SEVENTH

1. Voting members of the Association shall be persons or corporations who at any time are owners (legal or equitable) of number residential lots, condominium units or single family attached buildings in the Subdivision. (the paragraph continues with non-relevant information)

The charter also included different classes of member, especially regarding the number of votes attributable to ownership. These classifications, except for associate member, had been deleted from the charter at the time the Section 16 DR was recorded.

Voting member was the term used in the charter at the time the Section 16 DR was filed. The term was used throughout Article SEVENTH. When the charter was  amended and restated in 2013, "voting" was deleted from "voting member". Article SEVENTH is now SIXTH in the current charter. Paragraph 1 of SIXTH is identical to the above SEVENTH, except for "Voting". Voting was removed from voting member throughout the remainder of SIXTH.

There is no basis for an interpretation that using the  terms "voting member" or "member" by  themselves, without any limiting qualification, carries with it an eligibility to vote.

In retrospect, it may have been better to not delete "voting". That could have avoided the need for interpretation should there be an Association wide DR referendum effort. Unfortunately, interpretations can go astray.

The  correct interpretation is that the number of votes to approve must equal or exceed a majority of all member votes in the Association as determined from charter Article SIXTH, paragraphs 1 and 6.

Jim Trummel