Walking around with proxies

You have too much time on your hands.

Hi Heather:

Can you please post the exact verbage from your HOA documents regarding Proxy Voting?

You need to make sure everything is done well and correctly. If I remember you are an HOA with homes on lots and not a condominium correct?

Hi Heather:

Here is the Statute for Proxy Voting for HOA, so depending on any other info from your documents this is the procedure to follow (one of your other posts you mentioned Lots):

720.306 Meetings of members; voting and election procedures; amendments.
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(8) PROXY VOTING.—The members have the right, unless otherwise provided in this subsection or in the governing documents, to vote in person or by proxy.

(a) To be valid, a proxy must be dated, must state the date, time, and place of the meeting for which it was given, and must be signed by the authorized person who executed the proxy. A proxy is effective only for the specific meeting for which it was originally given, as the meeting may lawfully be adjourned and reconvened from time to time, and automatically expires 90 days after the date of the meeting for which it was originally given. A proxy is revocable at any time at the pleasure of the person who executes it. If the proxy form expressly so provides, any proxy holder may appoint, in writing, a substitute to act in his or her place.

(b) If the governing documents permit voting by secret ballot by members who are not in attendance at a meeting of the members for the election of directors, such ballots must be placed in an inner envelope with no identifying markings and mailed or delivered to the association in an outer envelope bearing identifying information reflecting the name of the member, the lot or parcel for which the vote is being cast, and the signature of the lot or parcel owner casting that ballot. If the eligibility of the member to vote is confirmed and no other ballot has been submitted for that lot or parcel, the inner envelope shall be removed from the outer envelope bearing the identification information, placed with the ballots which were personally cast, and opened when the ballots are counted. If more than one ballot is submitted for a lot or parcel, the ballots for that lot or parcel shall be disqualified. Any vote by ballot received after the closing of the balloting may not be considered.

Do you have one of the proxy forms yet yourself for the meeting?

procedural issues like proxies are typically located within corporate statutes. Most Associations are incorporated as a nonprofit corporation.

Heather,
You need to follow your Bylaws and if incorporated your state's nonprofit act. We have found it is often critical to have proxies (when allowed by state) in order to hold annual meetings as scheduled. However, proxies can be abused to the extent that one person can control all voting. Therefore, steps should be taken to prevent proxy abuse. The Bylaws can limit the number of proxies held by one person and an official proxy form can be crated and mailed to prevent anyone from making copies and falsifying signatures. We do not like to require notorized signatures as most homeowners find it too inconvenient. Following are examples we use.

Bylaws state:
5 Proxies.
At all meetings of the Association, each member may vote in person or by proxy. All proxies shall be in writing and filed with the Secretary or designated agent of the Association at or before the time of such meeting. An Owner may not revoke a proxy except by attendance at the meeting, or by delivery of notice of revocation to the person presiding over the meeting of the Association, or by subsequent appointment of another proxy. A proxy will be voided if it is not dated; is not on an official proxy form; or purports to be revocable without notice. A maximum of four (4) proxies are allowed for the Owner of each Lot. A proxy shall terminate ninety (90) days after its date of execution.

Example of Official Proxy Form:
PROXY for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Homeowners of ______________________ Homeowners Association, Inc.

I (We) name preprinted on form , the Owner of the property at Unit ID and address preprinted on form hereby appoint _____________________________________ as my proxy with full power of substitution, to vote on my behalf in respect to all matters that may properly come before the Annual meeting on June 16, 2012 and at every adjournment thereof, to the same extent and with the same powers that I would be entitled if personally present. This proxy shall be void if I or another Owner of this property is personally present.

_____________________________________________ _______________
Homeowner’s Signature Date

I have tried to find Georgia's code and am having a hard time. All I have found is that it can not be opened until after the election and floor vote or count of memebers present.

Roger, Do you bylaw state that a person can not create a General Proxy? How can you not accept one if created? As stated the HOA sent proxy is worded as such to only allow to vote for the preselected board. How can this be legal?

Thanks,

TimB4,

That is what I did...
----------original proxy ---------------------------
Name of Association
Rules:
1. Must be received by x date
2. No proxy certificates may be presented at the meeting
3. Homeowner may cancel or change their proxy assignment by retrieving it anytime until the actual vote count during the Annual Meeting. (Does this mean I can retreive the prior proxy if I was assigned the later proxy? or does the last dated win automatically?)

