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ELECTION INTEGRITY? NOT IN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published October 18, 2024
This country is permanently fighting
over election integrity – and elections in community
associations see their fair share of election fraud.
Arbitrators of the Division of
Condominiums, Timeshares & Mobile Homes are permanently dealing
with cases of election and recall disputes. Don’t forget, even
if the Division has no jurisdiction over homeowners’
associations, election and recall arbitration is part of their
deal even for HOAs.
While condominiums and co-ops (FS
718 + FS 719) have very detailed provisions regarding
the election process, HOAs (FS 720) have more or less no
straight forward provisions regulating the election process.
It’s a free for all, and the sitting
board in a HOA has more or less the power to eliminate any
unwanted candidate. All they have to do is creating a nominating
committee – they can even appoint their spouses, relatives or
friends to this committee – and have this committee declare that
only the sitting board members (or their friends) are valid
candidates that will show up on the ballot. Even if the statutes
allow nominations from the floor, you know the chances of
winning as a write-in candidate. And don’t forget, even this
provision of the statute can be eliminated by mailing out
mailing ballots.
The provisions regulating elections in
HOAs [FS 720.306(9)] are very vague and mostly rely on
the bylaws of the association, bylaws that can most often be
changed by a simple vote of the sitting board.
Does anybody actually believe that
these kinds of provisions guarantees “ELECTION INTEGRITY”?
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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 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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