Annual Election Help

Lisa, my thoughts on your questions are:
1 No.
a) Do need a talley to report. Should be made available to if the results are contested.
2. Need to announce winners; not sure if the number of votes is required to be announced.
3. a) perhaps they were mistaken rather than lied.
b) incomplete proxies should not be counted.
c) Yes. Usually not done, but if that is what the proxy states why would both sign the proxy if they think one may happen to attend?
4. During the meeting. ASAP after results are announced.
5. Yes.

Lisa, if you are concerned that the votes will not be counted properly I suggest you volunteer to be on the Teller's committee and help count the voted. Read Robert's Rules of Order to become educated on how to chose which votes to count or not count. To dispute the talley it is best to request the teller's committee to annonce the results before giving to the Chair. Then make a motion for a recount. The motion needs a second and a majority vote. If the Chair tells you to sit call for a "point of order" which is supposed to be acknowlged immediately by the Chair. Advise the Chair on Robert's Rules unless your By-laws provide for other conduct of a meeting. If still ignored make a motion to remove the Chair and to appoint _______ to Chair the meeting.

If still ignored the final option I would use is to get up a petition for a special members meeting to remove the Board members who did not support your requests to properly conduct a meeting.

Being involved in a recent HOA annual meeting disaster, I can only sympathize and agree. There are always HOA members (trying to minority control)attending and interjecting opinions and comments of NO legal or real expertise into any BOD meeting, especially in front of an audience of like minds (mob mentality). They achieve the expected response even though their facts are wrong, or in some cases just outright lies.

We had a poorly chaired meeting (from start to finish!)and the results are a disaster of issues, and improper motions, that are now having to be reviewed and straightened out, for who knows how long.

Using a well-defined and practiced set of rules and procedures, along with a specific code of conduct, for board members and general members of an association are what should be declared at the outset of becoming a member and being in attendance at ANY HOA function.

RESPECT begets RESPECT!

I am now just beginning to understand how a few misguided and disorganized board members, can create MISERY, for all those that follow and have to do the grunt work (correct and clean up and explain).

Good Luck to ALL of us who are volunteering for the betterment of our community, and NOT...for the ability to get our own self-serving agenda acted on, whatever happened to just being HONEST? and NOT putting your own agenda first? I am lost in thinking and acting on, what good I hoped for and wanted, and why!

My HOA has members who lost sight of what the HOA was for, ALL of us.

Lisa-my advice is to know your covenants, bylaws, rules and regulations better than they do. You will be surprised how some Board members and past Board members will state rules that are nowhere in our covenants, rules etc. Most people assume that they know what they are saying. Our Board even voted let one Board member open up all the proxies before the meeting to "verify" them.

Cultivate your support. I can tell you with 98% certainty who voted for me, who voted against me, and who didn't vote at all. Get out there and find out what people are thinking. Go to the pool, talk to the book club members, walk your dog, etc.

The same day that proxies went out, I sent a positive letter through USPS and email to all the residents stating what I was for. (Nothing bad about my opponent or the current Board.) I did NOT say....the elections are rigged, the board meetings are closed, the board won't let residents see the minutes, one person is controlling the compliance function with no oversight, the compliance committee targets anyone who criticizes them and lets their friends do whatever. I DID write that I wanted open elections, open board meetings, board minutes made available to members, communication of board policies and committee reports, oversight of the compliance function, and that I supported recommendations of the Community Association Institute regarding "being reasonable" about compliance issues.

It was also recommended that I solicit proxies from the more apathetic people in the group. If you do it, you need to do it right when the proxies go out and before they've thrown them away. We had an 85% turnout at this first open election, so soliciting proxies might have backfired for me.

Good luck! I think that people respond to positive, reasonable people.