Slam Dunk Election in Florida HOA ??

Our central Florida HOA had its yearly election meeting last month and according to the property manager (PM), 18 homeowner's proxies were returned to him. Our bylaws states that members may NOT vote by general proxy. Yet the proxy was not defined as a limited proxy. ‘Limited’ was not referenced at all in the PM’s cover letter or the proxy itself. Actually, the letter had an ‘Enclosure’ section which included the words “General Proxy”.

Furthermore, the proxy states that "... the undersigned hereby appoints the Secretary of the Association or _______________, attorney and agent with the power of substitution ... to vote as proxy in order to establish a quorum.

The PM admitted that none of the 18 homeowners designated someone to vote in their stead thus all 18 proxies were credited to the Association's Secretary. Her (master) ballot counted as 19 votes which was enough to elect her 5 nominees.

Several questions: (1) Was the proxy used really a General proxy ?
The proxy's designated voter sentence may also have mislead homeowners in thinking they could only appoint the HOA's Secretary or an attorney and agent. The conjunction 'or' did not precede 'attorney'. (2) Could I therefore argue that the PM did NOT follow our by-laws by not using limited proxies, and that the proxy was misleading and gave the Secretary an unfair advantage to get re-elected, and therefore the election is null and void ?

I would appreciate any response, especially from someone who has been involved in overseeing elections in Florida.

Alex,

I need to have a little more information as to what was written on the proxy. More than likely, it was a limited proxy form which is what we are allowed to use in HOA's.
Your Bylaws will have the statement for proxy use in your association. Below is the Proxy use statement from 720;306 (8) Proxy Voting.

8) PROXY VOTING.--The members have the right, unless otherwise provided in this subsection or in the governing documents, to vote in person or by proxy. 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. A proxy is effective only for the specific meeting for which it was originally given, as the meeting may lawfully be adjourned and reconvened from time to time, and automatically expires 90 days after the date of the meeting for which it was originally given. A proxy is revocable at any time at the pleasure of the person who executes it. If the proxy form expressly so provides, any proxy holder may appoint, in writing, a substitute to act in his or her place.

Alex, there is no other place in the Statutes that describe an open Proxy so I would believe that your proxies were poorly done or copied from some book without being of a Limited Type.

Susan, I think everyone receiving the proxy got confused. The letter from the property manager announcing the annual meeting/election began as follows:
"Enclosed is a Proxy form for establishing quorum requirements. You are urged to participate by attending in person or by returning the proxy form signed by your 'designated voter' and mailing it...".
The proxy form, stated "Know all persons by these present that the undersigned hereby appoints the Secretary of the Association or____________,attorney and agent with the power of substitution for and in the name, place and stead of the undersigned, to vote as proxy in order to establish a quorum at the Annual Meeting of the Membership."

According to the PM, 18 proxies were received, but none had been signed by a 'designated voter' as instructed by the PM's letter. No proxy had a name in the space for 'appoints ...', perhaps because of the possible link to 'attorney and agent' thefore the secretary was appointed by default as the designated voter. She in turn filled out her ballot with the 5 individuals she wanted elected and her vote counted as 19 (18 proxies and her ballot).

Donna, in a prior meeting where proxies were used to vote on an issue, the proxy contained a bold heading "Limited Proxy", and the attached letter also indicated it was a 'limited proxy'. For the annual meeting the PM's letter called the proxy a 'General Proxy', a proxy type not allowed in our bylaws for electing BOD. The form only had a bold heading for 'PROXY'.

Robert, I agree the election is void. It appears the letter and proxy form have been ambiguous and confusing, thus giving the HOA's secretary a guarenteed re-election.

Hope this helps.

This is my first time posting here. I live in Plantation Florida; my community had the annual election on March 10, 2010 and because we don't had a quorum and a combination of proxies and people present at the meeting, the HOA Board of Directors rolled over again and now is part of the new BOD. At the time of the elections we have three new people who wanted to run for the board but this never happened based upon the old board rolling over. The PA told us that the Florida Status 720 said is ok for the BOD roll over. As per our by laws we do not have this roll over mentioned if we don't have a quorum. Can some one tell me if this roll over is allowed in the Statue 720? Thank you in advance - Rolo

Alex where was the Board in all of this? They should have approved the mailing and the proxy before they were sent.