BOD Nominations From the Floor

Started by JohnC46 • 15 replies • 2137 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Our Bylaws allow BOD elections nominations from the floor at our Annual Meeting.

Any deadline and/or ballot sent out ahead of time, some proxies etc., would not be correct/up to date. How do you handle such?

My initial reaction is if you waited until that late, you take your chances as a write in on the write in line of the ballot.

When does one close down any nominations and count the ballots/proxies? I assume when the meeting is called to order the polls close.

How can one vet a write-in candidate at election time? Can the final ballot results be delayed until the candidate is vetted? Granted if they finished 6th in a 5 position race there is no need to do such.

Help....help....LOL

Thanks.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,062

Posted:

As you pointed out, if you wait too long, you take your chances as a write-in on the ballot. This is all floor nominations really are. It is an individual who is declaring their willingness to serve at the last minute and will take their chance as a write-in.

Nominations from the floor are typically done when you introduce the candidates. After the last one is introduced (or simply identified) you explain that the documents allow for nominations from the floor. You then ask for any nominations.

As for vetting, I expect that you actually have qualification factors that need to be met to serve on the Board. If there are no qualification factors, then there is no vetting needed. My suggestion would be that the individual is identified as a write-in but any election win will be conditional upon verification of the qualification factors. I would strongly recommend a policy resolution be adopted to specify the procedure on how all of this would occur.

I've attached a copy of our poxy form and of our ballot to show how we handle those documents.

We hold elections as part of the annual meeting. The typical agenda is:

Meeting called to order
Verification of quorum
Proof of Notice of the meeting
Officer Reports
Committee Reports
Elections:
a) Introduction of Candidates
b) Nominations from the floor
c) Polls open
d) wait x amount of time
e) Polls close ballots collected
Open Forum (done while ballots are tabulated)
Results of Election
Adjourn Meeting

📎 Attachments (2):

⏸ Downloads temporarily unavailable

📝122392940571.doc(26 KB)

📝122392989054.doc(32 KB)

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Tim

As this is out 1st BOD election since turnover, we want to be sure it is done correctly. This way we set our HOA off on the proper/correct foot.

After that, each man for himself...LOL

Advice and comments welcome from others.

Thanks

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

So, your ballots will be sent out ahead of the annual meeting & election, JohnC? Ours are too and there's verbiage that says something like the "The known candidates at this time, are blah, blah, blah, etc."

Our annual meeting are a lot like Tim's. We close the polls a while after we convene.

But since H/Os can vote by mail in CA well in advance of the meeting, no one ever is nominated from the floor. Ditto no one ever write in a name on the couple of blank lines we have on the ballots.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I don't think I answered your specific question, JohnC. If owners can't make up their mind till the last minute, they have to expect to lose. It could be you're overthinking this.

I know you've owners in a few other HOAs. How did they do it?

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Kerry

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry but I never said we were going to mail out a ballot. What we are going to mail out is the Annual Meeting notice (as we must and on 04/28/2015) plus a Proxy (with a stamped, self addressed return envelope). The Proxy to be used to establish a Quorum and change our Quorum Bylaw. The Quorum Bylaw change is another subject.

As of now (BOD meeting earlier this evening) our general thinking is we are going to hand out a printed ballot to an owner when they register at the Annual Meeting. The ballot will have the candidates that we know of (another story how) listed plus several write in spots. The meeting will be called to order. We will ask/allow each candidate to say a few words (time limited). We will then ask if there are any other nominations? Anyone nominated from the floor at that time can say a few words. We will then close the pools and ask those in attendance to fill their ballot out. They can check off listed candidates or write in anyone they so desire to write in. Ballots will be collected and along with any Proxies we received, will be counted.

We have a BOD of 5. When we close the pools, if we have 3 or more or 5 or less candidates ( as in 3 or 4 or 5) we will announce they are the BOD and there will be no voting. I do expect/know that 3 or 4 of the present BOD will be candidates.

Our MC and one of his staff will actually run the election.

I do agree I may be over thinking this but I do want us to know, understand, be prepared, be in agreement, etc. to run an election that can not be questioned. That way I can walk away with a clear conscience. When I say walk away, my original commitment was to be on our first post transition BOD (I am VP and Treasurer) to get owner control off the ground (as of 01/01/2015). I do not want to run. I would run in self defense if several of our "turkeys/fools/CCO's" run to be sure they will not get elected.

I ask all to comment.

Thanks

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

John,

By law in Arizona we do not allow proxies and all voting must be done either in person or by mail-in ballot.

