions to make sure their proper votes were counted in the election.

Ken Chadwick, General Counsel for the board, advised the election committee and Mr. Greenberg that a Civil case would need to be filed and a court order would need to be rendered for any further steps to be taken in the election.

“Win or lose, I’m not out to change the election, I just want to make sure none of my neighbors were disenfranchised” said Peter Greenberg.  “Issues like these go to the heart of why I ran, as neighbors we have to treat each other very well and not see the association as something separate from it’s members, the members are the association.”

“I really know a thing about voter protection and voter rights, it’s kind of become a hobby of mine” said Mike Collins, “The worse thing an entity can do is make up new procedures after the votes have been counted.”

After campaigning hard, “…knocking on over 2,000 doors”, I think Mr. Collins feels the results speak for themselves, and that he deserves the Northpoint seat on the board.

It sounds like our local voting drama has some more twists and turns to come, stay tuned!

$10 of every cheese fondue purchased from 1pm-9pm will be donated to charity. The  Reston location will be donating to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the largest charitable health organization devoted to funding blood cancer patient services, education, and research.

You can make reservations by calling the Reston location at (703) 264-0900.

For more information and information about other participating locations, visit http://www.nationalcheesefondueday.com/

Dear Citizens:

In the past week and a half, there has been a malicious and erroneous e-mail circulating in our community which is causing undue alarm and hysteria. This e-mail has the subject line “Serial rapist spotted in Reston” and has many inaccuracies, false information and presumptions which have caused much concern in our community. As a result of this e-mail being circulated to our schools, HOAs, other jurisdictions, etc. my office, our dispatch center, and the police Public Information Office have been inundated with calls and e-mails referencing the rapist loose on the Reston pathways.

The facts are that on Saturday morning March 13, we had two reports of a suspicious male on the pathway along Glade Drive between Soapstone Dr and Twin Branches Road. Based on these reports, I directed additional patrol and resources to the pathway in an attempt to identify the subject along with providing a sense of security to the users of the pathways. The subject did not commit any crime nor was there any physical contact made.

On Monday March 15, the Washington Post had a detailed report of an East Coast Serial Rapist. Based on this article, the circulating e-mail erroneously made the leap that our suspicious person report was somehow linked. First, let me state there is ABSOLUTELY no information which remotely ties the suspicious male/incident to the East Coast Rapist.

Second, we encourage all citizens to call the police when suspicious activity occurs. However, there is no evidence to substantiate the concern that the East Coast serial rapist is loose in Reston. If you receive such an e-mail, it would be best not to forward the information; call the police Public Information Office at 703-246-2253. On March 16, information was released and is currently available on our webpage www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/stations/reston/

If you have any community questions or concerns, please let me know or contact our Crime Prevention Office at 703-478-0799.

Thank you,
Captain Deborah Burnett
Commander, Reston District Station

SAFETY ALERT

Please see the personal report below regarding a walker on the Reston Pathway. As always, please be aware of your surroundings when out running or walking. Do not go out alone, and remember to have a cell phone with you. Your safety is our concern.

On the morning of March 15, a woman was walking on the path back from Twin Branches along the trail that runs along the stream between the houses on Glade and Howland. She was with her dog, and noticed that she was being followed. She allowed the man to pass by and even acknowledged him, but then he slowed down and repeatedly looked backward. He was then out of sight. The woman noticed that he was wearing latex gloves. When she saw this, she turned and started back toward Twin Branches. At this point, the man started running after her. She was able to get to a house where a Good Samaritan let her in. This incident has been reported to the Reston/Fairfax police.

“The man was large, as in “built” not “fat”, with broad shoulders and a broad face. Big and strong-looking. No facial hair. African-American. Probably around 6ft tall, 200 lbs. He had on a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood over his head and hands in his pockets. Until he later took them out and I saw the gloves.”

Officers recommend that walkers and runners do not use the trails alone. Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call Reston Police at 703-478-0904.

North Point District Director

If you live in the north point area, the choice is clear.  Peter Greenberg is a good friend of mine, and I know he would make an excellent member of the board.  He is running for the North Point District Director.  Peter brings the exact professionalism, financial acumen and communication skills we need to to insure that the Reston tax monies are being spent wisely and that land owned by the Reston residents is not given away.  Here is what Peter had to say in his candidacy filing:

We face significant challenges in the coming years. Financial management, the threat of development of common-area lands and staggering increased density in and around Reston Association are the most pressing.

My approach to dealing with these issues is simple, focus on the Association’s mission statement: “To preserve and enhance the Reston community through outstanding leadership, service and stewardship of our resources.” I’ll emphasize the following: Financial management, and in particular, keeping dues in check. Customer service within the organization and outward toward the members. Preserving our common-area lands in perpetuity. Smart participation in the Fairfax County Master Planning process. It is not open season on Reston development.

The other two candidates are Michael Collins and Rengin Morro.  I have not met them.  If you have any comments about them, please add them here.

The Lake Anne/Tall Oaks District Director

I had the opportunity to meet and hear Ken Knueven speak last night, and I have to say, I was impressed.  Ken is a good speaker, has corporate executive experience and, like Peter Greenberg, has a good grasp of the challenges facing Reston.  Here is what Ken had to say in his Candidacy notes:

Reston is one of the largest community associations in the country. Yet it is vitally important to remember that we, the residents, remain the stakeholders. We are the stewards of Reston’s future. The Lake Anne/Tall Oaks District faces significant challenges. Among them are open spaces, revitalization efforts, pool closures and the aging Lake Anne RELAC system.

