Undesignated proxies only

Our board announced changes to our voting process this month. They are no longer allowing any one not in attendance at the election meting to vote for a particular person on a ballot. They will mail out "un-designated" proxies to everyone in our community without the 5 names of the people running on them.
All out of state and mail in ballots will have an un-designated proxy - which means that the h/o must chose either a board member or fill in a blank to vote for them. The proxies are opened at the election meeting, so if the write-in person named on the proxy is not present then that person had no vote.
There are five positions open this year. So if the current president's name is pre-typed on the proxy - he will effectively get to vote for himself 200 times.
Usually out of 230 H/O, only enough people to represent 20 -25 H/O show up at the election meeting. we always relied on mailed in ballots (which we titled as proxies.
Any opinions?

Thank you Tim- I remember. I will look into your suggested readings.
But the Board decided -we cannot have mailed in ballots/or directed proxies and are only using general proxies which get opened the night of election. Last year the Presidents name was typed as the person getting the proxy or a ______ was available.
They announce at the meetings that we have done things 'wrong' for 6 years. Which is not true, We always mailed out a ballot which had the title "PROXY" on it and let people either vote for a specific person or chose a person to vote for them in their absence. We always had issues with 'quorum' and that lead to questions.
Our bylaws say an election must be held yearly - but does not give much more info.
Can this new board who are mostly all going to run again announce these new rules?

Lynn,

Let me try this again:


OK, let me paraphrase what you are saying.

The Board has decided to send out general proxies. The proxies allow the member to identify one of the board members or fill in the name of a neighbor to be their representative.

No problem there.


So, as an example:
If you appointed me to be your proxy and cast a ballot on your behalf, I certainly am not physically able to do that unless I attend the meeting.

That makes sense.

Think about it, even if the proxy form instructed me to vote a specific way, if I'm physically not present, I am physically unable to fill out a ballot on your behalf. Your proxy didn't authorize anyone other than myself to cast the ballot. Therefore, legally, the Association can not accept a ballot from anyone other than me unless a new proxy (naming someone else) was provided and revoked the previous proxy.


Yep, that is correct.

Of course, if you took those same forms and went to each of those members requesting that they appoint you as their representative, you would effectively be able to cast 200 votes.


Yep that's typical.


If the paper was titled "proxy" they were not ballots. Therefore, if you were counting them as ballots in the past, the Association was not properly complying with the laws and/or governing documents.

A General Proxy is not a ballot.
A Directed Proxy is not a ballot.

If a proxy is accepted by the Association, then a ballot should be given to the individual named as the proxy representative. If that representative is not at the meeting, that ballot may not be given to anyone else and (effectively) the vote is never cast.

One the polls are closed, the ballots are counted and results announced.

Typically if an Association is voting by mail or having absentee voting, then proxies are not used.


This is where the hard work comes in. If you want change, you need to solicit proxies. Start knocking on doors.

Bravo to Arizona! Jeanne

You would label it as a Ballot.

Typically there is a double envelope system.
The member marks their vote on the ballot.
The ballot is sealed in an envelope (the envelope may say Ballot on it)
The sealed ballot envelope is placed into another envelope and mailed back to the Association.
The Association uses the mailing envelope to verify the members identity and keep them from voting twice.
Those envelopes are opened at a meeting or by the election officials and the mailing envelope is separated from the ballot envelope (maintains confidentiality).
The ballot envelopes are placed in a pile.
When votes are ready to be counted, all the ballot envelopes are opened and votes tabulated.

The link to davis-stirling I supplied earlier give good explanations on how to do mail in ballots.

Since TimB4 posted a link to the SC statute, I just did a quick read thru, and was about to post what TimB just posted, that voting had to take place at a meeting at which a quorum was present.

LynneV has been asking specific questions – but I think we should “backup a bit”.

LynneV wrote: “Our bylaws say an election must be held yearly - but does not give much more info.” Lynne, do your Bylaws by chance say anything about allowing nominations from the floor? And do they specify what the Quorum requirement is? Would you be willing to post the applicable sections from your Bylaws?

Should nominations from the floor or write in candidates be allowed then, as I understand, a Directed Proxy could not be used to vote for Directors.

In any case, IMO, under NO circumstances should the blank line (where the Owner is to write in, their choice of whom is to vote in their place for them), be “pre filled in” on a Proxy Form.

That is the Owner’s choice to make. The name of the person they want to be their proxy, should be filled in by the Owner on the Proxy Form, and “in their handwriting”.

We use Proxies, and I do not know how correct this was, but years ago when I was working out of town, I would fill in the line designating who I was giving my vote to as “To Mr. X. if present, or if not present, then to Mr. Y, or if not present, then to Mr. Z. (I stopped at three choices). Also when you choose someone to be your proxy, I always considered it good form to ask that person, if they were willing to be “my proxy”.

Getting back to Lynne’s “problem” - as others have already posted – Lynne should do the opposite – that is Lynne should contact Voters who typically do not attend the Meeting in person, and ask for their proxy vote.

I did not see anything in the SC statute that spoke to limiting the number of proxies, a person could vote. But as a point of information some recent state statutes now have words to limit proxy collecting, such as “A person may not cast undirected proxies representing more than [15] percent of the votes in the association”.

Thank you all TimB, JohnC and EllieD ... I read our -bylaws which state "Voting members may vote in person or by proxy." One sentence only. later it states ".. 51 % quorum"... and "the candidate receiving the largest number of votes gets elected".
However, I would prefer a directed proxy rather than a general one with a current board memeber name typed on it. I am just one person and can raise questions but the board has the final word. Last year, the proxy went out with our president's name typed on it and a blank - the president controlled the election.
I personally like our current board. However,with five openings and say 4 of five current members running again, how can a new person get a fair chance if thier names are not going to be mailed out to homeowners for selection.

OOPS

Margarita........

Era

Change what specifically?

As an example, if proxies are not allowed, they are not allowed no matter how worded. If Proxies are allowed the wording/type is upto the writer of such and actually the last writer of which one last signed.

Also a simple wording change can be the differenjce between day and night:

I agree we should not raise the sales tax by 1%. Yes means do not raise it.

I agree we should raise the sales tax by 1%. Yes means do raise raise it.

I ask you to simply answer yes or no. Do you still beat your spouse?

Hate the no edit feature.....

I think what Lynne (the OP) is calling a procedure change is not so much a procedure change as it is a wording change.

In SC (where Lynne is also located) the SC Articles of Incorporation do allow for Proxy voting if in the association Bylaws. They do not specify what type Proxy and as such I believe one could change the type/wording change as it suits them even if it is "tricky" which I agree with Lynne, it might be.