5100.
(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law or provision of the governing documents, elections regarding assessments legally requiring a vote, election and removal of directors, amendments to the governing documents, or the grant of exclusive use of common area pursuant to Section 4600 shall be held by secret ballot in accordance with the procedures set forth in this article.(2) An association shall hold an election for a seat on the board of directors in accordance with the procedures set forth in this article at the expiration of the corresponding director’s term and at least once every four years.
(b) This article
also governs an election on any topic that is expressly identified in the operating rules as being governed by this article.
(c) The provisions of this article apply to both incorporated and unincorporated associations, notwithstanding any contrary provision of the governing documents.
(d) The procedures set forth in this article shall apply to votes cast directly by the membership, but do not apply to votes cast by delegates or other elected representatives.
(e) In the event of a conflict between this article and the provisions of the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law (Part 3 (commencing with Section 7110) of Division 2 of Title 1 of the Corporations Code) relating to elections, the provisions of this article
shall prevail.
(f) Directors shall not be required to be elected pursuant to this article if the governing documents provide that one member from each separate interest is a director.
(g) Notwithstanding the secret balloting requirement in subdivision (a), when, as of the close of nominations for directors on the board, the number of director nominees is not more than the number of vacancies to be elected, as determined by the inspector or inspectors of the elections, the director nominees shall be considered elected by acclamation if both of the following are true:
(1) The association provided individual notice of the election and the procedure for nominating candidates at least 30 days before the close of
nominations.
(2) The association permits all qualified candidates to run if nominated. nominated, except as follows:
(h)An association shall not disqualify a person from being a candidate for the board of directors except as follows:
(1)
(A) An association shall disqualify a person from nomination as a candidate if either of the following applies:
(A)
(i) The person is not a member of the association at the time of the nomination.
(B)
(ii) Within the past 20 years, the person has been convicted of a felony involving accepting, giving, or offering to give a bribe, the embezzlement of money, the extortion or theft of money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes. For purposes of this subparagraph, “conviction of a felony” includes a conviction of a felony in this state or a conviction of a crime under the laws of any other state, the United States, or any foreign government or country that, if committed in this state, would be a felony, and for which the person has not received a pardon from a person or entity authorized to grant the pardon.
(2)
(B) Through its bylaws or election operating rules adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 5101 5105 only, an association may disqualify a person from nomination as a candidate based on any of the following:
(A)
(i) Failure to be current in the payment of regular assessments, which are consumer debts subject to validation. If an association requires a nominee to be current in the payment of regular assessments,
it shall also require a director to be current in the payment of regular assessments. An association may not disqualify a nominee for nonpayment of fines, fines renamed as assessments, collection charges, late charges, or costs levied by a third party. An association shall not disqualify a nominee for failure to be current in payment of regular assessments if any of the following circumstances are true:
(i)
(I) The nominee has paid the regular assessment under protest pursuant to Section 5658.
(ii)
(II) The nominee has entered into a payment plan pursuant to Section 5665.
(iii)
(III) The nominee has not been provided the opportunity to engage in internal dispute resolution pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 5900) of Chapter 10.
(B)An association may prohibit two or more people with joint ownership interest in the same separate interest parcel from serving as directors at the same time, subject to the following:
(i)The board may
disqualify a person from nomination as a candidate pursuant to this paragraph only in cases where that person, if elected, could not serve on the board without violating the above prohibition.
(ii)Notwithstanding clause (i), the board may disqualify from nomination as a candidate a person who is a joint owner of a parcel if one of the other joint owners is already properly nominated for the current election and none of the joint owners are an incumbent board director.
(ii) An association may disqualify a person from nomination as a candidate if the person, if elected, would be serving on the board at the
same time as another person who holds a joint ownership interest in the same separate interest parcel as the person and the other person is either properly nominated for the current election or an incumbent director.
(C)
(iii) An association may disqualify a nominee if that person has been a member of the association for less than one year.