Sending a Message with Your Vote

 

Membership in your Community Association carries with it the single most important Unit Owner right, the right to elect your Governing Board.  It is the Board, in most instances, which has the authority to make all decisions for the Community and its membership.  Voting is conducted at the Association’s annual meeting of Unit Owners.  Ballots are cast either in person at the meeting or by way of an absentee ballot cast before the meeting.  Participation in the Association’s annual election is a right to be exercised by all Unit Owners and is, in reality, the only mechanism by which the membership is afforded the opportunity to continue or change the Community’s course.

 

In order to participate in any vote of the Association a Unit Owner must be “in good standing.”  Membership in good standing usually requires that all fees and assessments levied by the Association be paid and that a Unit Owner be fully compliant with the Community’s Governing Documents and Rules & Regulations.  Voting privileges are suspended until membership in good standing is reinstated.

 

There may be other instances where the membership is asked to vote.  Those would include but not be limited to: a proposed amendment to the Associations Master Deed or By-Laws and the expenditure by the Board of Association funds on capital improvements over a certain dollar threshold.  In addition, a vote is typically required of the membership if a Trustee’s removal is being proposed.