Signatures on Ballots

At our recent homeowners annual meeting, we elected 5 new members to the BOD. Homeowners were required to sign their ballots (name and address or lot number)in order that their ballots be counted. The attorney representing our corporation (who was present at the meeting) stated that corporation law requires ballots to be signed. We are a patio home community of 115 member/homeowners, and we reside in Indiana. Is this common practice in HOAs? Any comments?

Hi DonnaS. Thanks for your comment. The ballots I'm speaking of are those that are filled in and cast at the meeting. They are not mailed in. They are not in any sort of envelope. They are on one sheet of paper, folded, and turned in to the group tallying the votes. I fully understand and support accountability, and the method you outline might work.
Do I trust the attorney? Yes, I rather like him, but there are a number of people in our community who are absolutely irrate over having to sign ballots. The attorney was hired by the previous board, and it is questionable whether the present board wants to continue his services (there was a total turnover of the board). I am one of the new board members and am asking the question for a broader information base and to be able to defend my stance, when I take it. Again, thanks. I'm eager to hear from others as well.

Donna,

We just had our elections and homeowners are requested to sign in as well but the buck stops there. What good are signatures against a property management list when even the property manager suffers from 'crs' but that is beside the point I am trying to make. Proxies were already opened prior to the meeting by the property manager "to save time". The attorney supports her and however the BOD wants to "run the meeting" is to their discretion. Because of this, no one will know how many proxies were voided or how many legitimate opponent votes were "pulled" before the election monitors tallied the votes. Anyway, votes were counted and "winners" were announced. Unfortunately, no one questioned the actual number of proxies or ballots actually received. Meeting adjourned, lawyer left and new/outgoing board members along with property manager unwilling to converse with homeowners present on other issues or concerns. However, what struck me as odd afterwards is the property manager expressing concern that we just squeaked by in meeting quorum--the magic number being 52. It has taken a whole month to collect copies of proxies and ballots and I've uncovered 10 additional ballots. Would this be considered a tainted election? Is there anything that can be done about this now? Thanks. -Reneé

The issue is not only "one lot/one vote" but also eligibility of voters. Some members may well be not in good standing and not eligible to vote due to a variety of reasons that qualify as putting them in that status.

If your board had set up an alternative format for voting and verification prior to the meeting then that's one thing, but absent any other way of confirming eligibility, then the attorney was absolutely correct in requiring signatures and addresses/lot numbers on the votes.

Quite frankly, I think it's just too bad that some people got irate over it. If it were a vote that they supported and wanted to be sure all eligible votes were counted properly, you can be sure they would be screaming if no validation process were in place.

On another note, SOME HOAs REQUIRE signed/addressed ballots per their governing documents. So it would also be in your board's best interest to be sure what the documents themselves have to say about voting procedure.

Our board and the attorney revised our by-laws a month or so before the election. The old by-laws didn't address signatures on ballots, but the revised by-laws now include a requirement for signatures on ballots. So IAW the by-laws, it was appropriate to ask people to sign their ballot. Still, the question remains whether the by-laws are correct. There are some other things in the by-laws that are questionable (even the atty admitted to me he wasn't pleased with the voting procedures, but said the board wanted them that way)so the new board may want to revise the revision.

Those who were upset with signing ballots had raised the issue when the by-laws first came out -- to no avail. They are not wild-eyed radicals. They are retired professionals who are responsible, reasonable, contributing citizens to this 55 and older community.

When we arrived at the meeting, we signed in in front of board members on a sheet listing our address/lot number. Since we are a small community (115 homeowner/members), most of us recognize each other so it would be difficult to cheat. Each homeowner/member was given a ballot. The ballot was on a purplish paper and had the names of the nominees typed on it with space for nominations from the floor. It would be difficult to reproduce the color paper and the typing in order to stuff the ballot box. So these measures provided some accountability.

My dilemma is that I do not want to violate any law - corporate or otherwise. Neither do I want to place our board in an indefensible position with loose voting procedures. Some of my fellow, newly elected board members are adamant that signatures not be on ballots. I'm willing to listen to all sides because undoubtedly, the issue will surface again and I want to be prepared to deal with it in a fair, legal, and responsible way.

Thanks to all who comment. Reading the comments is very helpful and gives insight.

Marrianne,
Some where in this thresd I read where the mailed ballots or votes were counted by the manager or someone to save time.
Since when does a little time spent give cause to make an election more contentious? To me this action is suspect. Why in the world would anyone want to make this process any more complicated that it is. At some point you should establish the votes are valid, no one has seen them, if votes are given at meeting, use the member validation at check in, collect this votes in a box with one fold on them, and give them to the committe outside the Board or management, in fact take volunteers, give them the mailed in votes and have them verify the outer envelope as to owner, check them off, drop their vote in the big box. When they is no duplication in names, count the number of votes, verify, dump the box on a big table and count the votes, and do in all insight of members standing around drinking coffe and then have that committee chair announce the results.
One member should watch the action at the table and verify to the committee.

Anytime you let the Board or Manager or employee or lawyer or anyone not a member touch those ballots you are asking for trouble. Maybe certain adjustments will have to be made for large association, but keep it in the non elected memberhip.

Our property manager puts together a list of the previous election committee names, this is given to each BOD member. We individually add or subtract names to the list. He compiles the list, sends out invitations for a private meeting (as our doc's state), and the committee themselves elect a chairperson. The BOD will not know who is on the committee until after the election when they are thanked by the chair. The chair gives the final counts for each candidate.

If the ballots or proxies are mailed in, they need a signature on the envelope with a lot identification number. These are verified before they and if they are disqualified they are put to the side. The qualified ballots are not open until election night

If a person comes into the clubhouse to vote, there are at least 4 members of the election committee in the voting room. They check off the property owner list which has been edited for non performing members or ballot votes that have already been submitted and give the voter a election form. The homeowner fills out the form and drops it in a box. At 4pm the whole committee gathers to open the boxes and open the ballots and proxies. They are all counted with the chair and an assistant watching all.

.

This sounds like a reasonable and workable solution to the dilemma.

MarianneG,
Look at you Master Deed and By-laws. Probably on the first page of one of them there may be a notice that either one has been amemnded.

Not that I am suggesting the some prior board would change the documents or maybe the developer for some reason. Of course they would not do that, and if they did, then the new Board would have the option to change them back to maybe where the voters (members) would have a vote in their governance.

Does SC stand for South Carolina? Our development is in Indiana. I will look at IN/Gov to see if there is anything there, though. Thanks.