Is Electronic Voting An Option For Your Community?


By Jeremy Stilwell, Esq. & Corbin Barrett


F


or years, Washington State community associations have looked for ways to


increase homeowner involvement. Many community associations struggle to meet even minimum quorum requirements. Even when an association manages to get quorum, voter participation rates often remains low. Like many Americans, homeowners are often busy with work schedules, family obligations and social engagements that take priority over condo or HOA governance issues. We need to make the process of participation as easy as possible for owners.


Many associations would like to offer  participation through user-friendly platforms. Unfortunately, the laws and governing documents that associations operate under tend to change slowly over time. Fortunately, technology does not change slowly and considerable advancements have been made recently.


Associations interested in increasing owner participation should consider


the current technology available for community association elections. Today, there is user-friendly technology that is adaptable from state-to-state and association-to-association.


Electronic Voting In Washington State


There are now four (4) separate acts that apply to community associations   64.32); the Homeowners’ Association   or RCW 64.34); and now the Washington Uniform Common Interest Ownership 


Three of the four acts make no  In contrast, three of the four acts 


26 Community Associations Journal | April 2020


method for owners to vote without attending a meeting.


 vote pursuant to a directed or undirected proxy duly executed by a unit owner in the same manner as provided in RCW 24.06.110 [Miscellaneous and Mutual  The WCA provides that “votes allocated to a unit may be cast pursuant to a proxy  RCW 64.34.340.


  for purposes of quorum and voting “by  Thus, WUCIOA, the WCA and the HOA  submit votes via proxy. The HPRA doesn’t   proxies in the declaration or bylaws.


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