Publications

The “democratic” process

Published February 1, 2003 as
To be fair, associations should establish across-the-board election guidelines

Today’s column discusses what to do when your association is seemingly up for grabs because of a contested election. This is a subject creating the biggest contradiction in the community association industry. While in some communities (and I have discussed this from time to time) you could not pay people enough to serve on the board. However, there is a parallel dimension; a “bizarro” world for you fans of Superman, where elections are hotly contested and some people will do anything (literally) to get or stay on the board.

As an owner, you have to wonder why someone would treat serving on a condominium board of directors as a Chicago aldermanic election. We sometimes see people who seemingly will stop at nothing to get themselves elected. This type of character is not indicative of an individual who is community minded and wants to act in the best interests of all of the members. They usually have their own personal agenda and sometimes we even see someone who wants to use their board position to create a source of income. Anyone who seems too anxious and eager to get themselves elected should be looked at very carefully before you vote for them.

As elections themselves go, I have attended more chaotic and disorganized meetings in the name of democracy than for any other reason.

The primary means for an association to drift into chaos at election time is to not have standard forms and procedures reviewed by legal counsel. For example, you need to narrow the margin for error by leaving as little to someone’s discretion as possible. Each management company has its own way of doing things; urban myths develop at the board level and among owners, the law changes, forms become outdated, etc.

Here are some basic election rules:

Notices of the election meeting must go out not more than 30 days or less than 10 days prior to the election.
Condominiums that use proxies must list the names of the known candidates. This means an extra mailing since candidates must be solicited first, before their names go on a proxy form. Homeowners’ associations can merely use a corporate proxy and candidates do not have to be listed.
While we are on the subject, proxies are not ballots. They should be exchanged for ballots unless the Association has adopted “mail in” election procedures. If that were the case, you would not need proxies, just mail-in ballots.
Delinquent owners are not automatically prohibited from running for the board or voting. The board must have pre-existing policies in place. The board cannot just arbitrarily decide that this is the rule on the night of the election.
Condominium votes are tabulated by percentage of ownership. Homeowner associations are one vote per unit.
Husbands and wives cannot both serve on the board unless they own more than none unit.
Investor owners may or may not serve on the board based upon (a) the wording in the association’s legal documents and (b) your lawyer’s interpretation of the law.
The annual meeting is not the place to examine and question candidates. For associations that want to do this, have a separate “meet the candidates” night.
If people submit candidate application forms, they should be circulated. If someone has not bothered to fill one out, why should they be able to get elected after being nominated from the floor? Is this fair to the other candidates?
The owners elect the board, and then the board elects the officers (president, secretary, etc.).
Owners are entitled to a list of the names, addresses and weighted votes of all owners prior to an election. (However, rules can be adopted regulating campaigning and solicitation of votes, mailers, posters, etc.)

These are just some of the issues that come up in these types of situations. The most important thing to remember is to anticipate, plan and then react. Hotly contested elections do not just occur, there are telltale signs of problems way in advance.

A prudent board will make sure its procedures are airtight and then have a neutral third party run the election, such as the attorney, accountant, manager or even a consultant. Prepare a tight agenda, get the election completed before you conduct any other business and keep things moving. Remember, candidates have a right to be present during the counting of the ballots and ballots/proxies must be retained for a period of one year.

Ideally, if you can keep interest in the board high, while discouraging self-serving or inappropriate candidates (for example, someone whose car was towed), you can elect a highly motivated group of self-starters, which is essential for a well run association.