Police called to Doral community as tensions rise after botched board election count

Police were called in to keep the peace and remove protesters from the clubhouse of the gated 1,721-home Doral Isles community Friday, one day after a board election recount resulted in seven owners who thought they were elected being swept out.

“Afeura! Afuera!” — in English, “get out!” — more than a dozen owners chanted loudly at the man who the board attorney says was ultimately properly elected president made his way through the clubhouse.

The dissenters point to the results announced early Thursday morning, which had seven new board members elected and essentially sworn in at an organizational meeting where officers were elected.

But later those results were challenged and, the board attorney later wrote, it was discovered 128 votes cast by proxy from owners who could not be present had been overlooked.

Those proxies properly allowed the man who would be named president after the recount, Juan Jose Comas, to cast the votes as he wished — presumably for himself and his allies.

So all seven owners who thought they were elected were surpassed in the vote by Comas and six others, as the total voters increased potentially from around 760 to more than 880.

The winners learned they were now deemed losers Thursday night.

“At 7 p.m., we received a notice that they changed the amount of votes and they discovered the missing 128 votes,” said Wahid Eid, who was not running but supported those who were at first told they won. He is skeptical of the ultimate result, saying, “It's very difficult to believe that because we were sitting on the table as one of the witnesses of the table and we didn't see any proxy.”

The board attorney, Comas and the property manager all have not returned calls seeking comment ton their perspectives, but in a letter to the now-losers, the attorney said Evonne Andries of Siegfried/Rivera, “we understand many candidates will be upset by the results of the challenge and recount,” but she assured them “the election process itself was not at issue."

One of the winner-turned-loser candidates disagrees.

Lizbeth Beauchamp finished fifth of the seven “elected” in the first count, but dropped below seventh place and thus, off the board after the recount.

“It was a victory. They declared the victory on the election night, and we have the annual meeting there. We select the president,” Beauchamp said.

She concedes there may have been a mistake, but argues once the new board held its organizational meeting, the state would have to become involved to overturn the results.

“Florida law said that after the election closed and the winner is declared, and you want to challenge the elections, you have to do it in the proper manner,” she said.

Attorneys at Siegfried/Rivera did not return calls seeking comment on whether that is the case.

What is clear: distrust of elections and authority combined with higher fees for community and condominium associations makes for a potentially confrontational scene anywhere, not just Doral Isles.

“There is always emotion something that is your home,” said Eid. “It is your property, is what you love, it's where you grow your kids, it's where you really live, where you have friends and neighbors."