Election by mail-in-ballot only?

Started by LarryS3 • 17 replies • 2330 views

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LarryS3 (Washington)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Our HOA recently passed a resolution that only allows mail-in-ballots for our Election of Directors. No in person voting the day of the Annual Meeting. Is this allowed? Our HOA is in a planned community in Arizona. This specific issue is not addressed in our Bylaws.

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Larry,
If the members approve the resolution I presume it is legal unless there is a state staute which is being violated. But I would suggest amending the By-laws not just passing a resolution.

PatriciaS (Florida)
Posts: 12

Posted:

check you state laws. In Florida, they must have a quorum and you can mail in your vote or proxy. You can also ask for it at the meeting and change your mind.

Patricia S

HaroldS1 (Arizona)
Posts: 314

Posted:

Here is Arizona Revised Statue regarding voting:

33-1812. Proxies; absentee ballots; definition

A. Notwithstanding any provision in the community documents, after termination of the period of declarant control, votes allocated to a unit may not be cast pursuant to a proxy. The association shall provide for votes to be cast in person and by absentee ballot and may provide for voting by some other form of delivery. Notwithstanding section 10-3708 or the provisions of the community documents, any action taken at an annual, regular or special meeting of the members shall comply with all of the following if absentee ballots are used:

1. The absentee ballot shall set forth each proposed action.

2. The absentee ballot shall provide an opportunity to vote for or against each proposed action.

3. The absentee ballot is valid for only one specified election or meeting of the members and expires automatically after the completion of the election or meeting.

4. The absentee ballot specifies the time and date by which the ballot must be delivered to the board of directors in order to be counted, which shall be at least seven days after the date that the board delivers the unvoted absentee ballot to the member.

5. The absentee ballot does not authorize another person to cast votes on behalf of the member.

B. Votes cast by absentee ballot or other form of delivery are valid for the purpose of establishing a quorum.

C. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, an association for a timeshare plan as defined in section 32-2197 may permit votes by a proxy that is duly executed by a unit owner.

D. For the purposes of this section, "period of declarant control" means the time during which the declarant or persons designated by the declarant may elect or appoint the members of the board of directors pursuant to the community documents or by virtue of superior voting power.

It is very clear. "...in person and by absentee ballot..." I would suppose if they only allow mail in ballots, they should also include any other agenda item that would require a vote of the members at the meeting. Therefore, why have the meeting? Maybe this is their intent? Harold

MicheleD (Kentucky)
Posts: 4,491

Posted:

Our HOA has board member election ONLY by mail and they ballots have to be received by a certain date.

No one can bring the ballot to the meeting with them.

They are not opened until the meeting, but they have to be postmarked by the specified date.

This has been the way our CC&Rs and by-laws have been set up from day one.

We are in Kentucky

PatH4 (Arizona)
Posts: 17

Posted:

Larry,

Your HOA is complying with Arizona State law (it wasn't their choice). ARS 33-1813 reqires that ALL HOAS provide for voting by Absentee Ballot along with voting in person. For those communities who are accustomed to voting at the Annual Meeting and in the past have allowed "nominations from the floor", this practice is not available anymore.

Think about it, if "nominations from the floor" would be allowed ALL MEMBERS would not be voting the same ballot as the Absentee/Mail In ballots would not have the names of candidates who would be nominated at the Annual Meeting.

Also, for your information, PROXY VOTING is DISALLOWED by Arizona State Law....

Your Board has no control over these situations.

Pat

MG (Georgia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Our HOA has decided that using email is the primary form of communications within our subdivision. This is for monthly newsletters, flyers, voting measures, nomination forms, surveys, general community memos, etc. Hardcopy flyers are minimized (mainly for costs and timliness purposes)but used as reminders to socials and for voting measures. However we accept votes via email, at the meeting, or postal mail.

We have about 175 residents in a planned 370 lot subdivision. There is no paid management company that we use - all the work is done voluntarily (sp)- so far so good except that we are not at 100% email listing er have only about 85% cooperation. And it is difficult getting pertinent contact information on new buyers.

We have approved Covenants, Bylaws and are getting the Fines policy approved now. The collections process needs some improvement and attention which we are giving it now but so far so good - do you see any major problems with this process?

