Elections and Ballots

We have our board of directors election coming up, however no ballots were mailed out to the homeowners. I am told that since there are enough people to fill the seats (ones who showed interest that they wanted to run for the board), there is no reason to send out ballots. This will save time and money. Is this legal? I'm in California. Can I object to this at the meeting? Since no ballots, no annual meeting as well. Is this fair for the rest of the homeowners who may want to attend a meeting? I am told that the Board will be chosen by acclimation since there are so many absentee owners (probably because they aren't aware that a meeting is scheduled) and little participation.

Jadey,

were you given an opportunity to nominate candidates for the board? If there was a nomination process and the number of candidates equals to the number of open seats you can go with uncontested elections.

Jadey,

What is being suggested is not proper parliamentary procedure, and may be illegal. If state corporate law applies and requires an annual meeting, you must hold one. If your governing documents (CCRs, bylaws, etc.) require an annual meeting, you must hold one. If Davis-Sterling requires an annual meeting, you must hold one. This holds whether you have the exact number of people seeking to be directors as there are vacancies, or more, or less.

At the meeting, if it is determined that there are exactly the number of people seeking to be directors as there are vacancies, the president may ask for a motion that the secretary cast one ballot to elect all of the candidates to be directors. If the motion is made, seconded, and voted in the affirmative by the required number of members, then those candidates are elected. That's the proper parliamentary procedure for an uncontested election.

In other words, you must still hold an annual meeting and an election. I realize this all may sound unnecessary and excessive, but by not following proper parliamentary procedure you are circumventing due process and denying members who may not wish to vote for certain individuals the right to be heard.

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the post/reply. We were not given the opportunity to nominate a candidate, we were only asked for names of those who were interested in running for the board. The amount of names received is enough to fill the three board seats, so our property managment company feels there is no need to hold an election or annual meeting where homeowners can make their nominations.

Your management company likely doesn't know beans about proper parliamentary procedure. You still need to hold a meeting and have an election, even if it's only to have the secretary cast one ballot to elect all the candidates.