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KathyW13 (Texas)
Posts: 1
Posted:
Location is Pflugerville Texas so need answers/suggestions only that are applicable to Texas law.

Board meeting to elect 2 board members: 2 with expiring terms. Both were running and each had an opponent:
1. Board members did not moderate the meeting and the property representative from the management company moderated
2. There was a property member who submitted proxies that were not allowed because it was stated that they missed the deadline to submit
3. The proxies that were submitted by the 2 existing board members were counted before the meeting by the moderator and were not allowed to be seen by the members who tallied the votes cast at the meeting. She claims to have counted them and added to the tally given her by the counters.
4. The vote was 96 votes each for the existing board member candidates and 24 votes each for each of the opposing candidates.
5. There were numerous attempts by one of the candidates to obtain a list of eligible voters from the property management company. Eventually told she would have to make an appointment to view the list at their offices in Round Rock though Texas state law does state that the list has to be made available within 2 days and IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF THE HOA, in Pflugerville, Tx.
6. The two current board members attempted to contact members of the community to obtain proxies but did not have a ballot listing all candidates on the proxies they were asking homeowners to sign as well as, we believe telling the homeowners that they would date the forms themselves.

There are a number of other irregularities which were addressed in the meeting before the election to address the irregularities and were attempted to be silenced by the moderator because they were not on the agenda (there was no notification of any kind issued to the community to request any additional items to the agenda).

This is a culmination of other irregularities by these board members to circumvent the organizing documents and bypass community votes.
DeanJ
Posts: 1,786
Posted:
I would like to address each of your points.

1. Board members did not moderate the meeting and the property representative from the management company moderated.

Usually the annual election occurs at meeting of the members and presided by the HOA president. Having the PM preside over the meeting is having a somewhat unconcerned person chair the meeting.

2. There was a property member who submitted proxies that were not allowed because it was stated that they missed the deadline to submit.

Ideally, when a proxy is submitted, someone needs to qualify the proxy. If there was an established election procedure where owners were given advance notice of a date to submit proxies, The proxies were properly disqualified.

3. The proxies that were submitted by the 2 existing board members were counted before the meeting by the moderator and were not allowed to be seen by the members who tallied the votes cast at the meeting. She claims to have counted them and added to the tally given her by the counters.

Is your election a secret ballot? Allowing you to see the proxies violates that concept.

4. The vote was 96 votes each for the existing board member candidates and 24 votes each for each of the opposing candidates.

A 4:1 win isn’t a close election and claims of irregularities causing a different result are not valid.

5. There were numerous attempts by one of the candidates to obtain a list of eligible voters from the property management company. Eventually told she would have to make an appointment to view the list at their offices in Round Rock though Texas state law does state that the list has to be made available within 2 days and IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF THE HOA, in Pflugerville, Tx.

Any person could have went to the business office and obtained the information well in advance of the election. A online property tax records search for the owners of record would have worked too.

6. The two current board members attempted to contact members of the community to obtain proxies but did not have a ballot listing all candidates on the proxies they were asking homeowners to sign as well as, we believe telling the homeowners that they would date the forms themselves.

When a candidate requests a proxy, they are requesting a proxy for a ballot for themselves. There is no requirement they collect a proxy for an opposing candidate. The date thing - yes the signature should be dated by the person signing.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061
Posted:
I'm going to go with your topic question "How to invalidate an election"

You will need to talk to an attorney and take legal action against the Association.
It will cost you money.
It most likely will divide the membership.

In my opinion, proxies allow a representative to cast a ballot.
The proxies are not ballots themselves and a ballot should have been filled out for each proxy held.
MarkM19 (Texas)
Posts: 1,459
Posted:
Kathy,
It looks to me like you had 4 candidates running for the 2 open seats. It appears like the incumbents got the majority of the votes and were reelected. I am not sure I get the point about proxies because they were a fraction of the votes needed for this election. Were they needed or used to make quorum?

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