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Should Your Association Proceed with a Board Election During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

In the past couple of weeks, we have seen many association boards conduct business by holding board meetings by video or telephone conferencing in order to ensure compliance with both the stay-at-home order and with the open meeting requirements of the Illinois Condominium Property Act (“Condo Act”) or the Common Interest Community Association Act (“CICAA”). Boards will, however, face added challenges if they have an upcoming board election but no rule in place for allowing members to vote by submitting a ballot electronically. This is because both the Condo Act and CICAA require associations to adopt rules and regulations ahead of board elections to permit electronic voting. Specifically, the Condo Act requires a Board to adopt a rule at least 120 days before a board election.

If an association does not currently have a rule in place allowing for electronic voting, then in order to comply with the stay-at-home order and ensure the safety of all members of the association, boards should maintain the status quo of the board and delay the holding of an election until the stay-at-home order is lifted and it is safe to hold an election in person.

If a board wishes to adopt a rule allowing for electronic voting before an upcoming election, additional details about the process can be found in a previous blog post: Is Your Association Ready For The Next Election? Adopting Rules For Electronic Voting [1].

If you have any additional questions regarding electronic voting, please contact one of our HOA attorneys.