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THE
FIGHT OVER PROXIES
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
February 20, 2015
Every
year at election time there is a fight over proxies mainly in
HOAs – allowed or not allowed, valid or not! The Condo Act (FS
718) disallows proxies to be used for elections – making it
easy to stop the discussion.
Especially
in HOAs regulated by FS 720 [FS
720.306(8)] wars about proxy voting are waged every
year.
Even certain attorneys seem to have serious problems
interpreting the meaning of this paragraph.
There
are two kinds of proxies:
The General Proxy:
Gives the proxy holder the right to vote on any agenda item
and/or election that comes in front of the membership meeting.
It is the written authority given to someone to act or vote in
someone's place.
The
Limited Proxy: This kind of proxy can only
be used for specific business that is to be voted on and a place
for the member to tell the proxy
holder the way to vote on the business. It is limited to the
business as specifically stated on the proxy form. These kinds
of proxies are often used to establish a quorum (a
percentage of the voting
interest present, in person or by proxy).
A
proxy can be rescinded at any time by the person signing the
proxy if he/she changes his/her mind or decides to attend the
meeting and vote in person. If there are two proxies at a
meeting signed by the same person the proxy with the latest date
is valid.
Don’t
fall for the trick often used by boards and CAMs sending out
proxy forms with a separate letter attached claiming that this
proxy will only be used to establish a quorum. Make sure it
really says so on the form you are signing. I have seen these
proxies, signed by owners in good faith, being actually used to
re-elect the sitting board.
Proxy
forms used at an election are considered public record and can
be inspected at any time (see Public
Record Request) . If obvious mistakes are found, the
election can be challenged by means of arbitration up to 60 days
after the election results are announced.
But
as long as the legislature allows proxy voting to be used for
electing the board the cheating will go on. Elections by proxy
open the doors for election fraud – and it happens all the
time!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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