Elections

[Guest William]

At our homeowner assn. meeting a director was declared voted off the board by the president after vote tally by election tellers. May the result be challenged after the result is announced by the chair and the meeting is adjourned?

[jstackpo]

Presuming that the bylaws authorize the removal of a board member (from the board) by just a vote at a homeowners meeting (see RONR p. 574 for details about what that "authorization" should look like), then any later "challenge" or appeal process would have to be spelled out in your bylaws. Otherwise, he's gone.

[Dan Honemann]

At our homeowner assn. meeting a director was declared voted off the board by the president after vote tally by election tellers. May the result be challenged after the result is announced by the chair and the meeting is adjourned?

 

Challenged for what reason?

[Edgar Guest]

At our homeowner assn. meeting a director was declared voted off the board by the president after vote tally by election tellers. 

 

When you say that a director was "voted off the board" do you mean that he wasn't re-elected? That someone else was elected instead? That's not the same thing as being "voted off" (i.e. removed from office; which is what Mr. Stackpole is referring to).

[Transpower]

RONR (11th ed.), p. 419, ll. 1-5:  "A recount may be ordered by the voting body by a majority vote, at the same session at which the voting result was announced, or at the next regular session if that session is held within a quarter time interval."

[Richard Brown]

Adding my two cents to the other correct responses, more information about just what happened and about just what the issue is would be helpful.  Some errors in voting and elections must be objected to immediately with a timely point of order, but other discrepancies are considered continuing breaches and can be raised at any time.  The devil is in the details.

 

Answering Dan Honemann's question "Challenged for what reason?" would be most helpful.  So would clarifying whether he was removed from office or simply not re-elected as Mr. Guest asked.

[Guest William]

Thanks to all for the prompt and informed responses. In an effort to clarify the issue, please allow me to state some facts. At our annual homeowner meeting, a member rose at new business to move a sitting director be removed for missing meetings and for a rules violation.

Ballots were provided, tellers made a count, the count was conveyed to the chair, and the chair announced the director removed by virtue of the motion's passing by 50.3%. (Note the chair did not call for nominations to fill the vacancy). The chair moved on to other new business. About a week later the chair announced that he, on his own motion, had "recounted" the ballots due to concerns he harbored. The chair called a special board meeting to announce that the removal motion received only 49.8% and that the rejected director was reinstated. The chair said he found two "extra" ballots for which he could not account. Our managing agent prints, delivers, collects, and supervises the counting of the ballots. The board voted to concur. I printed the relevant portions of our bylaws below. Note in bylaw 8© there is no remedy provided to owners who wish to review the voting documents. Must the vote from the meeting stand and why or why not?

Again, thanks for your help and for the existence of websites such as yours. William Kamps, Port Orchard WA

 

3.3 Removal of Directors. At any regular or special meeting of owners, any one or more directors may be removed with or without cause by a majority of the owners and a successor shall then and there be elected for the remainder of the term to fill the vacancy thus created; provided, however, that if such removal and replacement is to occur at a special meeting, the call for such meeting shall be by the President or by a petition to the Secretary or managing agent signed by not less than twenty-five percent (25%) of the apartment owners; and provided further that if the Secretary or managing agent does not send out the notices for the special meeting within fourteen (14) days of receipt of the petition, the petitioners shall have the authority to set the time, date and place for the special meeting in accordance with the requirements of these Bylaws. Except as otherwise provided in this Section 3.3, such meeting for the removal from office and replacement of directors shall be scheduled, noticed and conducted in accordance with these Bylaws. 

