No Quorum: How to move forward?

If NC allows proxy voting, people don't have to be physically present to cast their vote. If you collected 18 votes via proxy, you could have brought those proxies to the meeting and met your quorum requirement.

2 choices:

1. Wait til next annual election meeting.

2. Call a special meeting where you can force an earlier election.

Your organizing docs should have sections that describe whether Proxies are allowed and what you have to do to call a Special Meeting.

Hope that helps.

Generally speaking, a sitting board member whose term has expired continues to serve until a new board member is elected.

Hi JeniferB,

1.
I agree with others who say that, until a quorum is achieved at your HOA, the Board is obliged to publicize that all seats on the board are open. The Board should run an election for all these seats until they are filled via a legal quorum.

2.
I also agree with others that the Board should make sure it is doing all it can to achieve a quorum by sending out an explanation of the proxy process and how the HOA risks higher expenses if it cannot achieve a legal quorum, via having to run a second election. Check your Bylaws for what they say about proxies.

3.
My former HOA's governing documents did not state what to do when the annual election meeting failed to have a quorum. The HOA had for some years been very close to not having a quorum, so the Board recently asked the HOA attorney what would happen if a quorum was not achieved. The HOA attorney said the Board had to run another election, presumably within a reasonable timeframe.

4.
How many elections have to be run within a year to satisfy the law? I do not know if this has ever come before the courts before. Given the expense of noticing all members of the election and running the election (typically with an attorney or CPA acting as the election referee), I think one make-up election would be sufficient and defensible by the HOA in court.

5.
If I were a dissatisfied member, to find some peace, I would try to process that a fair interpretation of lack of a quorum probably means that most of the members are pleased with the present board.

6.
You could go around to each household and gather proxies. I understand solicitation for the purpose of gathering proxies is legal, regardless of what the gov docs say. The Board should help with this, too, if it cares about its legality.

7.
One "trick" some HOAs use to obtain a quorum is to disqualify from voting those who are in arrears on assessments and declare that this reduces the number of eligible voters. In turn, this reduces the number needed for a quorum. For example, suppose your HOA has 200 members, 30 of whom have not paid their dues. Suppose the quorum number is 20%. Some HOAs say this means 20% of those eligible to vote constitute a quorum, or in this example, the magic number to achieve a quorum is 20% x 170 = 34. Your governing documents might clarify whether this is allowed. If your gov docs are silent on this, consult a HOA attorney.

8.
I note that, when only a single person is willing to serve on a board, my former HOA's attorney said this could avoid the HOA being forced into receivership. Receivership happens when a HOA has no board, yet the governing documents say it is a HOA and must have one. A court appoints a (paid and expensive) receiver to run the place until the HOA gets someone to serve voluntarily on the board. It seems to me this reality reinforces the legality of your current board continuing to serve as long as they want, as long as they try to run an election every year and trying to get out the vote.

Our docs in SC allow us to ?reconvene? the Annual Meeting with a 30 day notice and at each recall, the quorum required is reduced by 50%. I have seen it where in an HOA of 700 that less then 100 (350 to 175 to 88) end up establishing forum and holding an election.

I one HOA it took us two election cycles to get rid of an entrenched BOD. Each election we did a large, coordinated collection of Proxies. It was hard work. We set up tables at the pool and on street corners plus we went door to door. One has to go out and earn change, not just wish for it.

I am a firm believer that quorum requirements for the election of director should be eliminated in all HOA's. The only advantage I see in keeping any quorum requirements in place is keeping potential bad directors in power, as they have no incentive ever in making sure quorum is achieved.

Very simple, the person who get the most votes is elected a director, not having to worry about reaching sometimes an impossible number for quorum.

After the 2000 presidential election, I worked for the City of Los Angeles and their election division. After elections, my job was to gather statatcis on just about everyone that you could possibly put a number to.

In California, 70-75% of the people vote for a president, 40-50% vote for a governor, 30% vote for a state senator or assembly person, 30% vote for a new mayor, while less than 15% vote for an incumbent, and less than 15% vote for a city councilman. If we applied the same rules that HOA's go by, outside vote for a president, we wouldn't have any ballots opened.

In an HOA, my job, if running for a position is try and get the most votes, NOT getting % of the membership to vote. If two person vote, so be it. IF don't like what they accomplished, they can always be voted out at the next election or recalled if that serious. Again, this ONLY applies to the election of directors.

So I have to assume then that you would be comfortable with having a quorum for the election for your city council person. Talk about keeping them honest.

You know, if quorum were eliminated for the election of directors, most of the people we see here would go away.