Petition Signature Verification - who is responsible

Who is responsible for verifying signatures on a petition? As a former Secretary of our association I believe this is the responsibility of the Secretary and the BOD should not be involved. I performed this function as Secretary and will admit there was not much of a verification process and most signatures were accepted at face value unless the person signing wasn't an ownerr.

A little more background. I created an e-signature process using a subscription service to expidite the process of gathering petition signatures. The process has a two-factor authentication method and the signatures can't be forged. Without getting into to many specifics on the process, it is secure.

The BOD and not the Secretary is telling a few petitioners that the e-signatures can not be validated and their petitions are invalid. Very convienent since 2 of the petitions are to address some unethical practices of the BOD. One of these practices involved contacting owners that signed a petition and asking them why? This seems like voter intimidation and caused many to shy away from signing other petitions.

Do any other folks use E-signature? And should the BOD be involved in the process of verifying signatures?

Thanks
John Cummings

So far, I think it's likely that the following Massachusetts statute section applies:

Section 7. (a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.

(b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.

(c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.

(d) If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.

See
https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlexv/chapter110g/section7
and
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXV/Chapter110G (read the sections on where this statute section applies)

I would share this with the board and suggest the directors get the HOA/COA attorney's opinion.

TimB4's link appears to me to apply to Florida HOAs/COAs.

Why wouldn't the board be involved in verifying the signatures - that doesn't make sense. What if the secretary is the subject of a recall petition - do you really want him or her to validate signature on a petition that wants her/him out?

As for this e-signature verification process you created, does the board have access so the current Secretary can verify signatures and is everyone trained on how to use it? It may have checked for signers who weren't members, but what about duplicate signatures? Can someone e else come in and doubled your work so nothing was missed (you may have set this up but that doesn't automatically make you any more trustworthy than someone else).

I'm sure your documents don't go much further than requiring petitions to call for special homeowner meetings because they were probably written at a time when we didn't have the internet, e-mail or e-signature ability. That's why I think it would be appropriate for the board to establish some policies and procedures to flesh out the process. Those rules shouldn't be so cumbersome to discourage homeowners from starting a petition or signing it.

You might start by doing some Googling on verifying e-signatures. I saw several that discussed things like reviewing a sample of signatures and then extrapolating that to the total number of signatures collected. I might also make the petition collectors partly responsible for verification - perhaps when the petition is presented, they could explain how they validated the e-signatures and provide verification of the same. That shouldn't stop the board from doing its own audit using another sample from the petition.

Eventually, the board could propose amending the documents to address e-signatures in general - amendments require homeowner approval, so everyone could consider if they want to use them, how to protect against fraud and continue to have options for using paper and ink, especially if someone doesn't have email or internet access.

?

I read the Massachusetts statute section TimB4 linked above before my first post here. I do not see his logic. I think electronic signatures for a Massachusetts HOA or Condo are fine.

The OP has clarified he is in New Hampshire. It appears the OP does not have google on his computer. If he did, he would have found this: https://law.justia.com/codes/new-hampshire/2021/title-xxvii/title-294-e/section-294-e-7/ . Consequently I think electronic signatures as described in the OP are also lawful in New Hampshire.

What is google - lol. Thanks for pointing out that article. I was really looking for other HOA's that used e-signatures and if they had issues. It was also a 2 part question with the second part being "who" verifies the signatures.

The article is great, but unfortunately the BOD is telling me that the new lawyer they have reviewing our documents says they don't have to accept e-signatures. The BOD is not willing to share the question to or the answer from the lawyer with me. I guess I have no other recourse than to consult an attorney.

It's not an article. It's a New Hampshire statute section.

Many boards have attorney-prostitutes who will defend any position the board wishes to take.

You can lawyer up but unless you want to spend a lot of money, with no guarantee, forget about doing so.

Also trying to get an obtuse board to behave, using their very own attorney-prostitute paid for by you and the other owners, is no fun.

It's cheapest to try to change the board at the next annual election. Though the question will remain whether any of you owners is truly better qualified than the current board.

Right. The bastards.

Thanks Max, great info.

I see your point on e-signatures and I would agree if this was a residential HOA, but it is not. This is a vacation HOA on a lake in NH. Many owners come here infrequently and on different schedules. Without the use of e-signatures many owners would be left out of the democratic process.

Thanks again,

John

Thanks Tim! Very useful and I'm thankful for your comments.

When in doubt,take to social media to build a case. With the help of the gracous responders on this page and the fact that one responder pointed me to the legal statute on electronic signature, the BOD has dropped their fight and have agree to accept electronic signatures after they perform a validation proces. The electronic signatures are all valid and each owner had to validate their signature by responding to the verification email that only they have access to to verify that they signed.

Thanks everyone.
John