Circulating self-made proxies before a meeting is announced

Have you seen owners circulate proxies that they prepared themselves, before an owner meeting is announced?

If so, how did it go for those owners?

In my HOA (in NY), an owner has done that. The property manager tried to stop it. The meeting has not yet been announced.

The proxies are definitely valid (they meet all requirements under applicable law and the HOA's governing documents).

Thanks.

I love Proxies. They are often misunderstood and miss used but that is the writer's/signer's problem, not a Proxy problem. Remember one thing about Proxies. The latest dated one overrides any prior Proxy(s). You could write a Proxy on toilet paper and if properly done, it is legal.

The board needs to take a stand - send one proxy to each unit and tell homeowners no duplicates of any kind will be accepted. If someone loses a proxy or it gets damaged, they can call the property manager for a replacement. If necessary, keep track of the number of proxies sent out. If dozens of people say they need duplicates, that may be a clue something else is going on.

Without Proxies, we would never establish a Quorum at our Annual Meetings.

Why can't that be done with a ballot?

It would be illegal in Florida. There are arbitration decisions going back years that uphold the 5 elements that constitute a "valid proxy". Time after time association arguments that "their" proxy must be used are shot down. And yes, a proxy written with crayon and toilet paper could very easily be valid in Florida as long as it complied with FS 720.306(8)(a):

"To be valid, a proxy must be dated, must state the date, time, and place of the meeting for which it was given, and must be signed by the authorized person who executed the proxy."

The condo statute says the same thing albeit in chapter 718.

This cost my HOA $300 after the secretary (a retired legal secretary to boot) sent out blank proxies to the homeowners as part of the "Annual Meeting Info Package" and they failed to include the place of the meeting. When I pointed out the error she became very defensive and claimed that it didn't matter because the Meeting Notice identified the proper location. I pointed out that a Meeting Notice is not a Proxy and that the proxies were still invalid. She ran up a $250 bill with the association attorney so that he could tell her exactly the same thing I had already told her. Then there was an additional $50 for stamps to mail out new proxies.

Now she doesn't like me at all and, needless to say, the feeling is mutual. Some legal secretary.

Our proxies are made by the manager and they have a date on them... not written in.. Noone can dupe our proxies that way. I get it ahead of time. but I always wait until they are sent through the computer to unit owners.

We recently had an owner alter the agenda for the annual meeting and added it to the proxy the HOA sent out. I have read that HOA's can take legal action on this if its perceived as fraud or manipulation.

What I found:

Legal action by the HOA: in more severe cases, especially if the alteration is seen as an attempt at fraud or manipulation, th HOA could take leg action againt the homwowner.

We are consulting our Lawyer but wanted to know if others have come across this issue.

This is just one event of his manipulation of the owners to overturn the management company and BOD.

A few owners were not aware that is what he was trying to do until he announced it the recent annual meeting that we had to call short.

Do the original covenants or original bylaws say that absent owners who do not assign a proxy to another owner will have their vote assigned to the Board?

If not, your HOA is undoubtedly breaking the law.

I doubt an amendment saying as much would be enforceable in court.

This issue has come up in the courts.

Texas statutes might have something to say on this, too, in the proxy sections.