Did Quail Valley HOA Hold an Illegal Election? HOAs are a Legal Morass

Dear Neighbors in Quail Valley,

Article V in the Quail Valley HOA bylaws (Note 1) explains that "Election to the Board of Directors shall be by secret ballot." It also says, "nominations from the floor can be made at the annual meeting." I wonder, however, if "nominations from the floor" can ever be part of a fair and transparent HOA election. I find no guidance anywhere on how to accomplish that. (Note 2) Consider what happened at our Quail Valley Annual Meeting on May 13, 2024. (Note 3)

What is a "Nomination from the Floor" Anyway?
Most voting in our HOA is done by mail, and those ballots are counted at an Annual Meeting of the Community. That process seems open and fair. But that same evening, members of the community (homeowners) can also carry in their envelope-and-ballot to the community center by hand. Finally, they can also make new nominations by voice from the floor–adding candidate names that were not on the printed ballot into the race. Those in attendance would write any new name on a piece of paper. All ballots of any sort are counted during the meeting.

All kinds of questions arise about this procedure. For example, how are ballot with names "nominated from the floor" mesh with the mailed-in ballots and the names printed on them? Apparently, the results of the write-in votes could even supersede the count on the printed ballots in a close count between two candidates. That might seem "democratic" to some, but it opens the door for all sorts of confusion, abuses, and last-minute shenanigans.

Consider the context. Participation in elections in our HOA community is very low. Homeowners are demoralized. There are no campaign signs, no forum or debate between candidates. In fact, it is very hard to discover the names of our current board members (i.e., our most-local elected officials) unless you attend a Community Meeting and ask them their names. Go ahead, try searching online. It's part of the nationwide pattern of HOAs with poor accountability and even less transparency. That environment makes it easy for a rogue group to commandeer an election, or for a calcified clique to maintain their hold over a bully local governing entity, the HOA, with the power to fine homeowners tens of thousands of dollars.

This Year's Election Mess
On May 13, at the Annual Meeting when votes are to be counted, we did not have quorum. That gummed things up. The bylaws state,"Article III, Section 4, "one tenth (1/10th)" of the members (homeowners) must be present, but we didn't have 53 people in the room. (There are 529 homes in QV HOA.) But then one more homeowner walked through the door at 8:02pm. So the election process was resumed.

At that point, chaos seemed to rule the meeting. I'm not sure whether anyone was "nominated from the floor" by voice. The board of directors, however, invited everyone present to "write in" candidates on the spot, on a piece of paper. But, someone asked, how could we know that a person was not voting twice: once with their printed-and-mailed-in-ballot, and again on a sheet of paper at this meeting? Well, to solve the dilemma, the board asked attendees to write their addresses on the sheet of paper, if they were handing one in, so that the volunteer vote counters could check (at some point) whether that was happening. But writing one's address on a ballot meant that these "from the floor" ballots were not secret.

No person was checking IDs to see whether a person was writing their true address on the from-the-floor ballot. Also, once the other ballots, the mailed-in ballots, were separated from their envelopes, there was no way to track which vote was a duplicate, if the comparison of addresses revealed a duplicate. (Maybe I was not seeing something or understanding something? It's possible. Let's clarify that now.)

All of this admixture occurred with much hubbub, conversations bubbling here and there all over the room, and no pausing for anyone (management or board member) to shush the talking and explain procedures. A few people were silently rolling their eyes.

Signs of a Chronic HOA Crisis
Funny thing is, 23 minutes later, I shared the general sentiment: we were glad the whole mess was over. Our board members are volunteers, after all. I detected no malice. But the episode reveals the poor guidance we receive from property management, the failure of longstanding board members to guide the community through this important annual process, and the failure of county and state laws, the Commission on Common Ownership Communities, and our elected officials to ensure free and fair elections in Montgomery County's HOAs.

There are other structural problems. Last year, the board accepted newly elected members at its Annual Meeting, but also voted to expand the number of sitting board members, thus allowing very-long-serving members to continue on the board. Perhaps we need term limits so that the board can evolve to reflect better the demographics of the community, which is multicultural and has some younger families moving in who we hope would choose to stay, and not flee.