 

8.© Proxies and Ballots. Owners shall also be permitted to view proxies, tally sheets, ballots, owners' check-in lists, and the certificate of election for a period of thirty (30) days following any Association meeting. The Board may require owners to furnish to the Association a duly executed and acknowledged affidavit stating that the information is requested in good faith for the protection of the interest of the Association or its members or both. Owners shall pay for administrative costs in excess of eight (8) hours per year. Proxies and ballots may be destroyed following the thirty (30) day period, if there are no requests to examine them. If there are requests to examine proxies and ballots, the documents shall be kept for an additional sixty (60) days, after which they may be destroyed. Copies of tally sheets, owners' check-in lists, and the certificate of election from the most recent Association meeting shall be provided to any owner upon the owner's request, provided that the owner pays a reasonable fee for duplicating, postage, stationery, and other administrative costs associated with handling the request.23 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

I think what is said regarding election disputes is applicable in this case. RONR says:

 

"Because the voting body itself is the ultimate judge of election disputes, only that body has the authority to resolve them in the absence of a bylaw or special rule of order that specifically grants another body that authority. Thus, for example, when an election has been conducted at a membership meeting or in a convention of delegates, an executive board, even one that is given full power and authority over the society's affairs between meetings of the body that conducted the election, may not entertain a point of order challenging, or direct a recount concerning, the announced election result. While an election dispute is immediately pending before the voting body, however, it may vote to refer the dispute to a committee or board to which it delegates power to resolve the dispute." (RONR 11th ed., p. 446, ll. 4-17)

 

So in this case, only the owners at a homeowners meeting could order a recount unless some other provision in your bylaws give that power to the board.

[Richard Brown]

I agree with Hieu.  Only the body that was voting, which we assume was the general membership, may resolve disputes regarding that election unless that body referred the issue to a subordinate body like a board.  According to the language on pages 418-419, only "the voting body" may order a recount.  That provision is as follows:

 

"After completion of an election or balloting on a motion, unless the voting body directs otherwise, the tellers place the ballots and tally sheets in the custody of the secretary, who keeps them under seal until the time within which a recount [page 419] may be ordered expires, and then destroys them. A recount may be ordered by the voting body, by a majority vote, at the same session at which the voting result was announced, or at the next regular session if that session is held within a quarterly time interval (see pp. 89–90). A recount may also be ordered at a special session properly called for that purpose, if held within a quarterly time interval of the session at which the voting result was announced and before the next regular session."

 

Other than ordering a recount, I believe it is too late to challenge the election on any ground other than one that might constitute a continuing breach.  Such a continuing breach could be caused by people who were entitled to vote being denied the right to vote and ineligible people being allowed to vote if those votes could have affected the result.  And, as Hieu said, it is the voting body.... the general membership... the owners.... who would decide that issue, not the board.  However, if that issue is raised in a meeting of the general membership, the membership could perhaps refer it to the board for a resolution.  The board cannot do it on its own or at the direction of the president.

 

There is one other unresolved issue, however:  whether the director is on or off the board and the status of the chair's pronouncement after the vote count that the director had been removed.  I believe that the chair's pronouncement that the director had been removed, having not been objected to by a timely point of order, stands and that the decision of the president and/or  the board in the days after the meeting to reverse that pronouncement and re-instate the director was in error.  The chair had no power to reverse his decision after the fact and the board did not have the power to do it because the general membership had not delegated the task to the board.  I believe that the director has been removed and is no longer on the board, subject to further proceedings relating to a possible recount or challenge on the basis of a continuing breach.

 

If there is a provision in RONR that says he retains his seat pending the outcome of all of this, I am not aware of it.  The chair pronounced him off the board immediately following the vote count and I believe that pronouncement stands until properly reversed.

[Guest George]

Is it legal for a slate of officers to be placed in nomination, from the floor, if one or more of the nominees were not asked if they were willing to serve if elected ?

 

Where do I get the verification code ?

[Edgar Guest]

Is it legal for a slate of officers to be placed in nomination, from the floor, if one or more of the nominees were not asked if they were willing to serve if elected ?

Please post your question as a new topic; this forum works best that way. (And please avoid use of the s-word.)

 

Where do I get the verification code ?

 

If you're referring to becoming a member of this forum, it should have been sent to you via e-mail.