Valid Petition and Submission
Dennis –
We have a group of homeowners that recently submitted a PDF file copy of the actual signed petition, to remove a board member, for validation by the HOA attorney. Is this methodology even correct in accordance with AZ statutes or state law? Typically the originals are turned in and you keep a copy or two for backup. What is the accepted technique in Arizona for an HOA petition? Would it be something like black print defining the remedy of the petition with lines for printed name, address, phone number with a blue ink pen signature?
Would this even be valid to start the clock ticking relative to the 30 days designated in ARS 33-1813?
One last question, are digital signatures accepted for petitions in Az that are tied back to an email address? Assuming that same email address is on file with community Management Company.
Thanks,
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Gerald,
While I typically recommend that homeowners give the original signatures to the association and keep at least one copy of all submitted signatures. All that the law requires is a petition with the signatures of the required amount of members in good standing. What was submitted by your community as long as it satisfied that criteria is valid for starting the 30 day clock for holding the special meeting of the members. While the association still has the opportunity to validate the signatures they are doing it on their clock as that clock starts when the signatures were submitted. Not sure what you mean by electronic signatures. If you mean emailed signed pages they are always valid. If you mean some type of program that allows members to provide an electronic signature than it depends on the controls on the software program to validate that the electronic signature is exclusively for the authorized voter and if the program prevents any changes to the petition once a signature is applied electronically. Generally electronic signatures that satisfy these requirements are acceptable in place of actual signatures.
Dennis