MG

HaroldS1 (Arizona)
Posts: 314

Posted:

"do you see any major problems with this process?" Just that you are excluding 15% of your members who do not have or care to share their email address with you. How do you anticipate keeping them in the loop? Harold

PatH4 (Arizona)
Posts: 17

Posted:

MG,

Harold point is right on target....

But MG, what State are you in?

Pat

MichaelD3 (Arizona)
Posts: 1

Posted:

MG, I would respectfully suggest you are headed for a stormy future in trying to run a community your size (even now) without a professional managment company to insure your processes are according to law and that your books and records are kept in a professional manner. Unless your monthly dues are less than $50 your collections will begin to bottle up your association and nothing is more difficult than to deal with your neighbor (and sometimes friend) trying to collect money. Further, just trying to enforce the Governing Documents of your association will become an adversarial process very quickly and can easily develop into a neigbor-against-neighbor calamity that can cost you and your association camaraderie, money, and one great amount of volunteer time trying to put out fires.

Now is the perfect time for your association to hire a professional management company. Take your time, select one that fits the needs of a community your size, and work with them to insure they get the kind of results you and your Board of Directors want.

Full disclosure, I own a management company here in Phoenix and I also live in an association-led community. I wouldn't live in a HOA community without the assistance of a professional management company.

Mike Doyle
CID Management Inc.

LarryS3 (Washington)
Posts: 13

Posted:

Pat

I was asking if the board had to provide for in person voting as well as the mail ballot. You just verified that they do.

MerleK (Florida)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Our HOA has sent out self-nominating petitions to the Board of Directors, closing on Oct. 5. Can I send out proxys to homeowners before I know who all will be nominated to stand for election? (Our by-laws allow proxies)
Thanks, Merlek

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Merle, the answer is yes if it is a non directed (general) proxy. Many associations allow nomination from the floor at the meeting, in which case a general proxy is used.

PatH4 (Arizona)
Posts: 17

Posted:

MerleK,

If you are in Arizona, it doesn't matter what your Bylaws say about proxies.

NO PROXIES ALLOWED IN ARIZONA!

Pat

MG (Georgia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Sorry I have been on vacation for abit and did not see your responses to our using email as a tool for voting. I live in Georgia.

We are not excluding the 15% of the people who are not ont he email listserv. They do get hardcopies of all the documents sent out and everyone has the ability to vote online, bring their ballots to the meeting or drop them off to at a mailbox. No one is excluded - it is just that online is preferable and by keeping up to date on the contact information we can achieve good feedback and consistent and validate responses.

We constantly remind those NOT in email to get registered on the email database to stay informed. At this point we are at 88% compliance because I just got 10 more at our social.

This community has a champagne eyes on a beer budget. I am sure you all know what I mean. They want alot and the best for little to nothing. So, signing on a management company would not work here or fly at all. The major aera of concern is collections - our Developer is the Association and owns it all and will not turn it over to us until the last lot is built out. So, he has full collections responsibility - good for us but the accountability is not as solid as it should be. We have only about 8 people who are non-compliant. An issue we will be addressing with him this week. Let's hope they listen.

Thanks.

LisaS (Illinois)
Posts: 341

Posted:

MG...my only concern for you would be the validity of email voting. "Email signtures' are not valid in many states (I do not know if your is one of them).

As we are all aware, technology is not always secure. especially in the age of wireless networks and 7th grade hackers!

MG (Georgia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

The validity of the email votes is noted and fortunately the databasae of residents and their contact information is maintained by myself and the Financial person that manages the bills and dues. All other information is transparent and communicated to all the residents and they are kept abreast of all expenses and projects just not the residential information.

When voting there is a tight set of documents that gets sent to everyone. Any that come in are verified and a track is kept of all votes by house address. If there are any discrepencies they will be followed up on - thus far with 2 votes behind us we have had no issues. We are planning a huge meeting in 2 weeks that will have a vote and a survey sent out. Again the controls are in place to accept email and hardcopies and proxies.

So far so good and those smart teenage hackers would be pretty bored with Homeowner Association buisness. And if there was a hacker in our midst then they would probably be "caught or noted" as I have gotten 50% of the people to vote thus far and would notice an issue if there were duplicates, or a skewed amount of votes for one measure or if 100% of the people voted.

Thanks
Marylou

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

MG, I like your system. Your system will get more members to vote. Do you provide a coded number for each member's ballot which is confirmed? For amending the CC&Rs I would require a signed and dated ballot with no email voting allowed.

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