This article discusses committee access to detailed ballot vote results, including individual votes, and the legal and privacy limits under the Owners Corporation Act 2006.
Question: Can the committee access detailed results of a ballot, including how each owner voted?
After the owners corporation has conducted a ballot, can the committee receive the results with all the details of the owners included? Or should the results only be provided in summary form without disclosing individual voting records?
Answer: Yes, subject to limits.
The short answer is yes, however, subject to limits. The committee (or a committee member) can receive the detailed results of a ballot (including, in many cases, who voted which way). This is due to section 144 of the Owners Corporation Act 2006 (the Act), which requires the owners corporation (OC) to retain records of ballots. In addition, section 146 of the Act states that the OC, upon request by a lot owner, a mortgagee of a lot, a purchaser of a lot or the representative of a lot owner or mortgagee or purchaser of a lot, must make its records (including owner names and addresses and record of the results of ballots) available for inspection, free of charge, at any reasonable time.
However, there are legal constraints and privacy considerations. The Act does not explicitly say ballot results must be anonymised. Under section 172 of the Act, a lot owner whose name or other personal information is kept in the OC’s records or register may apply to VCAT for an order restricting access to that information in exceptional circumstances.
Thus, unless a restriction is imposed via a VCAT order (under section 172) or there is some overriding privacy law (which is limited in its application in this context), the committee can obtain the full results and details consistent with the record‑keeping and inspection rights.
The OC should ensure compliance with privacy obligations and ensure personal information is managed lawfully. For example, disclosing individual vote choices to anyone not an “eligible person” might constitute misuse of personal information.
The records must be inspected at reasonable times. The OC may require supervision to prevent misuse. They may only provide copies for a reasonable fee; however, they cannot charge for inspection.
Some items, such as voting papers or ballots, must only be kept for 12 months after the vote under the Act. If the ballot is older than that, the physical papers may no longer exist.
To summarise:-
- Yes — the committee can receive the detailed ballot results (including which owner cast which vote) if those details are part of the OC’s statutory records and have not been restricted by VCAT.
- However, it is not absolute: access may be limited by a VCAT order (under section 172), by privacy constraints, or by the way the ballot process was conducted (e.g. anonymised ballots).
- Any disclosure of personal voting details should be handled carefully, in line with data privacy principles and the rights of lot owners to apply for restriction of their personal information.
Ben Quirk
TOCS
E: [email protected]
P: 0448 663 616
This post appears in the October 2025 edition of The VIC Strata Magazine.
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Read next:
- VIC: Q&A Are online pre-votes before an AGM valid?
- VIC: Owners Corporations Blog- Voting at Meetings- Ordinary Resolutions
- VIC: Q&As Holding Proxies and Majority Owners – Voting, Conflicts
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