2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 47 - Property Law
Article 16 - Homeowner Association
Section 47-16-9 - Proxy and absentee voting; ballot counting.
A. The association shall provide for votes to be cast in person, by absentee ballot or by proxy and may provide for voting by some other form of delivery.
B. Vote by proxy is allowed for lot owner meetings. The proxy vote shall:
(1) be dated and executed by a lot owner, but if a lot is owned by more than one person, each owner of the lot may vote or register protest to the casting of votes by the other owners of the lot through a duly executed proxy, but in no case shall the total vote cast be more than that allocated to the lot under the declaration;
(2) allow for revocation if notice of revocation is provided to the person presiding over a lot owner meeting; and
(3) be valid only for the meeting at which it is cast.
C. If proxy voting is utilized at a lot owner meeting, a person shall not pay a company or person to collect proxy votes.
D. Where directors or officers are to be elected by members, the bylaws may provide that such elections may be conducted by mail.
E. Votes cast by proxy and by absentee ballot are valid for the purpose of establishing a quorum.
F. Ballots, if used, shall be counted by a neutral third party or by a committee of volunteers. The volunteers shall be selected or appointed at an open meeting, in a fair manner, by the chair of the board or another person presiding during that portion of the meeting. The volunteers shall not be board members and, in the case of a contested election for a board position, shall not be candidates.
G. Nothing in this section shall be considered in conflict with or a replacement of voting member councils or representative voting systems created by the community documents.
History: Laws 2013, ch. 122, § 9; 2019, ch. 30, § 4.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, clarified that this section shall not be considered in conflict with or a replacement of voting member councils or representative voting systems created by the community documents; and added Subsection G.
Compiler's notes. — Laws 2013, ch. 122, §§ 1 through 14 were erroneously compiled as 47-7E-1 through 47-7E-14 NMSA 1978, and have been recompiled as 47-16-1 through 47-16-14 NMSA 1978 by the compiler.
