State of Arizona Legislature

RE:Act amending section 33-1243,33-1250,33-1256,33-1260,33-1806 and 33-1807.

Does anyone know anything about about 33-1250. Voting; proxies?
I belong to the Oak Park Townhomes Asscociation in Tucson, AZ. I was a board member for five years and I am hoping to become a member again. We had our annual meeting Sunday, October 25th, however, we were not allowed to vote. The president said that an absentee ballots will be mailed at a later date. I have read and reread this seciton and I believe that the ballot should have mailed prior to the meeting. The vice-president agrees.

I hope that someone out there can clarify.

Sincerely,

Shiela Carlson

Based on the new "House Bill 2154" No more voting by proxy

Simply -
For Homeowners: The association must provide for votes to be cast in person and by absentee ballot or some other form of delivery.

For Board Members: Absentee ballots must specify each proposed action, and it must provide an opportunity to vote for or against either action. The HOA must specify when the absentee ballot is to be returned, and residents must be given at least seven days to return it.

RogerB - good question on the "some other form of delivery", as this does sound somewhat ambiguous as does bullet point two, of the HB2154, under "Provisions" for proxies:

- Eliminates proxy voting from being used by association members.
- Allows the association to create other provisions for absentee voting.
- Allows timeshare plan associations to vote by proxy.
- Makes technical and conforming changes.

My assumption is that the HOA BOD's is allowed to create its own delivery process that conforms to bullet point one of the provisions in this House Bill.

Your comments on this are certainly valid as other HOA's in AZ have protested the bill based on the same argument that you stated. I certainly can't disagree!

Absentee ballots have issues or names/candidates already printed on them for voting. Proxy ballots are "blank checks" given to another member to vote in any way or form, on any item.

Proxies are now outlawed, which does indeed put many HOA's into a bind: WIthout a strong board and community to provide delegates or candidates for offices, you can't nominate someone to be on the ballot. And without a nominee for the ballot, you cannot send out absentee ballots before a meeting. You also cannot accept nominees from the floor AT the meeting, because the absentee ballots won't have that candidate or issue on them... or you can, but then you have to send out all new ballots again, and hold another meeting to vote.

IMO, strong HOA's will get stronger, weak ones will simply get weaker. This will increase apathy among them, and the feeling of alienation from the process.