Recounts

Why there's no standard recount rule

None of the major state election statutes researched for this lesson spell out when a board must recount ballots, what margin triggers one, or who performs it. California's detailed election article mentions a recount only in passing, as one reason a member can ask to inspect retained ballots.

Most states, including many with no dedicated common-interest-development election statute at all, leave recount mechanics entirely to the association's own bylaws or to whatever policy the board adopts. Check your governing documents first. If they are silent, your state's general nonprofit corporation law and the parliamentary authority named in your bylaws, often some edition of Robert's Rules of Order, fill in a few gaps around the edges of a dispute, but neither hands you a ready-made recount formula.

Why the ballots are still there to recount

Whether or not anyone planned for it, a recount depends on the ballots still existing and being verifiably untouched. That is a custody question, not a recount rule. Once an inspector of elections receives a ballot under California's statute, it becomes irrevocable, and nobody, including management company staff, may access ballots or tally sheets before the scheduled, open count.

"Until after the tabulation of the vote, and until the time allowed by Section 5145 for challenging the election has expired."

Source: California Civil Code, Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, California Legislative Information

That custody window, tied directly to the challenge deadline, is exactly the period during which a recount request would have to happen.

If nobody has a policy, it becomes a challenge

Without a bylaw or policy that defines a recount, a losing candidate's demand for one does not vanish. It usually turns into a formal election challenge instead, governed by whatever deadline and burden-of-proof rules your state sets.

"A court shall void any results of the election unless the association establishes, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the association's noncompliance with this article or the election operating rules did not affect the results of the election."

Source: California Civil Code, Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, California Legislative Information

California gives a member up to one year to sue over an election and then shifts the burden onto the association to prove that a violation did not change the outcome. Florida gives members only 60 days and routes the dispute to arbitration or court instead. Look up your own state's deadline before assuming either number applies to you.

Adopt a recount policy before you need one

The safest fix is procedural, not statutory: write a recount policy into your election rules before a close race happens, not while two candidates are staring at a three-vote margin. A workable policy names who can request a recount, what window they have to do it in, and who performs it, usually the same inspector who ran the original count.

Keep that separate from how you handle a tie, since a tie is not the same problem as a disputed count.

"A tie vote in an election means that another election must be held."

Source: Tie vote fails, Jurassic Parliament

Settling these questions in writing, in advance, is what keeps a close election from turning into a lawsuit.