BOT elections Are nominations confidential

Although it sometimes seems that every pathing is regarded as a state secret, I suspect your bylaws are silent on the matter, and I can think of nobody’s privacy at risk by nominations being kept secret. Probably bad form for someone on the board to tell one person, but I just don’t see any issue.

But I’m kind of an outlier in the HOA world - I believe in total transparency unless there is a genuine privacy concern,

Aside from transparency, keeping someone's candidacy confidential is counterproductive for everyone. Candidates should be out there campaigning and encouraging homeowners to vote, regardless of who else is in the running. And contested elections seem to encourage attendance at the annual meeting, which is a good thing.

I also tend to believe that people can't manipulate you without your active cooperation. If someone allows others' action or inaction to determine how they personally will behave, then they've given up control to the others. If they're unhappy with the result of this, they have only themselves to blame.

Anyone calling our PM would be told how many candidates were running and how many positions there were to be filled. It's not a secret.

I see your point that the board didn't advertise to the whole community that no one was running for the extra seat. However, didn't the information on the number of seats up for election go out with the annual meeting notice? That's all most bylaws require.

my point is had the person not be told shortly before the nominations were closed they would have not have applied. There would have been only one candidate on the ballot the second vacancy would have been filled by whoever received the most write in votes.
Or they could have reopened the nominations and advise the community that only one candidate applied.

The courts do say that boards have to be reasonable when the governing docs give the boards discretion to do or not do xyz. Elections are complicated, step-by-step processes with strict timelines for each step. Boards completely lawfully make a lot of the decision-making about the finer points of accomplishing these steps. I think getting into the minutiae like you do, and based on this minutiae, judging that the outcome would be different, yields just too complicated a rationalization. To me, your argument lacks sufficient "teeth" to make it worthwhile to, say, lawyer up. Not that you are proposing this.

I do not see that a law or bylaw was violated. I agree with DavidG45.

Dear Homeowner, on Tuesday December 19, the HOA has two slices of pizza. Those who want one please place a request and everyone will get the opportunity vote who gets a slice.

Since only one person applied, and no one likes pizza go to waste, the Board ask a homeowner to apply and unopposed they got the slice of pizza.

Your complaint is the Board should have advised everyone the pizza is still up for grabs and we only have one person that wants it. Next time pizza is available, I suggest you enter the race.

You would be surprised. Our PMC has advised the Board to withhold any information about nominations that have been received until after the deadline for nominations has passed. Their default position on everything is to not tell homeowners.

No, this is the PMC that will be gone at the end of the month. Hoping for better things in 2024!

I don't see David's 12/11, 10:32a post. I assume he thinks that applicants' names shouldn't be revealed until the time specified in an HOA's docs or state law. I don't think I see an issue with the names. In my HOA, owners simply ask inv cubits if they're running again and also encourage others to run. in the latter case someone might say, "Ive turned in my materials."

But the candidates' apps and whatever else they submit (bios? a photo?) as determined by bylaws, statutes and/or board policy, made, one hopes, in open meetings should only be revealed simultaneously to all Owners.

With Cathy, some candidates start campaigning before nominations for names to appear on the ballot are closed--their choice. It does give others who're considering applying information and possible ammunition for their own campaign. Wise or not I often told others I wasn't sure if I'd run--true about half the time-- and did not turn in my app, bio etc., until the deadline. One year, I did not trust our then-PM to keep my app confidential and knew she supported a competitor--so, last minute only made sense.

Fn: I'm not going to look up the date, but in my state, apps must be submitted to the designated place at least 60 (?) days before the annual meeting and election, after which, the names are sent to all owners. For the past two years we had 4 candidates for 3 openings. Some time before ballots were mailed, last year, the candidate, an incumbent, had a stroke, resigned from the Board, and withdrew his candidacy. To the delight of many, his gap year off the Board to undergo major intense PT & OT resulted in his election to the Board recently this year.

This year, the PM had not checked closely enough re: one new candidate, who did not qualify due to his ownership status. He lives in his parents-in-laws' condo and has power of attorney. That, however, is not sufficient per our Bylaws or Election Rules (a Clif. thing) , to qualify. So the 3 remaining candidates in both elections could've been elected by acclamation without the expense of mailing out election materials. BUT, in CA's nightmare statutes, it was too late in both cases to start that process, which also involves deadlines.