Proxy not listing candidates

Greetings from Atlanta GA!

I'm looking for opinions...

Our annual meeting and election of baord members is soming up in January.

Our board has proposed sending out a proxy that does not include the names of the announced candidates.

They are proposing that the homeowners must write in the names of the people the want to vote for.

I can find nothing in the GA Code or our governing documents that prevent this.

I have received many proxies through the years (credit unions, electrical coperatives, stock holder's meetings, etc.) but I have never seen a "blank" election proxy.

I'm guessing they want the homeowners to leave the entries blank so they (the current board) can vote them any way they want.

Thanks in advance!

I would recommend doing this a bit different. The owners should receive an official notice of the meeting when the election will take place. The notice should include all the candidates. The notice package should also include the proxy form(s). You can include a "directed" proxy whereby the owner of the proxy provides specific instructions as to which candidate to vote for in the meeting. You can also include an "undirected" proxy which allows the proxy holder to vote for any candidate on behalf of the proxy owner.

In the case of the "directed" proxy, there is the disadvantage that if a viable candidate is nominated from the floor during the meeting, the proxy holder can only cast a vote for the candidate named on the proxy.

In the case of the "undirected" proxy, the proxy owner must trust that the person exercising the vote will use good judgement and hopefully vote in the manner that the owner would have voted if they were able to attend the meeting.

In my opinion "undirected" proxies should always be given to a trusted neighbor and not simply given to the Board so that they can exercise their judgement in whom to vote for.

Jim