Let’s Keep Our Elections Fair and Transparent!

Will a Proposed Bill Aim to Undo a 2025 Law Reforming HOA and Condo Elections?

Condo and HOA homeowners in Maryland celebrated good news in October 2025. The passage of an Election Reform law, Real Property Article 11-109(c)(17), aimed to improve the fairness and transparency of Condo/HOA board elections. Our CHARM Maryland Newsletter article summarizes the reforms. One section of the law “requires that an “independent party” collects and counts ballots, and certifies the results, in an election determining the board of directors of a Common Ownership Community (COC). This means that many COCs will have to change their election practices of having property management staff or board members collect and count ballots and otherwise administer their election. Any homeowner is considered an ‘independent party’ if they are not running for office and do not have a conflict of interest regarding any candidate.”

Regrettably, there are special interests who have been benefitting from non-transparent and improper COC elections who are now trying to unravel these recent legal reforms. Read the Q&A’s below, form you own opinion, and then tell your state legislators what you think. (You can select the “Lookup” button here to find your legislators.) The Ten Questions below echo the arguments of opponents of the reforms. The Ten Answers are CHARM Maryland’s responses in support of the recent (2025) legal reforms to condo/HOA board elections.

1) QUESTION: Does the new (2025) Election Law take away self-governance from the association directors (i.e., the board members of the community)?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: No, it does not. Before “Real Property Article 11-109(c)(17)” took effect, property management companies often ran the election process. Generally, the primary interest of the management company is to augment their business revenue, above the homeowners’ interest.   Some well-run associations have board members who closely monitor the actions of their management companies, but many boards fail to fulfill this critical responsibility. Homeowners need election procedures that ensure fairness and transparency as well as protection of their property interests. These election reforms aim to strengthen these goals by removing the contracted management company from most, if not all aspects of the election process.

2) QUESTION: Does the new (2025) Election Law take away the power of board directors to delegate responsibility to others?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: No. The board directors are always responsible for the actions of contractors or hired vendors (such as management companies). Under the law reforms of 2025, boards will delegate their authority to carry out elections in a more robust and transparent manner by involving third parties or homeowners directly. Board directors can simply instruct the association’s management company to provide an accurate and up-to-date list of community members and the status of their accounts. They can also instruct their management company to keep complete and secure archives of the association’s business. However, boards should not entrust elections to any entity with a real or perceived conflict of interest in the outcome.

3) QUESTION: Does the new (2025) Election Law conflict with the Condo law 11–109(b), which has been used since 1982?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: Many condo and HOA associations do not have specific processes and requirements to protect board elections. The reforms of 2025 aim to improve the election processes for all HOAs and condo associations. In fact, the law defers to the existing governing documents of any COC if their transparency and election standards are even stronger than those demanded by the 2025 reforms. The relevant state law, 11-109(b) in its entirety, reads,

“The bylaws may authorize or provide for the delegation of any power of the council of unit owners to a board of directors, officers, managing agent, or other person for the purpose of carrying out the responsibilities of the council of unit owners.”

The key word is “may.” Delegation is not abdication, and it need not be permanent just because a bylaw initiates it. Maryland law 11-109(c)(15) states,

“Unless otherwise provided in this title, and subject to provisions in the bylaws requiring a different majority, decisions of the council of unit owners shall be made on a majority of votes of the unit owners listed on the current roster present and voting.”

Delegation does not remove the authority of the council of unit owners to make a decision. The lesser authority (the board) does not bind the greater authority (the council of unit owners). A municipal attorney should know this; otherwise, a city committee could bind a city council.

4) QUESTION: COCs are corporations, right? Does corporate law apply to them?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: This is a huge topic that we will be revisiting. What are COCs? The short answer is “a mixed bag” that the “HOA industry” has used to treat homeowners as serfs in every state of the union. (The confusion is reflected in statements like this from Montgomery County’s COC Manual and Resource Guide, p. 125: “COCs are either corporations, or at least operated as corporations …”).

   The proliferation of COC communities beginning in the 1970s–with covenants, bylaws, and state laws invented to support the efforts of developers, not homeowners–has created a lot of confusion in laws all across the United States, creating loopholes that allow bad actors to believe they can strip COC homeowners of their Constitutional rights. Homeowners are forced to “claw back” their unalienable rights, piece by piece. For example, HOA critic Deborah Goonan has argued that it is unconstitutional for HOAs to fine their own members. HOAs are the only “corporations” in the United States that are permitted to do so, she asserts. Court battles are being fought in different municipalities, but it might take federal legislation to full restore Constitutional rights to COC homeowners.

 5) QUESTION: Will there be a lot of conflicts with association bylaws which this law overrides?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: See #3 Any proposed law should provide that it defers to the existing governing documents of any COC whose transparency standards are superior to the proposed laws. If a community’s bylaws allow for a conflict-of-interest situation, the 2025 reform law nullifies that clause and corrects that error. Such bad bylaws should be overridden. For example, many bylaws require board secretaries to count the ballots of an election in which they themselves are candidates, often without oversight or certification! That is obviously an invitation to malfeasance, or at least to the community’s loss of trust in the election process. The 2025 law does not allow board members or Officers who are candidates to participate in any aspect of administering elections.

6) QUESTION: Will it be difficult to find homeowner volunteers to administer an election, for example, to serve as election clerks?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: From the homeowner complaints that drove passage of this legislation, it is clear that changes need to be made to address existing deficiencies, including conflicts of interest, nomination irregularities, and manipulation of proxy and other ballots. Each community will have to develop its own systems within the context of the law, which may be volunteer-driven, vendor-driven, or a combination of both.

7) QUESTION: Before an election takes place, the property management company currently addresses questions from homeowners. For example, homeowners need to know the status of their account, or many don’t understand the ballot, or the voting process. Who will field these questions if the property management is now not involved?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: There is no prohibition in the reforms against a management company providing accurate information to a homeowner. Informing and helping homeowners about the election issues is always required. The intent of the law is to eliminate opportunities for interfering or manipulating the process.

8) QUESTION: Property management companies have years of experience with COC elections, including giving notice of the election, running candidate forums, answering questions. Will their role change?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: The current law does not prohibit management companies from providing notice of the election, running candidate forums, or answering homeowners’ questions. However, there are many examples showing that many current election procedures are fraught with management administration problems. Maryland State laws aim to provide more guidance to common homeownership communities about how to run independent, open and fair board elections.

9) QUESTION: Property management companies have been the keepers of the archives. How is that going to work now? Will the “trusted homeowners” who are managing the election simply hand over materials to the property management?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: All official records belong to the condo or HOA association, including its election records. U.S. history has shown that an auditable paper trail is a prudent asset for any voting system. We believe that most COCs could run an election at a minimum cost if they follow best practices. There is a need for COC archival best practices generally, not only with regard to keeping voting records. We may revisit this topic in more depth.

10) QUESTION: Will contracting with independent third parties to run elections be a required additional cost for associations? Will this requirement simply pass on the cost to homeowners?

ANSWER BY CHARM Maryland: There is no legal mandate for incurring additional costs. Homeowners can volunteer and learn how to run fair and transparent elections. Directors and homeowners alike can embrace a new era of accountability. Improper elections come with unacceptable costs – financial costs to the community as well as reduced community trust. A community may see higher costs by outsourcing its elections. The cost could be a few thousand dollars, similar to an annual audit.

Subscribe for free to the CHARM Maryland Newsletter to get news and updates on this issue. It is important, especially while the Maryland General Assembly is in session, that you–the COC homeowner–know what is being proposed, what your legislator is doing, and be able to respond.

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