The Power of the Proxy at Condo Annual Meetings

A.K. from New London County writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

At an association’s annual business meeting, can one person be the proxy for more than one other than his/her unit for the election of officers? Thank you.

Mister Condo replies:

A.K., unless the by-laws of the association prohibit it, proxy voting is allowable provided the rules for proxy voting were observed and that no one unit owner casts votes greater than 15% of the total votes. That is to say, in a condo with 100 units, no one unit owner could cast more than his own plus 14 proxy votes. Of course, proxies need to be specific as to their use so if all of these other unit owners wished to grant proxy power to one unit owner, their proxies should be specific as to intent – to vote in favor of a proposed budget, against a slate of proposed directors, etc… The proxy should not be as wide-sweeping as to allow the unit owner with the proxies to vote on any issue he wants with the added power of up to 15% of the vote in his pocket. That may not violate the association’s rules on proxy voting but it does violate the spirit of the proxy, which is to ensure quorum for the association to conduct its business. Hope that helps.