Voting in a HOA

[Guest Lindell Nickelson]

There is a question of voting eligibility in our Homeowners Association. We have approximately 35 members and a number of them are behind in paying their annual assessments, some of them years behind. We recently passed an increase in our annual assessments for the first time in 40 years. Now we have a homeowner complaining because we did not count her vote because she is behind in her dues and not in good standing. We make every effort to get people to pay, offering monthly plans, etc. but we are tired of being held hostage by people not paying. Are we wrong to not have counted the votes of members in arrears?

[Chris Harrison]

You cannot deprive a member of her rights (including the right to vote) simply because she is in arrears unless the Bylaws say so or she had been subjected to disciplinary action (RONR p. 406).

[Atul Kapur]

Were there enough uncounted votes that they could have changed the result?

Quote

If one or more members have been denied the right to vote, or the right to attend all or part of a meeting during which a vote was taken, it is never too late to raise a point of order concerning the action taken in denying the basic rights of the individual members—and if there is any possibility that  the members’ vote(s) would have affected the outcome, then the results of the vote must be declared invalid if the point of order is sustained.

If there is no such possibility, the results
of the vote itself can be made invalid only if the point of order
is raised immediately following the chair’s announcement of
 the vote. If the vote was such that the number of members
excluded from participating would not have affected the outcome,
... the action resulting from the vote is not invalidated by a ruling in response to the
point of order.  (RONR 11th ed., p.252-253)

Usual note for HOA's that there is likely legislation that applies to the HOA; if says something different than RONR, the legislation would supercede.

Edited July 16, 2019 at 02:56 AM by Atul Kapur