How to Beat the Quorum Quandary
“Online voting is gaining enthusiastic support in HOAs as a solution to the quandaries of low-turn-out, delay and expense in reconvened meetings.”
Has your HOA’s annual meeting become a gamble on whether your association can conduct business? HOA governing documents require that an association must hold an annual meeting and that a quorum of the membership must attend or give their “proxy” in order to vote on business matters with paper ballots.
Pressed for time with the demands of work and school activities, many owners simply don’t have time to make the HOA’s annual meeting a priority.
If owners fail to turn out or submit enough proxies, the meeting must be reconvened at a later date. This results in additional expense and delay in conducting association business, such as electing board members or voting on amendments.
Benefits to Associations
Online voting is gaining enthusiastic support in HOAs as a solution to the quandaries of low-turn-out, delay and expense in reconvened meetings. By offering owners the ability to vote and assign their proxy online, communities find it much easier to achieve a quorum for the annual meeting.
For example, maybe the documents are ambiguous about whether owners can install a backyard shed. The Board proposes an amendment to allow sheds that meet certain requirements. Or maybe owners would like to change their payment cycle from once a year, to quarterly. Online voting can make a vote to amend the documents more likely to garner a 2/3 vote to pass or fail.
Besides a board election, the association could opt to conduct a survey about amending the assessment payment cycle to test opinion, before deciding to pursue an amendment.
You’ll want to choose a vendor that is familiar with Texas law and requirements for HOA elections. E-voting measures up as a convenient and affordable option to give owners easier access to take part in association business. As your management company, CMA can help your community beat the quorum quandary with e-voting.
Rob Koop
AMS®, CMCA®
Executive Vice President of Portfolio Operations
If you found this article helpful, you may also find other topics relevant to your HOA on this blog at Community. Well-Served.