The Walden Lake Community Association Board of Directors has voted to rescind the voting rights of all homeowners who are more than 90 days past due in their association payments, for the upcoming board election.
Florida statutes allow homeowners associations to enact this policy, but do not require it. WLCA did not enact the policy for the previous election.
“Voting is a privilege, not a right, and today we’re here to make sure that only those in good standing with our association have that privilege,” acting president Rich Glorioso said at a special meeting April 1.
Glorioso said the main reason for enacting this policy is to avoid potential lawsuits. For example, he said, if a candidate lost by five votes and then discovered that 10 delinquents had voted, that candidate might attempt to file a lawsuit against WLCA.
There are currently 69 residents of Walden Lake who are 90 or more days past due on their association fees. They will be notified by mail that their voting rights could be taken away. But if they make up their payments by April 9–the day of the election–they will then be allowed to vote.
“What concerns me is that it seems like kind of a last minute thing, they can’t vote,” board member Sharon Philbin said. “It seems like they should have more notice.”
Glorioso responded by saying that this will not affect residents who have missed their payments since only January, but those who have owed money to the association for a more serious length of time.
The motion passed with a vote of six to two.