(Michael Hunter, Association Answers) Q: I live in a community of 646 single family homes. We have seven members on the HOA’s board of directors, who are elected at our annual meeting. We also have a professional management company. At our annual meeting, the members of the HOA are given the option of attending in person and voting for the board members, or sending in their proxy to our management company. Our proxy form states that if no name is designated on the proxy form, then the HOA president, by default, has the authority to cast the vote associated with that proxy.
This year it became obvious to me there is a potential abuse associated with our process. The president held more proxies than there were owners attending the meeting in person. As a result of the high number of votes he held, he essentially controlled who was elected to the HOA board. If we make no change to our process, the board president has the ability to put his team in place, thus control the HOA’s agenda. This is very dangerous. If we had counted only the votes of the residents in attendance, the three people elected to the board would have been different from the three elected by the votes cast by the president.
Authors: CharlotteObserver.com: Michael Hunter
