Botched vote on 33-1818
My HOA sent a notice for a Special Meeting and Vote to satifsy SS 33-1818 but the notice did not include the qurom number needed, percent of votes to pass, and the ballot deadline. If the notice is found to be invalid, would the HOA be allowed to have a re-vote? Is there any chance the vote would be consedered to have failed as mentioned in 33-1818 B.2?
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Kevin
There is no requiremnt for the issues that you raised. Hold the vote and spend your energy talking to your neighbors to defeat the ballot initiative.
Dennis
Hi Dennis, Thank you for the response. I forgot to ask about SS 10-3708. Would the vote be exempt from the requirements in that statute?
Since 33-1818 B1 says they have to hold a meeting? Am I missing something?
Kevin,
ARS 33-1812 specifically excludes the use of 10-3708 for any voting in these communities and has stated that since 2005. However, association attorneys have consistently ignored that provision since the inception of these communities in Arizona and have permitted voting by written ballot without a meeting. Then, in 2017, when 10-3708 was modified to include online voting, these same attorneys informed all associations that they could now also use online voting as an alternative to meetings. While this has, to my knowledge, never been challenged in court, it has always been my contention, based on the exact language in the law, that both votes by written ballot without a meeting and votes by online voting have never been allowed in these communities since 2005. I was directly involved in drafting the language for the parking vote legislation, and the meeting language was put there intentionally to require a meeting of the members where they would be allowed to vote in person and by absentee ballot.
Based on the fact that association attorneys have ignored the exact language of the current law for 20 years, I would not expect anything to change for this specific vote. Until someone stands up and challenges the association’s and attorneys’ inappropriately interpreted position on this issue.
Just so that everyone understands what I’m saying here, I actually don’t have a problem with the use of a written ballot without a meeting or with online voting as long as adequate controls are placed on the conduct of those voting schemes and true auditability is applied. The ability to vote in person is always protected.
Dennis
Hi Dennis,
Thank you very much for the additional explanation. It was very helpful and appreciated.
Kevin