BLOG

A Review of Some Best Practices for Association Annual Meetings, Elections

Roberto C. Blanch
April 13, 2015

Image

As the season for annual meetings and elections at South Florida community associations comes to a close, our firm’s other community association attorneys and I are reminded of the significance of following all of the necessary protocols to ensure that association meetings and elections run as smoothly as possible. This topic further serves as a priority to many of our community association clients, causing many of them to inquire about safeguarding their election procedures and other issues such as perceived discrepancies between statutory election guidelines and the related provisions of their associations’ governing documents.

Below is a recap of recommended best practices related to annual meeting and election procedures, many of which have been discussed in previous articles in this blog.

First, in an effort to promote participation and ensure voting by the qualified individuals, it is advisable that association management take the steps to verify that the association’s roster of owners is current and includes a description of all the individuals on title to the home or unit. The roster should further be organized in numerical order by unit numbers or addresses to facilitate the registration and ballot verification process. While a search of the county public records deed database is the most accurate source to verify ownership of units or homes, a more economical approach is to verify the ownership from the county’s property appraiser’s office. Once obtained, these records should be placed in a binder, together with copies of the deeds organized in the same order as the roster or sign-in sheet. Consider organizing the binder with dividers separating each floor/street, as this step may further facilitate the verification of ownership on the day of the meeting or election.

Proxies received prior to the meeting should be verified so as to ensure that they are dated and signed by the owner or other qualified voting member. Once the proxies have been verified, they should be logged in on the sign-in sheet. A note should be included on the sheet indicating the person who has been designated as the proxy for the corresponding unit, in order to ensure that the designated proxy signs-in at the meeting on behalf of the appropriate unit or home. If a proxy has a deficiency or is found to be questionable during the validation process, it should be set aside for the association attorney to review.

meetingvote.jpgAdditionally, the period between the proxy verification process and the time of the meeting may be used to enable the unit owner to cure any defects or resolve problems that may have been identified with regard to the proxy form. The valid proxies should be organized in a folder in the same order as the sign-in sheet for reference at the time of the meeting.

Ballots received in advance of the election should be organized in the order of the roster. The board should further consider appointing an independent committee to validate that the outer ballot envelopes have been properly executed and signed by the qualified voter(s) prior to the scheduled time of the election. This process will serve to further streamline the ballot validation process, which would otherwise have to be performed at the time of the meeting. Bear in mind that outer ballot envelopes may not be opened prior to the meeting.

It is important to remember that unlike proxies, voting certificates do not expire unless they are rescinded or replaced by another voting certificate. As such, a voting certificate binder should be organized in numerical order by unit or lot number or by street address of the unit or lot. As the voting certificates tend to remain valid until rescinded or as otherwise specified above, those received for the scheduled meeting or election should be included in the binder as replacements for any voting certificates previously provided for corresponding units or lots. Voting certificates are typically required for all units owned by multiple individuals or by a corporation or other legal entity. However, we caution that many community association documents require that voting certificates be submitted for units owned by husband and wife as well.

The executed Proof of Notice Affidavit for the annual meeting should also be available at the meeting. In addition, be sure to have plenty of blank ballots, envelopes (inner and outer ballot envelopes) and voting certificates on hand at the election for use by any owner who has lost or misplaced their ballot or voting certificate and would like to cast a ballot in person at the election.

By adhering to these suggested best practices, working with qualified community association legal counsel and following all of the other prescribed protocols for the annual meeting and election, associations can help to ensure that their elections are in compliance with Florida law.