For over 30 years I have been instrumental in the development, growth and leadership of global organizations, gaining a thorough understanding of how citizens, industry and governments can co-exist. I will focus on our community’s real needs, offering creative, viable and sustainable solutions.

Other candidates running for the position include Kevin Danaher and Guy Rando

The At-Large Seat

If you don’t live in the North Point or Lake Anne districts, then your only vote this year will be for the At-Large seat.  There are four candidates running for the at-large seat, including incumbent Joe Leighton, as well as Rod Koozmin, David Robinson and Patrick Shipp.  While I don’t know a lot about these candidates yet, I do know that Joe Leighton was one of the only board members to stand up against tearing down brown’s chapel park.  Joe certainly isn’t a yes man.  I am holding off judgment on who to vote for at this point though.  Although Joe is a good guy and has been a good RA board memember, I am not convinced that the rest of the board takes him seriously and am a little concerned with his communications style and it’s effectiveness.  Rod Koozmin appears to be an interesting candidate as well.

Other candidates include: David Robinson and Patrick Shipp

It will be interesting to see how the board changes over the next few years.  I would like to make an open invitation to any candidates as well as passionate Reston citizens.  If you are interested in becoming an editor on GoReston.com, register for an account and let me know and I will upgrade you to editor status so you can post your thoughts!

I call this a game of Whack-a-Mole, because my company has already received notices from these same large retailers that if the law passes in Virginia, they will drop their affiliate relationships in the state in order to avoid having to pay the taxes.

I wanted to share with you some of the correspondence that has gone back and forth with at least one senator:

From Senator Emmett Hangar:

Thank you for your message regarding Senate Bill 660. Simply put, this bill is a compliance issue and clearly not a new tax.

The legislation would close a loophole that is allowing some internet retailers to avoid collecting the required state sales and use tax at the point of sale, the same requirement that is placed on other internet and traditional store retailers today.

Besides making the law consistent and fair for all merchants, the legislation would remove the onerous responsibility on the consumer to remember to pay the required sales tax on all internet purchases at the end of each year.

It is entirely unfair to put traditional storefront retailers and other online retailers who are in compliance with current state law at a competitive disadvantage. This legislation gets at those few who are benefiting from a small loophole and costing Virginia millions in lost revenue.

Best wishes!

Emmett Hanger

Here is what I consider to be a very well thought out response from one of the Affiliate Marketers in Virginia:

Dear Senator Hanger,

I realize it is not a new tax but an attempt to collect sales and use tax via the retailer rather than the Virginia resident (which the Supreme Court has said can only be applied to companies with a physical presence in the state; I as an affiliate/publisher am not a physical presence for any of the companies that advertise with me). This bill will not close the current loophole for Internet retailers. As has been seen in other states already, the large online retailers will simply terminate their contracts with Virginia affiliates/publishers and continue to not collect and pay the Virginia Sales and Use tax. It is my belief that the impact statement that is being published with this bill is not taking into consideration the termination of those contracts and is erroneously including the income that will not be received from those large online retailers such as amazon.com who will pull out of the state rather than comply.

Below are just a sampling of the terminations that occurred in states with similar bills and the same is sure to happen in Virginia with the passage of this bill:

• Overstock Drops Affiliates in NC, RI, HI, and CA
• Amazon cuts Rhode Island, Hawaii Affiliates – Is California Next?
• Amazon Ends Affiliate Program For North Carolina
• Another Internet retailer cuts RI ties over tax

Ultimately, the bill hurts Virginia-based publishers (most of whom are small businesses without the big lobbies that typically weigh in on these issues) who *do* pay Virginia income tax and does not level the playing field for brick and mortar stores. This legislation will not “affect those few who are benefiting from a small loophole and costing Virginia millions in lost revenue” because once the Internet retailers terminate their Virginia affiliates, they still not be required to collect and pay sales and use tax. This law will hurt Virginia-based affiliates/publishers and no one else.

So the responsibility falls to us to help educated the lawmakers in our state.  Please reach out to your local senator and let them know that this bill just won’t generate revenues for the state, and will ultimately hurt thousands of small businesses in Virginia.

Here is a video we took yesterday walking down Bishopsgate Way:

Yesterday we received the following press release from VDOT:

Release Contact:

Joan Morris
571-238-5030 (cell)
Joan.Morris@VDOT.Virginia.gov

Jennifer McCord
571-230-2926 (cell)
Jennifer.McCord@VDOT.Virginia.gov

It will be Monday before crews begin to focus on subdivisions. It could take most of the week—especially with more snow expected Tuesday—to finish plowing neighborhoods in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.

VDOT reminds residents of the following:

• The main, more heavily traveled roads in a subdivision will be plowed first, to be followed by low-volume roads and cul-de-sacs.

• Plows will make one or two trips to provide a path through neighborhood streets, but they will not clear to bare pavement or from curb to curb.

• Because chemicals are not used in subdivisions, roads will remain snowpacked and rutted after the plow has passed. Crews will put sand on hills, curves and intersections as needed to provide traction.

• If planning to shovel their driveways, residents should try to refrain from clearing the last few feet at the curb until your street is plowed, as plows may push snow back into driveways. It also helps to shovel to the right as you face the road.

• VDOT does not remove snow from sidewalks or trails.

• VDOT plow drivers have assigned routes that include each and every state-maintained road in northern Virginia.

• Call 911 if you have a medical emergency and need to leave your home.

If by Wednesday, residents have not seen a plow in their subdivision, they can call 703-383-VDOT or e-mail novainfo@vdot.virginia.gov with the location. Photos are also welcomed. Crews will be dispatched to treat missed spots and problem areas.

Please see the attached flyer.