Proxy Assignmnet

Is assigning your proxy to one of the 2012 board members listed below, you agree that your vote will be cast in favor of the 2013 budget, in the election of the 2013 Board memebrs and in response to any recommensations presented for a vote by the Board during the Annual Meeting.

Assign your Proxy by circling one of the names below or write-in a name of the individual voting in your place.

Then there is all the board member’s names listed and then a blank line for you to put a name. It says: (Print Name of Proxy not listed above)
Then has a place for Homeowner Name, Address, Signature and where to Mail it (the Secretary)

I copied the proxy sent to me by the board and added my name and another homeowners name and ask to have one of our names circled. I included a letter telling them the 4 things I would request at the meeting and put one in all newspaper slots.

A board member who agrees with my actions called to let me know that the wording indicated that even if my name was on it that it would be cast in favor of the board that was chosen by the selection committee. Even though the Selection Committe is not being chosen at the previous Annual meeting as it states in the By-Laws. The current board choses the committe and so the board never changes.

Notice that there is no place for date, (the date, time and location of the meeting) is not included, and the words "in favor". I read that to mean in favor of the budget not the preselected board. If for preselected board, why assign to anyone other than a board member?

Thanks,

Do you see a problem with this? should the board accept the copy with original homeowner signitures?

Again thanks

I thought of creating a new proxy using the info presented here. A general proxy and having the homeowners who give me there proxy to sign a second one just in case. I am not sure what would be best to make sure they will have to accept the proxy. ???

Nicole,
The Rules and Regulations created by this association advise on the criteria for an official proxy form. So in this case if a person created a general proxy it would not be accepted. The wording allows an owner to select any other member of the association (must be a member is designated in the Rules & Regulations) as their proxy. There is nothing stated which infers that the proxy holder is only allowed to vote for "the preselected board". Whatever that means.

Nicole

They are simply beating you at the game of proxies.

One could sign a proxy (say on 01/01/13) then sign a later one (say on 01/02/13) and the later one (01/02/13) overrides the earlier one. There could be multi proxies from the same person floating about. An election committee must decide which one is the latest, thus the only valid one.

If one shows up to vote in person, all their proxies are overridden as in useless.

I do not think your BOD is doing anything wrong but they are out smarting (out foxing) you.

As far as being out foxed on proxy's. We have 114 homes. We had 2 different groups walk around to get prozy's for our meeting this past fall. Group "A" included the current BOD President, Group "B" was one of the current directors and a group of homeowners who wanted change. Group "A" obtained proxys' over a week or 2 but dated them with the date of the meeting. Group "B" obtained a few more proxy's than group "A however 19 were duplicates of group "A". Since group "B" was ethical and had the actual date of the signature on the proxy, they lost. The proxy with the most recent date is the one used.

Nicole

In assigning your proxy to one of the 2012 board members listed below, you agree that your vote will be cast in favor of the 2013 budget, in the election of the 2013 Board memebers and in response to any recommensations presented for a vote by the Board during the Annual Meeting.

Assign your Proxy by circling one of the names below or write-in a name of the individual voting in your place.

A General Proxy allows the designated person you named (the proxy holder) to vote as they wish. A Directed Proxy dictates how the designated person you named (the proxy holder) is to vote.

A proxy could also be a combination of General and Directed like Directing the proxy holder to vote yes or no on a specific issue but also General in allowing the proxy holder to vote any way they care to on other issues.

The above is poorly worded. One one hand it is a Directed Proxy saying you vote in favor of the budget and in favor of election of 2013 BOD Members (whatever that means and I do not understand it. Thus by the wording they are getting you to Direct your vote but in the the way they want it to go.

On the other hand it in General in that you agree to vote in favor of "any recommendations" but they do not specify what the recommendations will be.

All in all....I think the wording is we got you to do as we wish....LOL

JohnC46

I reread the Covenants, By-Laws, and Ga Code 14-3-724 and 14-3-224.

My By-Laws state:

Section 5. Proxies. At all meetings of members, each member may vote in person or by proxy. All proxies shall be in writing and filed

with the secretary. Every proxy shall be revocable and shall automatically cease upon conveyance by a member of his property.

Does this mean they will have to except the General proxies being signed and collected that are different from the Directed Proxy they sent out to all homeowners?