Even though our bylaws have a provision for accepting nominations from the floor during the annual meeting, state law prevails and this is a moot process that no one has ever attempted in the dozen years we have been under owner control. We send out requests for nominations in January and we mail out ballots in March. We count mail-in ballots prior to the annual meeting where members may vote in person if they wish. Since nearly all members mail in their ballots, the in-person votes are never sufficient to change the results.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

John instead of using directed proxies which people told me privately they didn't like because Board members could see who voted for who and while they might be friends with a neighbor, that didn't mean that they necessarily would vote for them, so they didn't return the proxies to prevent hard feelings. I didn't like them because people who came to meetings and signed in got a ballot that they didn't have to sign so we compromised. Our proxy now includes a ballot or allows the homeowner to name their proxy. (See attached)

Our docs to allow nominations from the floor but as others have said: "You snooze, you lose."

📎 Attachments (1):

⏸ Downloads temporarily unavailable

📝12410536171.doc(15 KB)

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

All

To clear some confusion up. The Proxy we will be sending out with the Annual Meeting notice is to establish a Quorum only. We want to be sure we establish a Quorum.

We are not sending out ballots. Candidate voting will be done at the Annual Meeting via ballot(s) handed to an owner when they register. As we allow Proxies one could show up with such in which case they will get the appropriate number of ballots. Our MC has said they are prepared to handle Directed or non-directed Proxies when people register to vote.

We have set a deadline of April 13th to be a registered candidate and appear on the April 28th ballot. In our Feb, Mar, and April newsletter we will be telling people how to register to be a candidate and we will be keeping a running list of those doing so.

We do not expect Proxies for voting nor nominations from the floor but as I have said, we want/need to be prepared for such.

Thanks to all for their comments/suggestions. Keep them coming.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

In our community, we usually wait until the point of the agenda where we do elections. We would announce who's running for re-election on the current board, who the write-in candidates are (if any - I haven't seen any since I moved here 14 years ago) and then ask for nominations from the floor. There should be a brief period when the candidates would tell everyone a little about themselves and what they hope to do as board members and after that, the president would likely call for a motion to close the nominating process and then whoever's there would vote.

Our proxies contain a space for a homeowner to nominate themselves or another homeowner, and the letter accompanying them encourages attendance so people can ask questions. That method should take care of your concerns about vetting candidates, but regardless of how one's nominated, I would hope homeowners would make an attempt to find out something about the candidate before casting a vote. For example, if a write-in candidate didn't even attend the annual meeting, I'd think twice about voting for someone who didn't bother to show up.

As I said earlier, we've never had anyone show up at the meeting to throw his/her hat in the ring - usually, whoever's interested attended a board meeting or two before the annual meeting and expressed his/her interest. If there was an opening, the board would appoint him or her immediately (before they apply more thought on the matter and decline!) If the previous board member was up for re-election at the annual meeting, the appointee would have to win re-election to continue. That's why all of our board members (at least since I've been here) were initially appointed and continued to serve because no one else stepped up to run against them or they resign or just stop showing up (miss 3 consecutive meetings and you're automatically out)

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

NpS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 4,216

Posted:

2 mailings.

1st Mailing 30 days before meeting. Time, date & location. Copy of Board approved budget. Annual report on projects that are to be funded under the new budget. Copy of amendments, if any, to be voted on. Request for candidates. Blank copy of candidate information form (half-page bio). Deadlines for responses.

2nd Mailing 15 days before meeting. Time, date & location again. Another copy of Board approved budget. Request for number of expected in-person attendees from each household. Copies of completed candidate bios. Ballot/Proxy form (includes everything to be voted on - proxy may be directed or not - counted for both quorum and voting). Invalid if a proxy is not named individually. Invalid if not signed. (Same form used for both proxies and ballots).

Meeting. Open with brief description of significant changes for the new year. Candidate presentations and answers to questions from the floor. Board answers questions from floor about budget and annual project report. Open discussion if any amendment being voted on. Collect ballots. Outside presenters (sometimes). Town hall style meeting while ballots are counted. Announce who is elected, whether the budget was ratified, and whether any amendment passed. Adjourn. After adjournment, new board meets and selects officers among themselves.

5 member board. Amendment was made some years to disallow nominations from the floor. Prior to change, nominations from floor were made only when there weren't enough pre-registered candidates. Not sure what prompted the change.

Prior to mailings, we poll the board to see who is running again. If anyone is stepping down, we assess what skills we are losing and discuss what skills we could use. We target 1 or 2 candidates and ask them to sit in on 1 or 2 board meetings to get a hands-on feel for what we do. Have not had more than 1 person running per seat since I ran 4 years ago to bump a particular person off. Before that, probably another 5-6 years without competition for a board seat.

Per state statute and organizing docs, 1st and 2nd mailing must be by USPS. We had our attorney draft individual waivers. More than 75% of our HOs signed these waivers in which they agreed to accept the 2 annual meeting mailings via email instead of USPS. Mailing costs significantly reduced.

Looking forward to electronic voting if it gets approved in PA.

While our pattern may be different than other HOAs, we try to maintain year to year consistency. Most HOs don't like change. We have hit a comfortable stride for our community.

Sikubali jukumu. Read all posts at your own risk.

