Tom,
As you know,
The South Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1994 would apply and in time, the proposed
South Carolina Homeowners' Association Act introduced in the Senate will probably apply next year.
Section 33-31-811 of the Nonprofit Corporation Act addresses vacancies on the Board. This section defers to the Governing documents but does allow the remaining board members to appoint individuals to any existing or (between elections)expected vacancy. Since you stated that these vacancies are due to a lack of a quorum at the meeting to elect, you also need to reference section 33-31-805. This section states that even though the term of the initial Director expired, that director continues to serve until a replacement is elected/appointed or until they resign.
The specific wording is:
"Despite the expiration of a director's term, the director continues to serve until the director's successor is elected, designated or appointed, and qualifies, or until there is a decrease in the number of directors."
As for e-mail voting:
Section 33-31-820 requires that a Director be able to "hear" what is being said at Board meetings. Section 33-31-824 specifies that a quorum must be present for voting to occur. Of course, both sections defer to the governing documents. Thus, you will need to verify what your documents specify. If they are silent, then based on these two sections, for any board decision at a regular meeting - e-mail voting would not be allowed.
HOWEVER, section 33-31-821 discusses actions without a meeting. This section also defers to the governing documents. With the expectation that your documents are silent, this section allows Board members to act on an issue between meetings providing unanimous written consent (i.e. e-mail) of all board members are obtained.
Now, typically these actions without a meeting should be used for business that can't wait for the next scheduled meeting (a tree falling in a storm and blocking the road and funds must be made available to remove it, for example).
Unfortunately, since the law doesn't specify that this method should only be used for emergencies, some Boards will use this method for normal business even if it could wait until a scheduled meeting.
Note, all actions without meetings must be documented in the minutes of the regular meeting following the action.
Hope this helps.
Tim