Who Gets to Cast The Proxy Votes?

C.D. from Hartford County, Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

Can proxies be given to the condo Board of Directors?

Mister Condo replies:

C.D., proxies need to be given to individual unit owners. Proxies can be given to an individual member of the Board of Directors as long as that individual member does not control more than 15% of the total votes. In a condo of your size, say 50 units, one person could cast votes for up to 7 units and still be in compliance with the 15% rule. If 20 unit owners granted proxy voting power to one individual that would effectively give 40% of the voting power to one person. Many unit owners would likely complain of that type of voting power in the hands of one person. If the Board is comprised of 5 members and each of them voted for 4 of the 20 proxies as well as themselves, the 15% rule would still be considered as observed. The Board, in and of itself, has no voting power other than the votes of the individual Board members. As such, proxies cannot be simply given to the Board of Directors.