With More States Changing Condo/HOA Election Laws, Is It Time to Get Outside Help?
HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - December 1, 2023
In this week's tip, we find out if you can—or must—ask for a third party to step into your HOA's or condo association's elections.
There's a growing industry of companies that will serve as your inspector of election, or even go so far as to handle your election from soup to nuts. That's in part because state laws are changing to more frequently require outside help with elections.
Take Pennsylvania. "We have a new law passed last November, Act 115," explains Marshal Granor, CCAL, managing partner at Granor & Granor PC in Horsham, Pa., who's not only a community association lawyer but also the former owner of a community association management company. "It says that condos of 500 units or more must hire an independent election certifier, and that
can be a CPA, lawyer, or other recognized election company."
The law was going to have a much broader reach before industry experts like Granor convinced the legislature to dial it back.
"This particular legislator who introduced this legislation was in the Pennsylvania House, and is now a state senator, from the Pocono Mountains, where they have gigantic associations with as many as 10,000 units," he explains. "In one in her district, there was fraud, and the president
was found guilty and put in jail. They were preopening ballots or eliminating them. So she did have one of the extremely rare cases of election tampering.
"But we stressed that most associations in Pennsylvania are under 500 units, and
probably a preponderance are under 100," states Granor. "In fact, we explained to her, many are begging people to run for the board—usually there's no contest."
The final legislation requires new communities of 500 or more units created
after the effective date of the legislation to hire an independent election certifier.
Kurtis Peterson, CMCA, founded The Inspectors of Election in Carlsbad, Calif., in 2006 after California changed its community association election
laws.
"We're primarily in California," he explains. "But we've been growing across the nation. A lot of our clients want online voting, and we have that platform and have been doing that since 2010."
As the company name states, they'll also serve as the inspector of election, as required by some states. "The Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, which has been adopted by about 27 states, requires neutral third parties to count the votes," explains David
Firmin, managing partner at Altitude Community Law PC in Lakewood, Colo., with satellite offices in Loveland, Colorado Springs, Durango, and Frisco.