Posted:
Cole,
As Glen has stated, proxies are no longer permitted per AZ HOA law; however, quorum requirements have NOT been banned per AZ law. In fact, the absentee ballot can be used to count toward the quorum. Normally election procedures are contained in the bylaws not the CCRs. I suggest you thoroughly read both documents; sometimes certain items appear to be "hidden"! However, if quorum requirements for the annual meeting are not addressed -- and they are not addressed in state law -- then I suppose you don't have to worry about a quorum. Frankly, I would find that very unusual, but. . . BTW, you may want to consider amending the bylaws to include quorum requirements. In may instances the bylaws can be amended by a majority vote of the board members which makes it a very easy process. Also, AZ does not require a bylaw amendment to be recorded with the Co. Recorder.
With regard to proxies, the AZ legislature amended HOA law several years ago to ban them. Also, at that time, a requirement to use absentee ballots was enacted. The requirements for use of absentee ballots makes it illegal to have nominations from the floor, although that is not specifically stated in the statute.
Since you are the new pres of your HOA, I would suggest you make yourself familiar with all the AZ HOA statutes. They can be found at:
www.azleg.state.az.us/ Click on "legislative council" then on AZ Revised Statutes. Scroll down to "Title 33" then click on Chapter 9 if you live in a Condo or Chapter 16 if you are in a Planned Community. It would be a very good idea to make copies of all the applicable statutes, keep them in a binder -- read them and become familiar with them. Some take precedence over what is stated in your gov docs, some do not. The rule of thumb is this: If the statute is prefaced with, "notwithstanding any provisions of the community documents" that means the statute take precedence over what is stated in your gov docs. However, if the statute is prefaced with, "unless any provision of the community documents requires. . ." that means what is stated in the gov docs takes precedence. If you have a property manager, he/she should be familiar with state laws and be of some guidance to you, but as Pres you should also be familiar with them. Print them all, place them in a binder, read and become familiar with them. If you have any questions, just post them here and we'll do all in our power to help you out.