“Understanding Rules on Ballots, Proxies and Electronic Submissions” – News-Press
Q: I am an owner in a condominium complex in Naples, Florida. I read your recent article about voting by email and I have additional questions about ballots and proxies. Can ballots and proxies be opened counted in advance of a membership meeting or is an impartial panel required to count them at the meeting and can ballots and proxies be submitted by e-mail and, if so, does it require the Association to designate an official e-mail address for this purpose? (B.M., via e-mail)
A: Written ballots can be used for both election of directors and voting by the members at a membership meeting on other matters (often the limited proxy itself becomes the meeting ballot).
For the election of directors, secret ballots must be used and, if the vote is not being cast electronically, the ballot must be cast using the two-envelope system (an inner and signed outer envelope) for submission of a unit owner’s election ballot. The Florida Administrative Code requires election ballots to be verified and opened by an impartial committee. The outer envelopes can be verified by the impartial committee before the meeting but must be opened and counted at the meeting.
The two-envelope system is not required for members to vote on other association matters where the votes are cast by proxy or by meeting ballot. Accordingly, an impartial committee is not required to review the proxies. Florida law does not prohibit limited proxies from being reviewed and counted in advance of a membership meeting, as the proxies themselves are signed by the member casting their vote and the proxies can be verified at any time.
One of the recent amendments to Florida’s Condominium Act addressed the issue of “e-mail voting” for election of directors in condominium associations. Unless the association has adopted electronic voting, the association must designate an e-mail address for receipt of electronically submitted election ballots. Please note, this provision of the Act is not entirely clear whether it is limited to only elections and has been the subject of debate among practitioners. The board should consult with association counsel if dealing with this particular issue.
Limited proxies, on the other hand, are typically accepted by mail, hand-delivery, and e-mail in advance of the meeting as Florida law does permit the use of facsimile or electronic transmission for proxies. However, a condominium association is not required to designate an e-mail address for receipt of limited proxies, but it is best practice to do so.
Q: I am on the board of my condominium association and we have an owner who has become incredibly and increasingly problematic. This owner attends our board meetings and interrupts, yells, and attempts to derail our meetings. What can we do to address these issues? (T.R., via e-mail)
A: The situation you describe is one I have seen boards dealing with in increasing frequency over the past several years as owners have seemed to become far more adversarial compared to their more collaborative and cooperative predecessors.
There is no easy solution. My general recommendation is for the board to adopt a policy regarding unit owner participation at meetings, including only speaking after having been recognized by the chair, and limiting statements to three minutes per agenda item. Violations can be dealt with in a number of ways, including the levying of fines and/or suspensions of common element and facility use rights.
Keep in mind, meetings conducted via video conference (both board and unit owner meetings) must now be recorded and, if the association is required to have a website, uploaded to the website within thirty days. Unit owners knowing that their conduct is being recorded, saved, and uploaded to the association’s website may also serve to deter problematic behavior.
One tactic many associations employ is to have an off-duty law enforcement officer attend the meeting. Many departments allow organizations to schedule an off-duty officer to attend events and often the costs are relatively reasonable.
In extreme cases where a unit owner will not stop disrupting the meeting, adjourning the meeting may be the only option.
Joe Adams is an attorney with Becker & Poliakoff, P.A., Fort Myers. Send questions to Joe Adams by e-mail to jadams@beckerlawyers.com. Past editions may be viewed at floridacondohoalawblog.com.
