Election Acclamations

I wrote an article about election acclamations, which was published in the Spring 2013 issue of the Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario (ACMO) Condominium Manager (CM) Magazine. I thought our readers would find the article interesting so I have posted it below with CM Magazine’s permission.

Election Acclamations: Proceed with Care

Condominium Manager Magazine, Spring 2013

By James Davidson, LLB, ACCI, FCCI

Condominium directors are often elected “by acclamation.” This typically occurs when the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies.

But are such acclamations legally correct? Do the candidates “automatically” arrive on the board if the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies?

In my view, in strict technical terms a vote of the owners is required in order to elect candidates onto a condominium’s board of directors. This comes from Section 53 of the Condominium Act which states as follows:

“Unless otherwise provided in this Act, all questions proposed for the consideration of the owners at a meeting of owners shall be determined by a majority of the votes cast by owners present at the meeting in person or by proxy if there is a quorum at the meeting.”

In my view, this means that a candidate can only be elected to the board based upon a vote at the meeting. And a majority of the votes must be in favour of the person’s election to the board.

In most cases, there is no controversy; and acclamations are probably fine. But sometimes this is not the case. Among the many AGMs that I have attended over the years, I have attended two AGMs where there was only one candidate for one vacancy, and the candidate was not elected to the board. In each case, owners were asked to vote on the question of the candidate’s election to the board. And in those two cases, a majority of the votes cast was against the candidate’s election. So in other words, a majority of the votes cast was not in favour of the candidates’ election to the board.

Whenever I’m involved in an AGM election, I recommend the following procedures:

• Step 1: Complete nominations of candidates;
• Step 2: Have the candidates make brief presentations (if desired);
• Step 3: Proceed to the election. [If the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies to be filled by election, call for a motion from the floor, a seconder, and then a show of hands vote, on the following business: Election of the following candidates to the board of directors for the following terms: “Mary to be elected to the term expiring in the year X and John to be elected to the term expiring in year Y”].

Note that, as part of this process, it is important to identify which candidates will be elected to which terms, if the vacancies are for different remaining terms. If the candidates cannot agree on this, it may be necessary to structure a ballot vote to determine which candidate will take which term. In my view, this is something to be decided at the meeting of owners, not by board resolution (at the next board meeting).

In most cases, the above “show of hands” election (when the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies) is a 15-second “rubber stamping” of the candidates as elected directors (including their terms).

But every once in a while, you may run into the rare case where a candidate is not elected to the board, even where there are no other candidates in opposition.