This past spring we looked at the different condominium board election processes across the Canadian Provinces. Over the next few weeks, I want to focus on the country south of the 49th parallel and take a look at the condominium board election process in the United States.
In the past few years, the condominium industry has boomed, particularly in major metro areas including New York City, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle. And it is in those cities that we will look at the state condominium by-laws regarding condo elections. While many communities will still have homeowner associations with their own rules and regulations, there is usually a condominium act that they must adhere to.
Many states have adopted the Uniform Condominium Act, instead of writing their act in regards to condominiums.
For elections, sometimes unit owners will operate on a one vote per unit basis, and other times there will be a weighted voting system put into effect. For example, in an election for a new Board of Directors, each unit owner will have an equal vote. However, on matters concerning ratification of the common expense budget, where the commercial unit owners paid a much larger share than their proportion of the total units, the vote of commercial unit owners would be increased to 3 times the number of votes the residential owners held.
What’s the voting process like in your condominium? Have you tried online elections yet? Feel free to reach out to us at support@electionbuddy.com.