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IS CAMPAIGINING ALLOWED IN YOUR ASSOCIATION ELECTION?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published September 28, 2020
Election season is approaching in community associations all
across the state. We already learned that if the governing docs
say “No signs” you can’t put out Trump or Biden signs on your
property. But what about the people running for the Board in
your own community? Can they at least campaign?
Many associations do a wonderful thing. They hold a “Meet the
Candidates Night.” Everyone running for the Board gets to speak
to the community for a few minutes. The truth is however,
incumbents have it harder on such an evening because the crowd
often times interrupts the candidate by yelling about some dumb
decisions the candidate previously made while on the board. The
newbies have it easier. However, if you have a Meet The
Candidates Night by Zoom or some other video conference,
everyone can be muted while the candidate speaks. I definitely
recommend it and I have hosted several of these previously.
Can the Board send out a letter to the community suggesting how
people vote and/or telling everyone why they should vote for the
incumbents again?
The Florida Administrative Code states: (for condominiums)
The second notice and accompanying documents
shall not contain any communication by the board that endorses,
disapproves, or otherwise comments on any candidate.
In other words – when the ballots gets sent out –
no comments by the Board.
But that’s it. That’s the only mention about campaigning in the
law. Now obviously, Board members should not be utilizing
association resources for their personal elections. They should
not be using association letterhead, envelopes and contacting
members by accessing their e-mail addresses that the other
candidates don’t have access to.
However, no candidate is prohibited from spending their own
resources and creating a letter to send to the unit owners
telling them why they are the best man or woman for the Board
position.
Good luck to all the candidates!
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Sachs, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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