Proxy vote vs Bylaw "present" at meeting

I'm a new trustee for an HOA in Missouri. We are not incorporated, nor registered within our state, therefore State Statutes do not govern us. Only our Bylaws govern us. Our Bylaws are simply recorded at our county recorder office. Our Bylaws state in order to vote the member must be "present" at the meeting. Bylaws are silent about voting by proxy or electronic communication, etc.. We have told members Proxy is not allowed, but certain members keep pushing the issue. When I look at the legal definition of "present at the meeting" on google I see "present at a meeting means to be present in person, or able to participate in the meeting by electronic communication, or to be represented by a proxy who is present in person or able to participate in the meeting by electronic communication"; We do not have high speed internet in our area, so Zoom and the like will not work. Board of Trustees do not want proxy and want actual participation by members and not someone hoarding votes for their own political agends.

Must we allow proxy or are we okay to continue to deny it?

I guess option 2 would be to allow mail in ballot on elections maybe.

Tim, Neither Chapter 355 nor 351 applies to us as we are not registered with the state nor incorporated.

It sounds like your click wants to make it as difficult to vote as possible.

I agree.

Thank you for everyone's input. The founding fathers wanted active engagement by members. As a result of your comments, We will have to design a policy to entertain proxy vote.

It's also possible to use proxies to establish quorum only but not for voting, which is how we do it. So even if your state says NO to electronic voting, you can still use proxies.

If your annual meetings have issues of making quorum but are otherwise straightforward (election only, no voting on issues), then use of paper proxies makes sense. Many HOAs would never be able to hold annual meetings if proxies were not allowed.

The only meetings where proxies are generally not allowed is at board/trustee meetings - the directors/trustees must be present either physically or via electronic meeting platforms such as Zoom.

Does anyone require notarized signature on proxy vote in order to ascertain authenticity of member?

Jeff

I have never heard of a Notary on an HOA Proxie. You keep sounding like a BOD that does not want Proxies used.