finding the quorum

Started by LynneV1 • 5 replies • 1391 views

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LynneV1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 211

Posted:

Hello -It is election time again and we always argue over quorum.
Our By-laws state "... The presence in person or by alternate of the Voting Members represeting fifty-one (51%) percent of the total votes of the Asociation shall constitute a quorum at all meetings of the Association".
We have 231 homes and lets say 25 are in arrears or have fines outstanding. Since we do not count votes if you are not in good standing... are you considerd a voting member towards the quorum count if you are in arrears and your ballot won't be counted? Do we need 118 votes (51% of 231) or 106 (51% of 206) votes for our quorum? I believe you have to round up.
Thanks, Lynne from SC

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

Lynn,

A quorum is the number of lots represented and is not associated with the number of lots cast.

231 lots minus 25 lots who had voting privileges suspended = 206
Thus a quorum (per your posting) = 105.06 (206 * .51)
rounded up = 106 lots who can cast votes (in person or by proxy)is needed to meet your quorum requirement

The key words in your phrasing being:

The presence in person or by alternate of the Voting Members representing fifty-one (51%) percent of the total votes of the Association.

That phrase limits it to the members authorized to vote.

Hope this helps,

Tim

LynneV1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 211

Posted:

Thank you! I felt quorum should apply to 51% of the 'eligible' voters in the community not 51% of total homes. Besides the foreclosures/banks never vote and it is hard getting 51% each year!!

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

I will say that 51% for a quorum seems high.

We only require 10% of the membership for a quorum.

Votes needed to pass might be as high as 2/3 of the membership (depending on what the vote is for). However, a low quorum requirement allows the meeting to happen.

LynneV1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 211

Posted:

Yes Tim = 51% is high -but it is posted in our by-laws in 2 different places and we need 2/3 to change the bylaws ----we will probably have to recess the election meeting, wait 2 weeks and reconvene at which point we only need half that amount for the vote to be valid.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Lynne

In my last SC(Mount Pleasant)HOA we had to recess and reconvene 30 days later several times. Only once in 8 years did we have enough voters/proxies to conduct an election at the Annual Meeting.

The one time we did, there was concentrated effort to get several people off the BOD. Not a recall but an effort get others elected. It took a group of about 20 owners working hard (visiting others, Email, setting up an information table at the pool, etc.) and if not for proxies, it would not have happened.

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