HOAs are a Legal Morass
It matters who sits on the board of our HOA. I'm worried that our board of directors is today, whether knowingly or unknowingly, leading our community into a rut of deep financial risk and rising monthly assessments for all the homeowners / members of the HOA. The HOA's legal fees and "bad debt" budget line items seem to be expanding year after year. We pay a lawyer to attack our own homeowners in court, and the lawyer is paid their fee whether the HOA "wins" or "loses" the case (ahem, against the HOA's own dues-paying member). We hire a property management company that is also a debt collector to inspect our properties with a fair eye. This may all be legal, but it is the rotten fruit of a corrupt system. Industry players are making profit not primarily by serving or guiding the residents, but by punishing them. See the recent article about the QV HOA taking a homeowner to court on August 7, 2024 to fine him $5,148 for a spot of "dead/bare grass" in the yard. But change is afoot across the nation. See reforms enacted this year in Arizona, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania to curb such abuses. We need some of those reforms here in Maryland.

A "morass" is an area of muddy, boggy ground. It's hard to make progress in any direction, and hard to see clearly in a morass. Our own Montgomery County writes that HOAs are "mini-governments" but also "are either corporations, or operated like corporations." (Note 4) Wow. That non sequitur is the definition of a legal mess. It's like saying, "The pet you see in my garage is part giraffe and part chihuahua." There is no such creature. Local governments are not corporations. No wonder HOAs all over the country are abusive and dysfunctional.

The Next Election
Others may have different memories of what happened on May 13. A lot was happening all at once. I'm sure the board can be more methodical in the future, and perhaps take time to explain procedures to those who attend the Annual Meeting, where mailed envelopes are opened and votes are counted. For example, the board could describe election procedures and then field any questions about those procedures, before the process is undertaken for all to witness.

Perhaps, before the next HOA election, a representative from the Commission on Common Ownership Communities could visit and explain to us all how elections should be conducted. I would be very interested to hear how "nominations from the floor" could be part of a free, fair, and transparent election. At the moment, I do not believe such an animal exists.

Sincerely,
Steve Lapham, A 24 year resident of QV. I am not a lawyer, but just trying to understand what is going on. I used to work with civics teachers, so the topic of elections interests me in a general way. Read blogs at tinyurl.com/CuckooCourt. Send comments and corrections to MuskratMusic@gmail.com

NOTES
1) I saved a PDF of the QV HOA bylaws some years back, but there seems to be no way (that I can find) to view them online now. They are not at the community's public website under "Documents." I do not find them after logging into the members-only portal. Is this part of the legal morass? I've been told by a commissioner that to view the actual bylaws of any HOA, you have to come to Rockville and see them on paper in the Land Records office, as I recall. Info on this point would be welcome. By the way, the bylaws are 144 pages (!) and quite a mess to look at, in my opinion.

2) There's nothing in the bylaws on how to hold "nominations from the floor." The CCOC offers advice (COC Manual and Resource Guide), a packet of forms and checklists on its website called How to Hold an Election," but I don't find any guidance on how to hold "nominations from the floor" (in the Manual or on the CCOC webpages), which seems like a Grand-Canyon-sized chasm that needs filling. Hello, Calling County Executive Marc Elrich?

3) Here is what the Minutes of the May 13, 2024 QV HOA meeting say about the voting and vote count, in its entirety:
"Recess to Convene 2024 Annual Meeting. Steve Drake moved to recess the regular Board meeting to convene the 2024 Annual Meeting at 8:02 pm. Teri Whittaker seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. The Board meeting resumed at 8:25 pm."
I can't find anywhere (in an email?) that the HOA ever reported the results of the May 2024 HOA election to the community. Perhaps I'm remiss.

4) Goofy quotes are from page 124 of the “COMMON OWNERSHIP COMMUNITY MANUAL & RESOURCE GUIDE.”