??? abiout attorney/lawsuit in DFW area of TX

Our HOA is becoming very contentious and apparently an election was held last night to vote a new HOA board in.

The problem is that additional nominees to the ballot were added and a new ballot was supposed to have been mailed to ALL HOA households July 9th--for us to see ALL candidates and then vote for new board at open meeting several days later. This ballot was never sent.

Last night there apparently was HOA board meeting and the new board was elected--according to what our neighbor told my husband this AM when he was taking out the trash.
But with none of the new nominees winning approval--probably because no one interested in replacing the old members with new ones knew the election was taking place...

I think this date last night was the date on the first HOA newsletter giving the original slate of nominees--which included most of the current HOA board again.
There was no new ballot sent out with the additional nominees--who HAD been approved as nominees by the board--and there was no notice sent out about THIS board meeting at all--normally they post signs at all entrances/exits to the neighborhood about any upcoming meetings with date/time/location...

My question is does anyone here know of attorney in Dallas/Fort Worth area that specializes in HOA law?
Before anyone actually tries to sue over what seems to be an illegal election (since I as a homeowner/member who NEVER got official notice of ALL the nominees or new vote), we would like to know if there is legal recourse and have an attorney give us some guidelines if we try to remove any of the new/current HOA board members.

Appreciate any advice--

Our By-Laws permit nominations from the floor at the meeting to elect. Our most recent election, for which all homeowners were properly notified, saw 2 nominations from the floor who were elected to the board. (In our case, they've proven themselves to be excellent board members).

Two new nominees were added prior to the meeting--and placed on new slate of nominees.
One was nominated from the floor and was supposed to be added to the new ballot.
That ballot was supposed to be mailed out July 9--with voting via mail by July 18th. Open Meeting/election in person July 20th--vote closed July 20th--new board installed....

all that cancelled via secret "special/emergency" board meeting Sunday night--no justification for that except they did not want anyone to vote them out of office if the dates/rules for the new election went forward as HOA members were notified they would be in letter we received end of June.

no HOA members in general were present but the neighbor of HOA president who was rerunning for the Board--
the person who was nominated from the floor at the lasst meeting was not ON the slate of nominees--to even be considered as new board member--
the old board members voted themselves in basically
The new board includes ALL prior HOA members except for one who resigned (probably because he could see how wrong this board was behaving) and he was replaced with someone who was on the initial slate of nominees--meaning he is in clique of the former/continuing HOA members...

My neighbor told me that her son--who was the person nominated from the floor--got phone call to meet at the house of the former HOA president (who called the special/illegal board meeting) to get explanation of what happened--why it was necessary to call that meeting and vote in a new board...

so these people need to be recalled--
and we need to understand the rules so that it can be done legally w/o recourse to them suing in return

This animosity all started when some friends of my neighbor tried to build house on culdesac where the HOA president lived--lot next to his house. It would have been a 4000 sq ft two story house--positive addition to the neighborhood--but the design required a variance--
it was 14 inches too close to the lot the HOA presiden't house is on--
our neighborhood is infill development--developer was allowed to have lots that are really TOO small to support the size house that most people want to build--
there are over 70 variances already given for homes that have been built--

but the HOA board voted down that design--created lot of animosity--and now the HOA/ARC has allowed a house to build on vacant lot next to my neighbor which is the ugliest house is the neighborhood--
approved because it will negatively effect my neighbor most of all--who is at odds with the HOA president that disallowed the variance--

just sounds too petty for words--
but taking away MY right to vote and still expecting me to pay my HOA fees is not right or legal

that is a good idea

my husband works as vp for o/g company and deals with o/g contracts/leases/sales agreements--he understands about as well as an attorney how to decipher legal jargon--
he HAS been reading the HOA covenants and he basically said that the house going up on our street probably qualifies under the building covenants to be built--the only way to have stopped it would be with strit interpretation of the rule governing how open garage doors appear from the street and about the "overall design esthetics" of the neighborhood--
meaning they could have turned it down if they wanted to--but they didn't
and now there is nothing to be done

he also might have seen a loophole allowing this secret meeting--but that does not make it right--

I found out through phone conversation with friend who has a friend in her moms' group living in my neighborhood (on the same culdesac with the HOA president apparently) that SHE knew about the secret vote--that supposedly an attorney was consulted and he said it was legal to have this vote--and that I must be getting my information from someone named "Mindy"--not my source--who has it all wrong...

so I don't understand if SHE knew about this emergency vote--why I didn't--
except she is neighbor of the HOA prez and I am not--

basically this is so childish that I makes me want to scream--
but I don't want my rights taken away by some people with grudges against others--
AND I want to know accurately what is behind all this--
I don't know if I am getting accurate info--and the board is certainly not coming forth with in transparent manner with any justification for holding this election before July 20

thank you for that prompt

I don't think this HOA has been encorporated from what my husband has seen in the HOA covenants/bylaws

but the first thing that is stated is that the annual meeting to elect new board members should happen in November--
since this is JULY--I can see an issue right there

Thanks for those links--
my husband found out that our HOA IS encorporated--
and what we thought were the operational bylaws (and which were fair to homeowners and allowed the Board resonable power to enforce the HOA covenants but not abuse power) were changed in May or June of 2010--
we never got a copy--never remember anything about a vote for the new bylaws being called

the new rules allow this board to do basically anything they want--and in special/secret session--where the HOA members don't have to be notified--or notified soon enough to prepare to attend/eduate themselves about the issues...
they gutted the original bylaws and put these in place which basically make them untouchable-IF they manage to get reelected each year--
which they did by ignoring their written promise to hold election/voting open until July 20 and to send out new notice of the nominees to HOA July 8--
now that they are in power it is basically impossible to recall them according to the rules they have in place

we are probably going to have to get attorney--pay him ourselves--to look at this and see what can be done--
and they will hire attorney out of the HOA treasure to defend themselves against our challenge--
so we will be paying on two fronts--
AND I don't know that we can get enough people in the HOA to actually care about this that they will want to participate--some people just want to keep their heads down

TX passed new legislation that has gone before Governor Perry--he can veto it, sign it, or ignore it--
if the does the last two they become law around the end of the month--
if he vetos them (and he might) then we are really back to square 1 across the state--
but there has been lot of issues about people being foreclosed on by HOAs for no reason at all--and not being able to fly a fly in your front yard because of the HOA rules--
so hopefully he will sign them (or ignore them) and let them come into law