reduction of quorums?

HOA recalled board, and is now in process of restating all docs. instead of just making amendments. There are some owners, who might in arrears. Need advice on the following: Will a required quorum be reduced, if you have owners are not allowed to vote?
Example: 14 is current minimum, 2 owners can't vote. New number is now 12, or does it stay at 14? My inclination is it remains 14, but never came across this before.
New board is really pushing!!
barbk

‘There are some owners, who might in arrears. Need advice on the following: Will a required quorum be reduced, if you have owners are not allowed to vote?’

Barbara,

Florida law permits to lower the voting interest but only if the owner is delinquent for more than 90 days and only if the Board meets and agrees to revoke his/her voting rights. Such owner(s) must be notified in writing. Not sure, why you addressing quorum only?

Current docs state owners will lose voting rights after 90 days, but are silent on notification requirements. Horrible thought: board might decide to not to uniformly apply the notifications.
"Quorum" wording should be changed to minimum of 14 (2/3) "yes" votes required to pass new docs. Hope this helps.

Barbara,

You would have to read the quroum requirements in your documents and in your state laws very carefully to see how a quorum is determined. Sometimes you are not allowed to take members "not in good standing" into account when determining the number of members required to make a quroum.

Play it safe and assume 14 is your quorum. With the momentum you seem to have, you'll meet your attendance standards and vote majority requirements.

I hope the new board takes a breath before fundamentally changing all their docs. Something about the "old rules" was apparently appealing to you or you wouldn't have moved into your community.

Tim, Tim,

a majority is not 50+1. But 51% is. :-)

I would also like to point out that I have not met any Covenants or Articles in Florida that would not require at least a majority of the entire membership, yet. Many Association even require 2/3 of the entire membership along with the approval by a mortgagee. Amending these docs is no fun at all.

51% can certainly be considered a majority, as it's more than half of the total but 51% is not the definition of a majority.

As I understand it,

A majority is a the number greater than half of any total.

A simple majority is less than half of the total but more than the minimum required to win, as when there are more than two candidates or choices.

A quick internet search for the legal definition of majority seems to confirm my understanding.

Tim,

Take a number 19 for instance.

Majority= 10 members
51% = 11 members

Bruce,

can you help me to understand the follwoing?

1. If there is a revote for the remaining three candidates (B,C,D) would only those present at the meeting cast the vote? Consequently, a majority could become a much lower number? True? You do not use proxies, right?

2.What happens if all A, B,C, D candidates fail to receive a majority of the 100 ballots casts?

Thank you Bruce. I thought Robert’s Rules do not allow the use of proxies.. I need to study it, one day :-(

Bruce,

thank you again.

We use ballots and ‘simple plurality’ voting system. There is no requirement for anyone to gain a majority.
Imagine this: HOA has five vacancies and the Committee nominates only five people. In a sense, the elections are over because even one vote will get you elected. And, these are the games played by some Boards who want to be reelected. It is a problem and there is no easy way, I know of, to correct it.

I just re-read the post that started this thread. The poster seems to be asking in reference to restating Documents.

As the question was asked, I am not clear where Quorum comes into play in a vote to restate or amend Documents. Does Florida allow this to be done at a meeting – or is another method used to get the requisite number of votes?

Reduction of a Quorum usually refers to the number in attendance in order to hold the meeting.

Also we were not told the specific Document(s) that is being restated, which might make a difference in how it is voted on.

Here is my two-cents in this matter as the purpose of the poster was restating their docs. We ran into this last year when changing our Bylaws. The main objective was eliminating the process of quorum for any meeting for counting the ballots when it came time to elect or remove directors, grant exclusive use of common area, amend or restate Bylaws. What we did was el;eliminate the need for quorum by stating quorum was any member who any a meeting to count the ballot. Proxies were also eliminated as was cumulative voting.

Most Bylaws that I have read, and they have been many, contain provisions that a certain amount of people must attend a meeting to count ballots, whether in person, by proxy or by secret ballot. Why? With the exception of the election of directors (can be elected by any number of members as low as one) our new Bylaws allow any other item must be approved in the affirmative of at least removal of director (majority of one-third of the voting power of the Association), granting of exclsuive use of common area, (majority of one-third of the voting power of the Association)amend or restate Bylaws (majority of one-third of the voting power of the Association).

To amend or restate CC's, 66 2/3 affirmaive votes, raising monthly dues above 20%, 51% and creating a special assessment above 5% of budget, 51%.

I could never figure what quorum was used for except in the election of directors, keeping the same people in, year after year.