NpS (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 4,216

Posted:

Correction to para starting with "5 member board" : "Amendment was made some years ago ..."

Quote:

Posted By NpS on 02/04/2015 10:11 AM
2 mailings.

1st Mailing 30 days before meeting. Time, date & location. Copy of Board approved budget. Annual report on projects that are to be funded under the new budget. Copy of amendments, if any, to be voted on. Request for candidates. Blank copy of candidate information form (half-page bio). Deadlines for responses.

2nd Mailing 15 days before meeting. Time, date & location again. Another copy of Board approved budget. Request for number of expected in-person attendees from each household. Copies of completed candidate bios. Ballot/Proxy form (includes everything to be voted on - proxy may be directed or not - counted for both quorum and voting). Invalid if a proxy is not named individually. Invalid if not signed. (Same form used for both proxies and ballots).

Meeting. Open with brief description of significant changes for the new year. Candidate presentations and answers to questions from the floor. Board answers questions from floor about budget and annual project report. Open discussion if any amendment being voted on. Collect ballots. Outside presenters (sometimes). Town hall style meeting while ballots are counted. Announce who is elected, whether the budget was ratified, and whether any amendment passed. Adjourn. After adjournment, new board meets and selects officers among themselves.

5 member board. Amendment was made some years to disallow nominations from the floor. Prior to change, nominations from floor were made only when there weren't enough pre-registered candidates. Not sure what prompted the change.

Prior to mailings, we poll the board to see who is running again. If anyone is stepping down, we assess what skills we are losing and discuss what skills we could use. We target 1 or 2 candidates and ask them to sit in on 1 or 2 board meetings to get a hands-on feel for what we do. Have not had more than 1 person running per seat since I ran 4 years ago to bump a particular person off. Before that, probably another 5-6 years without competition for a board seat.

Per state statute and organizing docs, 1st and 2nd mailing must be by USPS. We had our attorney draft individual waivers. More than 75% of our HOs signed these waivers in which they agreed to accept the 2 annual meeting mailings via email instead of USPS. Mailing costs significantly reduced.

Looking forward to electronic voting if it gets approved in PA.

While our pattern may be different than other HOAs, we try to maintain year to year consistency. Most HOs don't like change. We have hit a comfortable stride for our community.

Sikubali jukumu. Read all posts at your own risk.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

NpS' HOA seems to have a good approach because H/Os get two notices via US mail.

You've written somewhere, JohnC, that your want the election to be fair. But you/the current board? seem totally resistant to sending out brief candidate bios so that 100% of your H/Os know something about them.

You've already said (elsewhere, I guess) that your newsletter only reaches way less that 100% of H/Os. And that it's not an HOA newsletter. Who puts it out?

It's hard for me to believe that postage for 100+ homes will be such a hardship for your HOA.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By KerryL1 on 02/04/2015 3:08 PM
NpS' HOA seems to have a good approach because H/Os get two notices via US mail.

You've written somewhere, JohnC, that your want the election to be fair. But you/the current board? seem totally resistant to sending out brief candidate bios so that 100% of your H/Os know something about them.

You've already said (elsewhere, I guess) that your newsletter only reaches way less that 100% of H/Os. And that it's not an HOA newsletter. Who puts it out?

It was started as an anti-Declarant newsletter by 3 specific owners. One of whom actually published/produced it. The other two were just CCO's and egged him on. We made an old fashioned invite the enemy into you tent decision and invited the producer of it to join our appointed BOD. Once he was on the "inside", he saw how we operated (honestly/fairly) and he became an ally. The two CCO's soon dropped their support though their support was mainly "bytching". While he "shifted" his allegiance to the BOD and produces a fair newsletter, we do keep a hands off approach in that we do not "tell" him what to do. We can only "suggest" what he does. Fortunately he does listen to us......LOL.

It's hard for me to believe that postage for 100+ homes will be such a hardship for your HOA.

This is a valid point (the BOD sending out candidate bios) and it is not entirely off the table yet. If we had to do a ballot mailing, I would be receptive to this. Remember some of our decisions are "forced" on us. If we had to do a mail in ballot mailing then why not let us capitalize on what we may not want to do with candidate bios included. Versus not having to do such from the get go which presents a different set of facts/decisions to one. What one must do and how to capitalize on "being forced" to do so, might well be quite a different decision then when one does not have to do it from the get go. =.

Side note. Is not the 77 out of 112 (68%) that had to signup to receive the Email newsletter more indicative of those that care and participate? Yes a mailing reaches 100% but how many that receive it do not care? Many associations would kill for 68% participation.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

The 68% newsletter recipients are not privileged and who knows if they'll actually vote. All owners should have the same election info as all other owners. I think you're being a bit judgmental to think that non-subscribers don't care about their HOA.

Since you do send out the required (I assume) annual meeting notice, and a proxy form, send out a brief bio too.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here