How do you know?

We had our annual meeting last night during which I made an interesting observation; something which had never occurred to me before.

Our documents state that each unit has one vote. I'm certain that for many of you it is the same. Frequently, the husband and wife, who are co-owners of a unit, both attend the meeting. On a motion that is made and seconded, a voice vote ("viva voce") is often taken, either by a show of hands or often, simply by saying "aye" or "nay."

It is almost instinctive for anyone sitting in the audience to respond by saying "aye" or "nay." So, the question is, in these cases, how can one be certain there is only one "aye" or "nay" per unit?

For us, other than approving the minutes, there are no motions that normally come up which require a vote that isn't already on the ballot. I believe reminding people prior to a yea/nay or hand vote would be good.

Excellent observation. On the flip side of that observation, in a yea/nay vote, how do you account for proxies?

Fred is correct. Voice votes are for matters where the outcome is reasonably assured. Any board member could easily call for a "show of hands" if a voice vote seems too close to determine the outcome - ensuring the one vote per property rule. Otherwise, I wouldn't care if the dog howled when calling for "Yeahs" and "Nays."

Thank you all for very excellent replies.

Tim, you raise another point I hadn't thought about. What about proxies? The purpose of a proxy is for a person to represent a member that is unable to attend to vote on any matter that may be brought up at the meeting. So, in a voice vote, how does a member who holds a proxy for another member (or members) vote more than once? Does he say "yea" (or "nay") twice (or more)? Or does he shout twice (or more times) as loud?

A show of hands doesn't work well unless you can recognize whose hands are up (and that takes the time). A count doesn't work unless someone recognizes everyone there.

Fortunately, in our case, the only issues brought to a voice vote were procedural issues, which I suppose in the end, didn't really matter. The vote on the budget, and the election of directors, were both done by ballot.

Our documents do stipulate that if more than one owner attends a meeting, only one may vote for all of them, and there is a procedure that must be followed if there is a disagreement. The suggestion that people be reminded there is only one vote per unit is what I would personally recommend.

As for last night's meeting: There were two positions on the board, and I was re-elected to one of them. Actually, that's not entirely correct, since I had "retired" from the board several years ago, but have been urged by several homeowners over the past few months to seek election to the board again, so here I am. One homeowner came up to me after the meeting and said he was glad I was on the board again because the board "needed adult supervision." Wish me luck folks, here I am for another two years.

By the way, apathy is NOT one of our problems. Micro-management of the board IS none of our problems.

Love it!

There are many ways to get around this problem. (1) Have one person per unit register to vote prior to the meeting and give them a ballot on issues for which they will be voting. the vote should be secret and collected at the end of the voting process; or (2) Again at the time of registration, give the voting member of the unit two placards, one YES and one NO printed on it which they will hold up when the vote is called for and someone can count the cards when they are raised. I prefer the secret ballot therefore if you use proxy voting the person who holds the proxy receives a ballot for themself and one for the proxy they hold. Both are collected when the votes are completed. JNI