Requirement for election inspectors

Started by BrianD9 • 4 replies • 964 views

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BrianD9 (California)
Posts: 2

Posted:

I was reading rules around board elections when I came across the Davis-Stirling section on election rules, Civil Code §1363.03.

Our CC&R's make no reference anywhere about election inspectors. Am I understanding correctly that according to Civil Code §1363.03 there must be rules defined around this process? If nothing is defined in the CC&R's does that mean there must still be inspectors, either appointed by the board or elected by the members? There certainly was not any election by the members for our association. It is possible there were appointments by the board, but is there anything required in terms of visibility to the members? Meaning, is the board not required to announce their appointments of inspectors?

As you can probably tell by the questions being asked, I am suspecting some fraud in our election and hoping to get some more visibility in the votes.

Thanks for any advice.

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 3,868

Posted:

Brian

Reference to elections would be in your Bylaws, not your CCRs. Since 2006, elections for certain things, such as the election of Directors, MUST be secret ballot.

According to §5105(a), an association shall adopt election rules. If they don't, the most significant difference is who can be appointed as an inspector of elections. If they have rules, it could say a third party under contract to the association, such as a management company can act as an inspector. If they have no rules, then they can. This is where many associations run afoul of the statues.

All elections must have inspectors, either one or three, and they must be appointed and in place prior to the sending out of ballots, which is thirty days before the meeting to count the ballots. If not, who do you send the ballots to?

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

Yes, as Richard states, you must have 1 or 3 inspectors of election who usually are appointed by the board. Our HOA just appointed ours--owner volunteers-- for our October election last week.

And you must have Election Rules. Learn more at Davis-Stirling.com, Main Index, Elections. The4 cite is complied by CA HOA attorneys and they often cite the actual legislation along with their own opinions.

The Civil Code you cite, Brian, makes me think you're reading something old as the Davis-Stirling legislation no longer uses that number

Your bylaws also will tell you how to elect directors, how long their terms are, etc.

How many directors should your HOA have, Brian? How many homes or units are in it?

BrianD9 (California)
Posts: 2

Posted:

Thanks for the extra info. I will look into the bylaws.

Our ballots are mailed and hand delivered to the Association manager appointed to us by the property management company. We have a board of 3 members to cover ~30 units.

Thanks

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