proxy vote

Hi Bobbi:

Check you governing documents to insure what they state with regards to proxies.

Here is the Statute regarding Proxies:
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title30/T30CH3SECT30-3-58.htm

This section also refers to the following section regarding Acceptance of Votes:
http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title30/T30CH3SECT30-3-61.htm

In this section it does consistently refer to “name signed” as noted below.

30-3-61.CORPORATION’S ACCEPTANCE OF VOTES. (1) If the name signed on a vote, consent, waiver or proxy appointment corresponds to the name of a member, the corporation, if acting in good faith, is entitled to accept the vote, consent, waiver or proxy appointment and give it effect as the act of the member.

When your HOA sends out the annual meeting notice package they should include ballots and a proxy form. This helps eliminate improper forms and HOA receiving invalid information back from the homeowners who may think what they are sending is proper, but in fact does not follow laws and CCR’s.

I supposed that a "reply" from a specific email address COULD be construed as a personal reply, but this is a very slippery slope.

Your own documents are going to need to allow electronic communication for elections.

Heavens - all this computer stuff will be the death of of all, for sure!!!

It's all going to depend on the State statutes.

Per VA Non-Stock Corp Act: A member or the member's agent or attorney-in-fact may appoint a proxy to vote or otherwise act for the member by signing an appointment form or by an electronic transmission., § 13.1-847. Proxies.

Therefore, in VA an e-mail, being an electronic transmission, would be enough providing there is good faith that the e-mail came from the member.

My organization used e-mails in our last election for the first time to accept proxies. Since e-mail names can vary, we required that the full name and contact info be included in the e-mail and would then verify it against association records before accepting them.

Fortunately, most of our membership chose to use the old fashioned method of paper. However, as the youth grow and purchase homes, electronic communication and electronic voting will, in my opinion, slowly become the norm.

Tim

You're right Tim. We developed our electronic voting service in 2007 when Oregon changed their statues adding a provision for electronic voting. It took some time to get the first customer. Now however more and more people are coming around. There is still some general paranoia about security aspects but that will fade. Actually most of the bad press about security comes from government elections where there are far more complexities to deal with. E-voting for a single community is far easier to secure.

This is my main problem with Robert's Rules. In a time when I can transfer money from my bank account to a charity with a text message and run my business from my smart phone, Bob doesn't like electronic voting (which might help getting more than quorum once in a while), meetings via telecommunication, and other issues.

My annoyance with Bob may be in part because my HOA is also stuck in the past and won't approve new-fangled ways of doing things. They just started doing Proxy votes by mail 3 years ago. To setup the proxy vote, they went to the HOA's attorney and had the proxy voting form created.

I have to admit - I would find it difficult to place the words "Roberts Rules of Order" and "interesting" in the same sentence

I think it approaches an oxymoron.