Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
HOA Annual Election Invalid Ballots
Do only valid ballots count toward a quorum in our HOA's board of directors election? For instance, if a 2-envelope ballot is received, and everything is in order except that the outer ballot is not signed, will that count toward quorum purposes (to hold the election) but not toward the candidate vote tally? Or if the envelopes are fine but the homeowner signed the annonymous ballot - would that count toward establishing a quroum, although we could not use the ballot for candiate tabulation purposes? One of us thinks that invalid ballots count toward quorum purposes but not tabulation, and one of us thinks that an invalid ballot cannot count toward either quorum or tabulation. We just barely have a quorum, and if any ballots when opened are found to be invalid, this may cancel our whole election if they cannot be used toward quorum purposes. Thank you for your help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: HOA Annual Election Invalid Ballots
Ballots casted count for determining whether the needed percentage of homeowners has been reached to form a quorum. The ballot does not have to be properly cast in that it can be counted for someone running. A vote for someone who just died or withdrawn from the race or thinks the whole thing is rubbish but does not want to go to the expense of another vote so merely in effect votes present are still a valid votes. What would happen if just enough votes were send in or dropped off to meet the minimum, but a vote counter accidentally spilled coffee on one ballot so no one could read it? Would it make sense to call for a new election and disenfranchise those who did vote? When states announce the results of an election the normally include how many spoiled ballots were cast. Remember the Buch chards?
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