No ballots for board election. No pre-announcement of who is running.
Our co-op has election for the board at the annual meeting, held each June.
They usually send out a "Save The Date" email announcing the annual meeting about a month before it takes place. They ask anyone interested in running for Board to email them by a certain date. The slate is announced at the meeting. The number of candidates is always the same as the number of seats (7). They usually ask if anyone else wants to run but nobody ever speaks up. A voice vote is called. Nobody objects and that's it.
I get the sense that no more than a few people feel like volunteering each year so the current board waits to see how many are willing to do it and then some of the current board members step aside, in part because they're probably tired of doing it. Nobody ever challenges the new slate, in part because people don't really want to do it and in part because people don't want to be confrontational.
Whenever I describe this friends who live in co-ops they are all surprised. Their buildings pre-announce who is running. It's frequently more than the number of seats. They use real ballots to vote.
Our bylaws say that ballots are not necessary but that any shareholder can request them and the request must be honored.
Anyway, wondering how other co-ops operate. Mine feels far too casual. The Boards for the last five to six years have been pretty good and have dealt with some major issues. Boards in the 2010s were bordering on incompetence.
Worried about things going forward because I'm hearing rumors of a number of the current board are looking to step down which could mean major turnover with unknowns being rubber-stamped into office.