Common interest developments: electronic voting.

Existing law, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, defines and regulates common interest developments, which include community apartment projects, condominium projects, planned developments, and stock cooperatives. These provisions require that a common interest development be managed by an association and that elections related to the governance or administration of the common interest development conform to specified requirements, including, among other things, the requirement that the association adopt rules to allow one or more inspectors to appoint or oversee independent 3rd parties to verify signatures and count and tabulate votes. Existing law authorizes a secret paper ballot to be distributed and voted upon by the membership without a meeting, and imposes other requirements relating to proxies and secret ballots. Existing law authorizes a member of an association to bring a civil action to enforce his or her rights and authorizes a court to impose a civil penalty of up to $500 for a violation of the provisions governing elections. Existing law requires that the sealed ballots remain in the custody of the inspector or inspectors of elections or at a location designated by the inspector or inspectors until after the tabulation of the vote, and until the time allowed for challenging the election has expired, when custody is required to be transferred to the association. This bill would authorize an association to conduct elections by electronic voting, as specified, and would enact related provisions. The bill would require an association, if electronic voting is to be conducted, to provide each member with an opportunity to indicate that he or she will be voting electronically and to provide ballots, as specified. The bill would require the electronic balloting service provider to retain the electronically submitted ballot data until the time allowed for challenging the election has expired. This bill set forth minimum requirements of an electronic voting system for an association's election. The bill would also authorize the Secretary of State to study and adopt regulations governing the use of electronic voting systems to determine whether the systems are capable of complying with these requirements. The bill would also declare the Legislature's intent in this regard.