CRITICAL Election Fraud

Ted, welcome to the forum. Tim, our resident expert on all things HOA (and is also from VA) can give you the recourses available to you. Does your state have an office to file a complaint with? Most provide some oversight of HOAs and even offer mediation but have no statutory authority to fine or over turn an election. In CO, people can complain about their HOAs. The agency files those complaints so people can look up online (or call the office) to see if their HOA has any complaints. But our state agency has no authority to compel the board or association to change.

I guess you (or if you can convince other homeowners to join the cause) can file a lawsuit but that can be expensive. Plus, any legal expenses incurred by the board defending the suit will eventually have to be paid by all those in the HOAs. So in reality, you are sueing yourselves.

If you truly believe there is election fraud, check your documents to see if possibility you can start a recall election via a special election. Our documents allow homeowners to recall any board members if they achieve a 67% of the ownership to vote yes.

Realistically, most states don't have any ombudsman or other state official/worker that will help with HOA problems. More often than not, your recourse is legal, you might have to sue. This can get expensive, so best to get others to chip in and share costs. Have you talked to an attorney yet?

Ted,

Is the fraudulent act considered a violation of your covenants or of VA law? If VA law, could you please identify or cite the statute?

Violations of governing documents or applicable civil statutes are typically resolved between the parties involved or through the courts. VA, through their Common Interest Community Board, does have an avenue for possible redress if the violation was of applicable VA law.

Our association is under membership control. And Ombudsman recommended that owners should hire an attorney and file the matter in the civil court.

Sorry for the delayed response.

Yep, that would be the correct process.

The Ombudsmans office wouldn't have the authority to declare if proxies were valid or invalid. They could address the process (as it relates to Statutes - not governing documents) but they simply don't have the authority to rule on documents.

Since the issue is a civil matter, and civil matters are resolved between the individuals involved or through the courts, the advice of going through the courts was really the only advice they could offer.

Based on what you posted about your Board, it appears to be the best advice I could offer. Once the election is challenged, the Board may or may not be more open to addressing the issues you can prove.

The only other option I could offer would be to gather support and recall the board (hence giving validity to the election). It doesn't prove election tampering, but it may be the quicker and less expensive way to resolve the issue.