Board elections

[Guest Susanne]

Our asssociation has an upcoming board election. Last year, 2 of the board members (not the full board) opened all of the proxies prior to the election to determine who was eligible to vote (ie: dues paid). Their reason was that it would take too much time at the election to match up the proxies with the list of eligible voters. Somehow this doesn't seem ethical to me. There is no provision in our by-laws to be able to do this. The total number of proxies are usually around 200 owners (some with multiple units). Please advise. Should proxies not be opened unit the actual election? Thanks!

[Chris Harrison]

Our asssociation has an upcoming board election. Last year, 2 of the board members (not the full board) opened all of the proxies prior to the election to determine who was eligible to vote (ie: dues paid). Their reason was that it would take too much time at the election to match up the proxies with the list of eligible voters. Somehow this doesn't seem ethical to me. There is no provision in our by-laws to be able to do this. The total number of proxies are usually around 200 owners (some with multiple units). Please advise. Should proxies not be opened unit the actual election? Thanks!

RONR doesn't answer your question.

[David A Foulkes]

Our asssociation has an upcoming board election. Last year, 2 of the board members (not the full board) opened all of the proxies prior to the election to determine who was eligible to vote (ie: dues paid). Their reason was that it would take too much time at the election to match up the proxies with the list of eligible voters. Somehow this doesn't seem ethical to me. There is no provision in our by-laws to be able to do this. The total number of proxies are usually around 200 owners (some with multiple units). Please advise. Should proxies not be opened unit the actual election? Thanks!

RONR prohibits the use of proxies. In order to allow proxy (absentee) voting, all authorization for that must come from your governing documents (constution, bylaws, state laws, etc), and all the particulars about how to handle voting and so forth must be detailed there. In essence, if you allow proxy voting, you have to figure out how to manage it. And when I say you, I mean your organization.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Last year, 2 of the board members (not the full board) opened all of the proxies prior to the election to determine who was eligible to vote (ie: dues paid).

Should proxies not be opened unit the actual election? Thanks!

A ballot vote is supposed to be secret.

If you have someone opening up envelopes (Q. Is that what you mean by "opened all of the proxies"?), peeking inside, and possibly exposing that members' vote and name, then you no longer have a secret ballot.

If there is any member who suspects this, a point of order could be raised, so as to nullify that round of balloting.

I don't think anyone wants that.

[Gary Novosielski]

Our asssociation has an upcoming board election. Last year, 2 of the board members (not the full board) opened all of the proxies prior to the election to determine who was eligible to vote (ie: dues paid).

You're saying "proxies" but it sounds like you're describing absentee votes. Are these proxies which are authorizing someone else to vote on behalf of the member, or are these ballot votes, which actually contain the member's vote?

In either case, these can ONLY be valid if your bylaws expressly permit them. What happened last year is probably water under the bridge now, but you should carefully check the bylaws for the upcoming election to ensure that absentee votes are even allowed in the first place.

If they are, then RONR suggests a two-envelope method of absentee voting which would permit the identity of the voters to be checked, and the selection of the voters to be secret. But the voting process should at all times remain under the control of the assembly. Any decisions or delegations of tasks must be made by, or with the permission of, the assembly. Two board members cannot start ripping open ballots and reading them. Make it clear to the board that you expect the ballots to be physically secured and unopened until you (the membership) has ordered otherwise.

One more point: Unless your bylaws expressly authorize suspending the right to vote of a member for being in arrears on their dues, then according to RONR they would be able to vote anyway. The only reasons RONR recognizes for not being able to vote are no longer being a member, by resignation, or expulsion, or having voting procedures removed as a disciplinary procedure. Just being late in paying is not enough of a reason unless it's in your bylaws.

It is far more common for organizations to prohibit resignation when a member is behind on their dues. Their resignation would not be accepted, and their debt would continue to build up.