Written by: Jonathan H. Katz, Esq.

As we advised in our previous alert, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (the “DCA”) published formal regulations governing elections held in community associations, which were made effective as of the day they were made public (May 18, 2020). In addition to the election regulations, the DCA also included new requirements related to community association board meetings. Those new requirements include the following:

Written by: Ronald L. Perl, Esq.

Effective as of May 18, 2020, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs has issued formal regulations governing elections held in community associations. The regulations were made effective as of the date they were made public, so associations have had very little time to adapt to them. These guidelines are intended to provide a quick reference to the highlights of the regulations.

If your association’s annual election is approaching, you likely have questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting governmental restrictions will affect your ability to hold your election. Should we reschedule the election? What if we have already sent out the request for nominations? What if there are no more candidates than there are open seats? What if we’ve already sent out the ballots? The answer is…it depends.

By Ronald L. Perl, Esq. CCAL

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs has proposed new regulations to implement the “Radburn Act,” which was enacted in 2017 to address procedures for board elections and voting participation rights in community associations. The proposed regulations would have a significant impact on the way associations conduct elections and tally votes as well as other issues, including board decision making on confidential matters.

Hill Wallack submitted a comment letter on behalf of its clients, with suggested changes to a number of proposed regulations. Click here to view a copy of Hill Wallack’s comments. Comments received by the DCA will be considered by that agency and it is anticipated that the final rules will be adopted and published in the coming weeks.

To read all of the proposed regulations, click here.

For more information on this or any other issue concerning your community association, please contact one of our Community Associations attorneys. For breaking news or updates on new blog posts, follow us on Twitter at: @njcondolaw, on Facebook at: njcondolaw, and on LinkedIn at: Hill Wallack Community Association Attorneys.

In order to help community associations understand the legalities of electronic voting as a result of the Radburn Law, Hill Wallack LLP hosted an informational webinar on this topic with Cathi Sleight from Vote HOA Now on April 24, 2019.

To view the webinar, please click here.

Thanks to our friends at Vote HOA Now for participating in this webinar. You can reach Vote HOA Now at www.votehoanow.com.

If you have any questions regarding electronic voting or any other issue regarding your association, please contact one of our Community Association Attorneys. For breaking news or updates on new blog posts, follow us on Twitter at: @njcondolaw.

By Ronald L. Perl, Esq. CCAL

The Radburn Law provides that New Jersey community associations must accept nominations to an association’s board of directors/trustees “as long as the nomination is made prior to the mailing of ballots or proxies to the association members[.]” It also states that the mailing cannot occur earlier than the day after the nomination deadline, if there is one, or, if no deadline was set, “the business day prior to the actual mailing.” To compound problems, Radburn requires that the notice of the election include a proxy and absentee ballot, which lists the candidates in alphabetical order.

I can only assume that the drafters of this provision did not consider that it takes time for many associations to draft these documents, then print and get them ready for mailing. Large scale associations must mail well over 1,000 sets of election notices with enclosures. In many cases, it takes more than one day to make them ready to be picked up or transported to the Post Office. So what happens three days after the nominations deadline when everything is printed, the envelopes are stuffed and addressed, and a person arrives at the association office with a self-nomination form? According to Radburn, it all has to be redone. If you reject the nomination as untimely, you run the risk of the entire process being invalidated. Frustrating, isn’t it?

This impractical provision needs to be amended. Why not amend the call-for-nominations provision of Radburn to require setting a deadline and providing that no nomination can be accepted more than the third business day after the deadline? Isn’t that fair to everyone?

In the meantime, what can we do? For one thing, nothing in the law requires all notices and other documents to be mailed at the same time. So I have suggested that associations be prepared to include a nomination cut-off date in their procedures and at least begin the mailing process on the next business day. Have a reasonable number of envelopes and notices ready so all you will need to do is print the necessary number of absentee ballots and/or proxies. That number will depend on the size of the association; you want it to be the number that can reasonably be done that day. Remember, just imposing a nomination deadline is not enough. Even if you have one, the critical cut-off is the actual mailing date.

For more information on this or any other issue concerning your community association, please contact one of our Community Associations attorneys. For breaking news or updates on new blog posts, follow us on Twitter at: @njcondolaw.