HOA Candidate Form

We have been having problems the last few years since the board is not allowing anyone to volunteer to run prior to sending out proxies and the notice of the annual meeting.

All proxies that come back unassigned are voted by the secretary who keeps helping to re-elect herself.

Does anyone have a form or suggestion to where I can get one to send out in advance to anyone interested in running for a board position?

Thanks!

Linda,

What state are you in? Have you checked your By-Laws for the election rules? If the board is not allowing any homeowner in good standing to run for election, this can mean serious trouble for your BOD.

The standard is: someone throws his name in and his resume is sent to the community with others that may run. A voting day arrives and there is a committtee of unbiased homeowners with a overseer counting the votes and proxys. Proxies that are not valid are not counted for the vote.

Check your documents this should all be stated in them.

Hi Nancy,

The problem with the people being nominated at the annual meeting is that we have about 30% of owners who don't live here or are not here for the season yet. Therefore, their proxy is voted according to the person they give the proxy to.

If they are not assigned to a resident specifically, the secretary casts their votes even if he/she is a candidate themselves which is soooooooo wrong to me.

Thanks,
Linda

Mike,
A short comment about your post and not being critical or judgemental in any way. I got lambasted recently because my post was determined to be critical and non-responsive to the poster.
Anyway, on a recent post I mentioned changess in HOA are needed and I felt they would steamroller the states, a kin to your sweep the country.
Sad to say on reflection, even though many HOA changes are needed and the legislatures in the states created this monster and now won't address the issues, change will be hard to come by. Using Florida as an example, even though they made loud legislative noises about creating the Ombudsman Position and established an office to act as clearing house, that power base is slowing being eroded by the developers, real estate, mortgage brokers and their ready supply of hired guns (Lobbyists). I am afraid any changes or establishing state offices with enforcement powers is going to come all painted with the efforts of the above mentioned businesses and is unlikely to have the HOA members foremost.
Just a commeent, nothing more. I am slowly being convinced that changes will have to come by actions within the HOA's that will conflict with the money group and the battle will be joined in the courthouse and any compromises issued by the courts will dilute the solidarity of the HOA's.

LindaD1:
What you have described the Secy. doing is a highly unethical practice and I am surprised the Board is allowing it to continue. IMO, the Board should develop an election process which could have these bases covered:

- Nominations w/background submitted prior to election meeting
- Nominations presented from the floor at meeting
- Written ballots submitted from owners in good standing (name/address) at meeting
- Mail-in ballots submitted in sealed envelope from owners in good standing (*)
- Ballots mailed to Secretary--remain unopened
- Proxies from on-site owners who cannot attend meeting--with voting power to another owner
- Ballot Committee/Prop.Mgr. (+ 1-Board member) to verify owners in good standing; open sealed mail-in votes; count all votes and record

(*) Mail-in ballots received from remote site owners do not require proxy;
they can actually vote for those on the ballot--though it doesn't afford them a choice for anyone who may be nominated at the meeting itself.
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This would require time and effort to prepare in plenty of time prior to the election meeting. A committee could be created from volunteers (2-3) for opening envelopes, counting and recording--the Prop.Mgr./Board members' role could be to oversee that all is opened/counted/recorded correctly.

Check out Roberts Rules of Order for accepted practice/s.

NancyD1.......I am so glad this post was made.....We just had our By Law Committee meeting on Saturday afternoon and this subject came up....My question is ......Are you allowed in Florida to place a stipulation in your by laws that a Member MUST BE GOOD STANDING to run for the Board ??? Does Florida allow HOA"s to have staggered terms and term limits ???? Thanks for any help...... We have 4 stubborn people on our commitee who feel that a lot of what is being proposed for amendements to our By Laws can be made a rule....They feel our By laws need to be short and sweet..the rest can go in the rules..... I expplained it was my understanding that the By Laws are about the most important document the HOA can have, but all this is fallen on deaf ears.... I see trouble on the horizon...............LindaC

LindaD............ I turn to 720 it seems on a daily basis since being appointed to the By law Commitee.....BUT....It seems our chair feels that any suggestion being made is silly and she doesnt feel it is a problem......BUT........I have said that these are problems because members are talking about it and the Commitee needs to think out of the box and into the future to cover all bases... A member asked that an amendment be presented to the members to allow for staggered terms and term limits...The chair says that because FSS 720 allows for a homeowner to nomiate themself from the floor this is not allowed .......I say because the State is SILENT on this issue we would be allowed to place it in our By laws....
We also asked that it be placed in our by laws that a member MUST be in good standing to run.....the chair once again said prohibited by 720....I find nothing in 720 that states anything to that effect...In fact it states "" if so provided in the governing documents an association MAY suspend voting privleges for anyone 90 days late in paying assessments " PERIOD.....So how does the prevent us from putting in our by laws that a member must be in good standing ???
I dont see where it would but we are being told NOPE cant do it......Looking for input from Florida folks who may have this similar wording in their by laws....thanks again LindaC

When you say "you still have to allow for write-in votes and nominations from the floor" that makes sense. Our BOD Pres has discussed that he wants to add in our bylaws to have a cut off date for nominations thirty days prior to election, and not allow any nominations from floor and no write-ins will be allowed.(FL) Have you ever heard of this being done? Thanks!

Linda: A proxy can be directed to go to anyone, not just the secretary. Send out a notice to the community telling them that if they want change they should direct their proxy to you. Just cross out secretary and have them put in your name. Then you do what needs to be done.

To Dana, Ann, Linda and Jeanne,
I appreciated your posts and think they were well stated.

It has always bothered me to see in this HOA business the extremes that we go to to add or subtrack from some rule that probably makes sense to start. This business of not allowing nominations from the floor fits the bill, I think.
I know of nothing that could be a reason for not allowing someone to nominate themselves or another home owner. Why would that be changed or eliminated? How did that come about, for what reason was the drill undertaken to change it or delete it? It makes sense to leave it in and no sense to take it out.

IMHO, at an annual meeting if a member wants to show her/his disatifaction with the slate or process, they can self nominate. I don't think they do it to win, they do it to express their voice in the proceedings. Suppose at some time during the prior year you observe an owner doing good acts for the Regime. You would like to recognize them, so you nominate them. It should be considered an honor to be nominated. Suppose you had sent in your proxy and assigned it to someone. That does not preclude you from making a nomination. You are nominating not voting. I feel a certain sense of pride if I am nominated from the floor.

Just an observation, nothing more. A compliment to the Board from the members at a meeting carry much more weight that a President that will extoll loud and long what a great job the board has done. The trick is of course, to have enough interest in the Regime to know who does what.

Robert,

Thanks for your support. I just came back from a board meeting and it was chaos as usual.

I stayed on to speak with the president about sending out requests for candidates and she had run it by the rest of the board and they are not in favor of it. Their reasoning is that we never did it that way before...

I have given her lots of references to look at and she is in agreement that this is the way it should be done. I just worry that if I had not pushed her by saying 'so what' it's the fair way to do it, she would have given in to them.

She is still going to call them and let them know what we're doing so hopefully, they don't change her mind.

I've decided I will attend every meeting held in the community if I can. I will bring my copy of Florida statute 720 and my Robert's Rules and continue to be impartial and go according to the rules. I have often looked up things and brought it to the board's attention before the meeting is over. The last thing we need is to make another mistake on top of a mistake.

I am trying to not be rude but to be professional. I hope it works.

Thank you everyone for your assistance, it's been a godsend finding this site!!