Does a homeowner's association rule giving each property one vote per acre violate the 14th Amendment?

Question

In other words, should a homeowner's association have elections in which there is only one vote per person or is it legal to base the number of votes an individual has on the number of lots she owns? And what if this is a community whose taxes are applied directly to the community itself rather than the local government? Does that make it a private organization exempt from constitutional boundaries?

Answer 1

Are you referring to the equal protection clause? I'm trying to understand why you would even be mentioning the 14th Amend.
The one person one vote doctrine emerged in Baker vs. Carr. The 14th Amendment in that case involved unequally applied state districting/re-districting laws. Note that the right to vote is itself not part of the 14th Amend.
In your situation, there is no "law" under which to claim equal protection. To put it in Constitutional Law parlance, there is no state action, for one thing. I have no idea what you mean by "taxes applied to the community itself". In any event, the tax aspects are unrelated to the HOA voting practices. "Dues", not "taxes", are the form of revenue for the associations. Incidentally, there is state law governing certain aspects of home owners associations and that should be consulted.

Answer 2

No, because the homeowner association is a private organization, and the 14th Amendment only applies to govt electoral processes.

As to the taxes, the community can levy fees on members, but they are not actually taxes -- taxes are paid to the govt only.

Answer 3

The homeowner's association can have any rule they please.

When you joined it, you should have signed and got a copy of a contract that spelled out the rules, such as how the rules subsequently get changed.

It is a private membership organization.

The 14th amendment applies to government organizations.

Answer 4

Since a HOA is private they can determine the voting rules the way they want. You have a choice to live elsewhere or try to change them from the inside. The 14th Amendment applies to our government only. The Constitution itself is mainly rules for our government.

Answer 5

I believe the 14th Amendment applies to representation in congress and due process. And, how are taxes that go to the community different than the government?

Answer 6

It's a private entity, so it's not bound by the Constitution. And that's the real issue - a private entity having such enormous power that resembles local government power.

Answer 7

I don't think there has been a case arguing that a HOA is subject to the 14th amendment. Are you sure they are taking your taxes? Remember taxes and dues are two separate things.

Answer 8

The Constitution doesn't get involved in property tax. Local tax laws might address it.