September2017

ELECTION... from page 20.

from the section and all owners are not authorized to run for all board seats; B. Where certain seats are reserved to affordable housing owners who own a minority of units in the com- munity, the governing documents may limit certain board seats to owners of affordable housing units; C. If the members on a master or umbrella association board are made up of elected members of section association boards, the master or umbrella association is not subject to any requirements of the Act related to board elections; and D. In mixed-use developments, cer- tain seats may be designated for specific unit types, such as a seat reserved for owners of commercial units. Despite the section of the Act allow- ing any owner to run for any seat, other than those excepted above, it is permissible to have a provision in the bylaws that prohibits more than one owner of a unit or more than one representative of an entity-owner from serving on the board simultaneously. The Act further validates bylaws provisions that permit board members to appoint a person to the board if a vacancy occurs by resignation, death, failure to maintain reasonable qualifications or removal by owner vote. Any other vacancy, such as by expansion of the number of board members – which some bylaws per- mit – must be filled by a vote of the owners despite any bylaws provision that may permit the board to fill those expanded seats.

Act, which requires the appoint- ment of judges of the election who must then issue a report containing the results, as well as how many votes were dis- qualified and why they were disqualified.

business day before the mail- ing of the notice of the election meeting; 4. The association must send a notice of the election meeting not less than 14 nor more than 60 days prior to the meeting at which the election will be held (note that this differs from the most common bylaws provision that states that notice must be sent not less than 10 nor more than 90 days prior to the elec- tion meeting); 5. Associations may use paper ballots or electronic ballots and may send notice by mail, personal delivery or electron- ic notice, but in the case of electronic notice of a meeting, it may be utilized only where the governing documents per- mit electronic notice and the owner must have consented to receiving electronic notice. But the bylaws need not authorize electronic voting in order for the association to implement it; 6. All unit owners who are current in the payment of all valid charges due the association may vote in the election (note that in connection with nomina- tion and voting, good standing may not include being in com- pliance with the restrictions, rules and regulations); 7. The counting of ballots must be in accordance with the terms of the Nonprofit Corporations

EXCEPTIONS Certain exceptions to the above requirements apply. First, there is a limited exception for associations hav- ing less than 50 units. Those asso- ciations need only have an election procedure that provides notice of the election meeting; notifies members of the right to nominate anyone in good standing; provides the owners with the ability to review established board member qualifications; and provides a method for counting ballots and ver- ifying an owner’s qualification to vote. However, these associations are not required to meet the specific timing requirements set forth in the legislation and may have board qualification requirements that exceed what is per- mitted by the Act. In addition, the following associa- tions or particular types of elections are exempt from all or a portion of the requirements of the Act: A. Where an association’s govern- ing documents provide for certain board positions to be occupied by a person living in a specific section of the community, only the owners in that section may nomi- nate themselves or another owner

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