Tie between two board candidates

Draw straws

Flip a coin.

I would not want to have another election, I don't think. I would probably go with the option of the members at the meeting, but I would stipulate that in the mailer that goes out ahead of time, perhaps encouraging people to come, or to designate someone who will be there as their proxy to vote in the event of a tie.

This post sort of makes my head hurt, lol. We're already having a second election due to not meeting quorum, I had not thought of what if there is a tie this time?

I'd go with a coin flip or drawing straws. However, it would be great to keep the other person involved somehow - how about placing him/her on an advisory committee (if he/she is exceptionally talented, that's your chairperson).

Kerry, I understand you're wanting a variety of people to participate in an election like this and I agree that's the preferred setup, but it also seems to me if these landlords and part time owners were really interested in what goes on in the HOA, they'd make time to attend an annual meeting or at least appoint a proxy (if your community has that option) to show up and speak up, and vote on their behalf. We're not talking about attending every meeting - the annual occurs once a year, so planning is a virtue (obviously emergencies wouldn't count).

Granted, I say this because I'm an owner-occupant myself and tend to lean towards folks like me anyway. Too often the ratios are reversed - you have a large percentage of landlord/owners who don't give a rat's behind about the association, only the rent checks they get every month, leaving the few owner-occupants to try and run the show because no one else will do it (because they aren't around). Home ownership isn't a spectator sport, especially in a HOA, and sometimes you need get up and go see and hear for your own dang self (maybe some of these people would learn something!)

Daniel ...are you still there?

How does secret ballot assist in making quorum?

I think you could run into some issues by allowing some members (those present) to vote to break the tie. You would be giving those members more power than others over choosing the board members. If the members are going to decide, they all should have the opportunity to vote, which would require another election.

A better solution would be to keep it simple with a coin toss.

I can't answer for Kerry but we vote by ballot also, even those members who show up for the annual meeting. The ballots don't count towards a quorum but, since everyone votes by ballot, the election is not part of the meeting. If we don't have a quorum, we can't have the meeting but the election still stands.

The "secret" part doesn't help achieve quorum, it just assures voters that no one knows who they voted for. So, this secrecy might encourage some to vote who would not if they identity is known. This means they don't have to worry about retaliation, etc. in situations where the voter & for whom they voted are known to someone. I don't know what that's like but have heard about it plenty of times on this forum.

Whether in person or by US mail in CA, the ballot is in an inside envelope with nothing to identify the voter on it. The outside mailing envelope has the member's HOA address on it as well as the voter's signature. When the ballot comes in, our property manager checks off their name from our list of owners. A few owners still like to vote in person at the annual meetings, and an inspector of election checks off their names from a list of Owners. So we all could know who voted, but not for whom they voted.

This is because when it's time to tally the votes, the outside envelopes are opened and discarded. Then all of the inside envelopes are sort of shuffled and then opened and counted by our three inspectors. Any Owner may observe the tabulation of ballots, but may not speak to the inspectors.

The HOA has absentee balloting and the procedure is outlined in the bylaws.
By tossing a coin, if both candidates agree, I see no problems because it is the candidate making the decision.
The absentee votes are counted and add to the quorum. Last year we had close to 50 households attending the meeting.
There were approximately 53 households voting absentee. By the time the vote was announced there were maybe 15 households
Present. Having 15 households elect a board member for 2 years is denying those others their right to vote to break the tie.
Even if is announced prior to the meeting how a tie will be broken, the absentees are still not involved in the process.
After all, this is a meeting of the membership and the only time votes are cast by the membership to elect their board.
Another election involving the tied candidates could be completed in less than 14 days.
In our HOA, THE BOARD officers are elected during a board meeting following the Annual Meeting. Interim officers can run
The HOA for two weeks.