Proxies and Ballot disposition

Tim and John

First of all thank you for your reply. I wrote the original in haste so I may not have been clear on a few issues.

Our community per our By-Laws may vote in person at the actual election, by mail in ballot and may assign a proxy. My original concern was the way it was presented first of all they sent out the ballot then on the reverse side basically put in the reference to SC code or law. That by signing and dating on this line you are giving your proxy right to the current seated president of the board.
The sample form you attached to your reply was very precise and clear it stated in lay terms what you were doing. I believe that our offer was not clear and an absent owner could easily see it as a way to vote without being accountable ,if you will.
There was also no place for the person being granted the right of proxy to date and sign as per your sample.

I have a second question that has arisen our quorum is 51% our by laws cover the issue of quorum not being met. We can reschedule within a thirty day time frame and at thr rescheduled meeting/election the adjusted quorum would be 50% of the original. That is crystal clear to all. The question is the ballots received for the original meeting that could not be conducted due to lack of quorum. Any item not specifically covered in our By-Laws/Covenants then goes to Robert's Rule. We have some who feel proxies since dated for the 11 months carry forward "BALLOTS" become Null. We have other who say both Ballot and Proxies carry forward to the rescheduled meeting. We have some who say a new ballot must be remailed to entire membership of owners, others who feel no remail is needed.

Thank you for a quick reply and all your prior help

To clarify this confusion, the Board should adopt a policy on how the ballots and/or proxies should be handled. It would be best if this policy would be a bylaw amendment as it would carry more weight than just a resolution.

I do see the argument on both sides.

For the proxies:

As I posted in your earlier thread, It will actually depend on how the proxy was worded. If it specified that the representative would be the members proxy on a specific date (example: to be my proxy at the annual meeting held mm/dd/yyyy), then that proxy ended when that date passed.

To correct this confusion, I still recommend what I previously posted, add the following language to your proxy form:

This proxy is valid for the annual meeting to be held on mm/dd/yyyy or any subsequent meeting/s held because of failure to meet quorum requirements.

For Ballots:

Your Association is the first I have heard of that promotes both the use of proxies and the use of mail in ballots. As I said earlier, it's typically one or the other (as using a ballot doesn't require the member to assign a proxy).

I suspect as you do that your Board muddied the water (so to speak) by adding the phrase. In fact, an argument could be made that those "ballots" are actually proxy designations.

My advice: For this election - redo the entire mailing and (if you still want to use both a ballot and a proxy) provide the ballot and proxy separate pieces of paper.

Joe

I guess the question is, was what you all mailed out a proxy?

I believe it was a proxy due to the wording that was on the back.

I believe as one had to select one of the 3 listed candidates to vote for, then it was a Directed Proxy and the vote has to be cast that way.

I believe if one did not vote for only one or for no one, it is not a valid ballot and must not be counted as it was not filled out properly.

I believe as a valid proxy it is valid for 11 months and can be carried forwarded and counted in the recalled meeting(s). Along these lines, in one SC HOA, we had to have 3 meeting before we got a quorum.

I believe Tim does not feel as strongly as I do that they are valid proxies.

Hope this helps.

Actually, I agree as strongly as John does that by adding that statement the paper became a directed proxy and not a ballot.

I believe John and I both see the argument made by adding a specific date to the proxy (as stated in my previous post).

I'm of the opinion that if the ballot/proxy did not include the date of the meeting, then the proxy is good for 11 months as stipulated in SC statutes (provided by John).

However, if the paper specified that you were to be the proxy at the annual meeting held on mm/dd/yyyy that once that date passed, the proxy is no longer valid and a new one is needed for the new meeting.

Joe,

Can you provide a sanitized (removal of Association and candidates names) copy of the form?