HOA voting procedures in California

When voting for directors our association compiles a list of people interested and at the annual meeting we are asked to vote that group up or down.
Is this an acceptable means of voting for directors? There is no oportunity to vote on individual candidates nor do we know their qualifications and being we are all neighbors a bit intimidating to do this publicly.
There is nothing in our bylaws as to this procedure only that directors are elected at annual meeting.

Can you elaborate on correct procedure?

Your "association," whatever that means (board? Property manager?), is doing it wrong. The correct procedure is very complicated. You need to read the state statutes for yourself at davis-stirling.com, Menu, Elections.

Just ONE important requirement by state statute is that secret ballots go the owners via USPS, and may be returned by mail, brought to a designated place, or brought to the annual meeting. Attendance is not required at the latter. Ballots are secret & must be in double envelopes. But there's so much more.

Crossed with Augustin. Yes, 1 or 3 inspectors of election are required and they are appointed by the board. Their task is to count the secret ballots. So far as I know, they do not evaluate or "rule" on whether the entire election is being conducted legally.

our association is a property owners association its basic function is to mantain the easements that compose our road system and each of us property owners own. So its a patchwork of easements.

Here is how it went from the minutes:

"Election of Directors. The Moderator then announced that the next order
of business was the election of Directors for the following year, who would serve
until their successors are elected or appointed. The nominations for Directors
were presented, and the following seven (7) Directors were elected by unanimous
vote"
--------------------

There were no real nominations. 4 directors that had already served a decade ran themselves again with 3 new people.
They claim the phrase who would serve "until their successors are elected" allows them to run over and over again.

Damon

Augustin is the self proclaimed legal authority for all things pertaining to I believe everything that goes on in the United States and Kerry is his side kick. I could tell you how things should be done, but it just turns into one big pissing contest. So I'll leave it to the two "experts".

First,

Someone needs to review your Bylaws, how old they are. If your association is self-managed, who has kept your association current on new laws and statues. As pointed out, you need to have a current set of election rules based on your Bylaws. This link will give you the proper timeline on how long, start to finish, to conduct an election for directors. https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/H/HOA-Election-Timeline.

You need an independent third party inspector of elections, who is not under contract to the association, so your management company, if any or attorney can not be the inspector. The inspector can be a couple of homeowners that are not related to any candidate or board member.

Bylaws will only tell you when an election should be held, how many directors, their terms, what quorum is, how to adjourn, etc. Election Rules will take all the relevant information from the Bylaws and set up a procedure, start to finish on conducting any of the secret ballot election required by civil code. The ones I have put together for clients are about 20 pages. Putting a set together takes about 30 minutes, getting it implemented, where that depends solely on whether the board wants change and/or if residents are willing to set up and create change.

The thing is, JohnC, your SC way is not legal in Ca and the OP is asking about a CA HOA, not an SC one

-- You ought to be aware that votes by acclimation are allowed, and it appears to me that these acclimation votes are a straight up and down vote for the entire slate. See https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/U/Uncontested-Elections-by-Acclamation.

-- I consider the "anybody else?" part to be a call for nominations from the floor. Note that the law says those who mailed in ballots forfeit the right to vote for nominees from the floor. See https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/N/Nomination-of-Candidates

-- Yes, for this past election there are a bunch of other statute sections that were not followed, but I hesitate to fight this past election's outcome. I think doing so is not a good use of your time.

-- I would focus on asking the board to comply with the sections of the California code pertaining to elections, in the future, and starting with the next annual election. I would list the sections (so they know I am watching), and point out that there may be more.

-- The statutorily required, third party inspector of elections has this statutory power: "Perform any acts as may be proper to conduct the election with fairness to all members in accordance with this article, the Corporations Code, and all applicable rules of the association regarding the conduct of the election that are not in conflict with this article." I think this is a broad power. If exercised reasonably, I can see an inspector disallowing an election in its entirety and recommending the election be re-done.

Is this clause the one you claim represents a term limit, meaning in your opinion, this means any director who serves two years cannot serve on the board subsequently, ever again?

Such a Bylaw is common nationwide. It does not mean what you think it means.

California statutes place no limits on how many terms a director may serve.

California statutes say: "Except as otherwise provided in the articles or bylaws, each director, including a director elected to fill a vacancy, shall hold office until the expiration of the term for which elected and until a successor has been elected and qualified, unless the director has been removed from office."

Correct, you should have. Because it appears the statute of limitations for challenging a California HOA/COA election is one year.

AFAIC, everyone needs to follow the rules. I know 'following the rules' translates to a lot of study of bylaws, covenants and state law. But the more one reads and re-reads, the more a logic becomes apparent, and the easier it becomes to know, for one, when to check with the covenants, bylaws or statutes.

Else FWIW, good for you for asking about much of this here first, before writing the board with potentially incorrect claims. Not that this forum is perfect. But it's probably the best HOA/COA advice one will get at no charge. Sometimes the advice here is better than that of even HOA/COA specialized attorneys, AFAIC.

I was wondering a bout that, max, when he wrote "property owners association" way above.

We the members pay for the roads out of our dues.
Roads composed of a series of easements each property has at least one combined they make up the road system. I read somewhere that the association holds title to the road easements.
roads are private and should be for residents only but realistically anyone can come in there is no gate.
yes each owner can use any part of the roads.