§ 13-C — Voting, election and referendum procedures

§ 13-c. Voting, election and referendum procedures. 1. Any shareholder\nvote involving the election of board members, by-law amendments, or on\ndissolution or reconstitution or conversion of a mutual housing company\nincluding any votes for a special assessment pursuant to subdivisions\none, two or three of section thirty-five-a of this article shall be\nconducted using secret ballots. Such ballots shall be cast in-person by\ntenants entitled to vote in the project; unless such tenant casts such\nballot using an absentee ballot issued pursuant to subdivision two of\nthis section.\n 2. Any shareholder entitled to vote may request an absentee ballot to\ncast a ballot in any shareholder vote. Such an absentee ballot may be\ndelivered or mailed only to the primary residence address of the\nshareholder entitled to vote in the project. An absentee ballot cast\npursuant to this subdivision shall be sealed within two envelopes and\nshall be mailed or delivered to a neutral third party not running for a\nposition on the board of directors. The outer envelope containing the\nballot shall instruct the shareholder to affix their signature to the\nouter envelope only, and further instruct the shareholder not to sign\nthe ballot itself.\n 3. Proxy voting shall not be permitted in a vote for a position on a\nboard of directors, for dissolution or reconstitution of the mutual\nhousing company, for the authorization of a feasibility study, for the\nauthorization to develop and submit to the attorney general an offering\nplan for dissolution and reconstitution of the mutual housing company,\nfor the authorization to develop and submit to the attorney general a\nproxy statement or any other documents permitted by the attorney general\ninstead of such offering plan, or any other vote relating to dissolution\nor reconstitution required by the regulations of the commissioner or\nsupervising agency, or for an assessment approved pursuant to section\nthirty-five-a of this article to fund the development, submission,\ncompletion, or distribution of any of the aforementioned documents.\n 4. All ballots shall produce a paper or electronic record which may be\naudited in the case of a contested election result.\n 5. No otherwise-eligible person shall be prevented from being a\ncandidate for, being elected to, or serving on a board of directors\nbased solely on that person owing or having owed any amount of any form\nof arrears to the mutual housing company, unless, at the time of\nnomination, that person currently owes an amount of arrears greater than\nthe equivalent of two months of that person's monthly maintenance.\nNothing in this subdivision shall be construed to require or mandate any\nmutual housing company to adopt bylaws, rules, policies, or procedures\nrestricting any person's eligibility to be nominated, elected, or serve\non a board of directors. No grounds other than the above arrearages in\nexcess of two months maintenance shall be a basis in itself to deny such\neligibility to any person unless specifically incorporated in\nregulations promulgated by or procedures approved by the commissioner or\nsupervising agency. Neither a mutual housing company nor the\ncommissioner or the supervising agency may modify in any way the above\nlimitation so as to restrict eligibility on the basis of fewer than two\nmonths of arrears.\n