Need help implementing SB 100's secret ballot requirement?
SB 100 amended section 38-33.3-310 of the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act ("CCIOA") to require the use of secret ballots for all board member elections and, at the request of one or more owner, for votes on other issues for which the owners are entitled to vote. Colorado is not alone in its requirement that board member elections take place by secret ballot.
California not only requires a secret ballot to be used for board member elections, but section 1363.03 of California's civil code goes into great detail on how this should be done. This law outlines the procedure for associations to use for directed proxies and mail-in ballots in a secret ballot election. Colorado board members may find the described procedures helpful in determining how to conduct their elections using secret ballots. This detailed Californian law is illustrative of the current trend of state legislators to manage many of the details of association operations that are arguably best left up to the board. While helpful as suggested methods of implementing secret ballot requirements, we in Colorado should feel fortunate that our legislature still has trust in our state's board members to comply with the new requirement.
>>"...we in Colorado should feel fortunate that our legislature still has trust in our state's board members to comply with the new requirement..."<<
That's strange. We don't "trust" the states motorists to observe the speed limit in school zones or to stop for stop signs unless they know there is a good possbility of being ticketed. Why should there be any expectation board members will comply with any requirements that are inconvenient or frustrating.
The California law looks to me like an excellent model to me. I guess they must have figured something out that we still have to learn.