Florida-Felon voting rights

Anna,
I'd like to make an educated guess but being somewhat leary and using common sense, I would venture to say that only your association attorney should make this call. Or any good HOA Attorney. I could see a major issue of this in the event of someone requesting and being denied their rights to review. The expense of back peddling out of this would be more than the initial cost of the inquirey

Please keep ALL of Florida's laws in mind here:

We have the "Sunshine Law" that applies to ALL governmental agencies, including HOA's! Anything that a felon would have access to at the courthouse would be a guideline for you, but I believe that they ARE, in Florida, to the access granted by the Sunshine Laws. Voting at HOA meetings? That may be another kettle of fish, but as an "owner", they would still have a right to voice their input, if not vote upon it themselves.

Once a felon's civil rights have been restored, they are "restored", period. I haven't seen any time limitations "after" they are restored. I'm not an attorney, but I am an ex-law enforcement officer with the DOC.

aNNd2,

Sorry, I don't know the "difinitive" answer to that but I can look it up if someone doesn't beat me to it. All I know is that HOA's ARE a "mini-government" chartered with the state under Florida State Law ch 720. That is my reasoning for saying that. I could be mistaken, but I'll try to find out.

Claude and Brian,

Florida Sunshine Laws specifically state in 2 different paragraphs that HOA's are exempt from the Sunshine Laws because of Statutes 720 governing them have open meeting requirements which are slightly different from the Sunshine Laws. The only times that the Sunshine Laws are used in HOAs is in the event there is a zoning or building permit issues involving the county, city or municipality and the HOA. Otherwise, it is 720 that we follow for open meeting requirements.

I agree with Donna, this is why you have a lawyer, for these questions. To me I don't understand the law restricting them from voting for 5 years, what is the reasoning behind that?

I'm with Brad and I know you posters from Florida didn't write the law but what justification is there from preventing a felon from voting on matters that concern his legal (presumably) property? It's one thing to prevent them from voting for public officials but HOA matters do not make sense.

For the most part it doesn't make sense but probably the people that convict the offenders are afraid these people will vote against them at re-election time it endangers their job.

Anna,

Where does it say convicted felons can't vote in a Condominium or Home Owners Association?

I'd be very cautious about trying to apply laws regarding convicted felons that apply to rights on governmental issues to issues regarding Condominium or Home Owners Associations. I can understand not allowing convicted felons to vote in government elections, but not allowing them to vote on condominium or homeowners association matters just doesn't make any sense to me.

Now, I'm not as familiar with Florida laws as some other people might be, but I did live in Florida for several years so I have some familiarity with them, and I was a member of an HOA there. Furthermore, I checked out Florida Statute Chapter 718 for 2007 and nowhere could I find any reference stating that convicted felons couldn't vote.

In fact, Chapter 718 states:
"718.106 Condominium parcels; appurtenances; possession and enjoyment.--
(1) A condominium parcel created by the declaration is a separate parcel of real property, even though the condominium is created on a leasehold.
(2) There shall pass with a unit, as appurtenances thereto:
(d) Membership in the association designated in the declaration, with the full voting rights appertaining thereto."

That says to me that if you purchase and own a unit, whether you've been a convicted felon or not, you have all the rights of membership in the association, including the right to vote. Can a convicted felon buy property? I haven't checked, but I'd guess Chapter 720 regarding Homeowners Associations says something similar regarding an owner's rights. Most likely, the statute covering not-for-profit corporations doesn't include any such prohibition either. So where does this so-called law saying convicted felons can't vote in condo associations or homeowners associations exist?

The only reason states can even prohibit convicted felons from voting in government elections in the first place is because of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It says that all U.S. citizens can vote "except for participation in rebellion, or other crime". Clearly, the U.S. Constitution was written concerning the organization of the federal government and with the rights and powers of states and the rights of its citizens. The U.S. Constitution doesn't say anything about condominium or homeowners associations.

In Florida, the qualifications for voting can be found in the Florida Constitution; specifically, in Article VI, Suffrage and Elections. There, you will find in Section 4, Disqualifications, "(a) No person convicted of a felony, or adjudicated in this or any other state to be mentally incompetent, shall be qualified to vote or hold office until restoration of civil rights or removal of disability." But, if you will read all of Article VI, you will see it pertains to government elections. There is nothing mentioned in Article VI about condominium or homeowners associations.

You might also want to think about this: Consider a non-U.S. citizen who is living in the U.S. legally with a visa; maybe even a permanent visa. Such a person can buy property, but, since that person is not a U.S. citizen, he or she cannot vote. Does that mean that person cannot vote in the association either?

The point is simply this. I think it's very dangerous to try to deny the right to vote on association matters to an individual on the basis of that person being a convicted felon because of laws that deny the right of that person to vote in governmental elections. The association may one day find itself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

Bruce, I totally support your post.

Our HOA is not a governmental agency and our board members are not "councilmen" or "alderman" or whatever.

If a felon can legally hold title to the property that creates his membership relationship with the HOA, then he has voting rights within that organization by virtue of that status, IF he is a "member in good standing."

Just as he would have voting rights in an organization or corporation in which he would (legally) hold the voting class of stock.

Our CC&Rs do not list "felon" as qualifying as a member in poor standing, ineligible to vote.

The only thing that would disqualify a confirmed member of the association from being a member in good standing (and thus not eligible to vote) are:

1) outstanding CC&R violation

2) delinquent assessments.

They don't even have to be citizens of these United States.

I have to confess that I would never have thought of checking to see who might be a felon to try and ban them from voting in the HOA.

Having said this, I would certainly check with a reliable attorney before restricting any member from anything. I would not assume that just because the person can't vote in public elections, they are banned from HOA elections.

I also have to say that I don't know why you would worry about restricting them from viewing association records. Open viewing doesn't extend to viewing each property's financial records, or disciplinary records. So what if a felon happens to see your landscaping contract?

It may not seem fair or right, but here is the exact wording of Florida State Condominium Statutes 718 Bylaws:

Any unit owner desiring to be a candidate for board membership shall comply with subparagraph 3. A person who has been convicted of any felony by any court of record in the United States and who has not had his or her right to vote restored pursuant to law in the jurisdiction of his or her residence is not eligible for board membership.

Anna, I have no opinion as to whether it's "right" or "fair" that a felon not be able to hold a board position.

I do note, however, as Kirk has, that the restriction in the statute doesn't say that a felon cannot vote either for or against someone else running, nor whether they can or cannot vote for or against any amendments or other business up for a membership vote.

They are only precluded from running for the board.

Just sayin' . . .

Well, if nothing else this has been an educational exercise!

By the way, I do support the idea that a convicted felon can not hold a BOD position until their (state) voting rights have been restored. Especially in Florida where that happens after a set amount of time if you "stay clean" and make restitution.

And as for the "special felon" I would personally mention this conviction openly in any annual meeting where the person had the audacity to run for the BOD again. I (and many others) just couldn't give her another chance with my association's money.

As a note, you may want to let the authorities overseeing her know that she is stirring up trouble in the neighborhood. It might affect how long until she is cleared for takeoff.

Thanks, Linda.

While that was an interesting article, it still only addresses the right to vote in governmental elections, and not in HOA elections, which are two completely different entities.

People voting on business and election of a board of directors in companies and HOAs/COAs and similar do not have to register to vote with the local election board, so they very likely are not restricted to vote in those entities.