HOA Board Election

I live in HOA in CA. On May 18, 2023 we had annual members meeting for electing 5 new members on candidacy list. HOA hired HOA Election Experts (professional election controller) to conduct election. Our governing documents By Laws and CC&Rs are more then 48 years old, and were never updated. They contradict Davis Stirling Act practically in any provisions. The By Laws separate all HOA members in 3 different voting class: members A, B and C, based on lot where property located, according our HOA map. HOA provideds the controller with our By Laws to determine voting class members and voting power of each member according our By Laws. HOA also provided the controller with a list of addresses and number of all HOA members for review as voting procedure adopted by HOA required.
The controller after reviewing of the documents, concluded that we have 3 voting class members without mentioning that they are A, B, C according our old By Laws. Our By Laws require minimum 1/10th of each voting class A, B, C to vote to get quorum.
Davis Stirling Act states in

https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/M/Membership-Classes

that Class B and C members automatically merge into class A members if more then 75% of properties sold by developers. We are old HOA established by the developers somewhere in 1965. Since that time 100% of properties were sold and developers left.
It is a contradiction between Davis Stirling act and ours old By Laws. In this situation Davis Stirling Act has priority over governing documents
According to

https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/H/Hierarchy-of-Documents

The controller made wrong calcification and decided that we did not have quorum in class B members, but we had quorum based on Davis Stirling Act.
The controller's error led to wrong election and no new board was elected.

I sent to the controller an email, pointing to her mistake and asked for explanation why she did not use calcification based on Davis Sterling Act.

She did not respond. Then I asked the HOA's board. No respond.

I want to bring them to small court for violation of election and wrong decision to overturn the election results.

Can anybody tell me --> should I sue the HOA or the election controller hired by HOA for the election?

small claims might not be the right venue . I know in NC you need to sue in Superior Court to get an HOA to comply with their governing docs.

First, you try IDR, as described at the California) Davis-Stirling.com site. Second, the relevant California statute here applies only to suits against the HOA. The statute does not permit owners to sue vendors in small claims court. See:

https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/S/Small-Claims-Challenges

https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/Statutes/Civil-Code-5145

Terri raises an important point, Rita. Does your HOA have the required Election Rules? They should specify the % of all voters needed to establish quorum based on your bylaws and also on current statutes.

The firm your Board hired probably provides "inspectors of election," which are required in CA. But since the election rules became so much more complicated a couple of years ago, "specialized" inspectors of elections firms have sprung up all over the state and I suspect their quality varies a great deal.

So...the firm your Board hired may not know the section of Davis-Stirling that you so nicely quoted. But here's a related question: Was the sum of all so called Classes' ballots, A, B & C voters, enough to reach quorum? Quorum as established by your Bylaws? In other words, what does 1/10 of all classes equal, which would be quorum, it appears, for your HOA?

If quorum was achieved, you could ask the Board at the next open forum at your next board meeting why the results were no good? If you are not sure whether the correct number for quorum was achieved, you have the right to inspect all ballots and other materials per Davis-Stirling and your Election Rules. Follow the instruction in either to gain access to those materials. Then, if quorum WAS met, ask the Board your question at an open meeting. If the board refuses to answer, next ry writing to the Board return receipt requested to explain why there was no election.

If those methods don't work, THEN you can try to seek IDR, which is described in the required annual budget letter your assoc. must send to you before the end of your fiscal year. As others point out the inspectors of election firm have no reason to resound to individual owners.

Were you a candidate?

I'm sorry this happened to you. Well, you can they to ask at a board meeting and to write to the Board citing D-S, and reminding them that the quorum requirement was met. But, since the Board hired a firm that apparently made big mistakes, I have the feeling they won't try to make corrections.

You can try IDR.

I know it's hard to wait an entire year, but the year gives you time to gather support for her owners and to try to make sure the Board hires a solid firm as inspectors of election. We use owner volunteers as inspectors (permitted and allowed in our election rules) , so I have no experience with the quality of such firms, and don't know if they have any qualifications to meet.