>because the only real winner in most general elections, whether HOA or national, is "apathy" as most votes are undecided or not even cast. That simply isn't t

>because the only real winner in most general elections, whether HOA or national, is "apathy" as most votes are undecided or not even cast. That simply isn't true. As bad as voter turnout is in the US, it's still over 50%. The winner is ignorance, as so many voters actively vote against their own best interests (e.g., poor people voting for the party that passes tax breaks for millionaires). >why weren't the people responsible personally liable for fraud? White collar crimes are still crimes. Now this is an excellent question here. I have no idea what the answer is, but it seems like the US is really bad about this kind of thing, and not just with HOA management. It seems like prosecutors here just don't want to bother with cases like this, maybe because not enough money is involved? >There are also plenty of horror stories of bad property management companies out there. Yes, but at least here, as you found out with your case, you can just hire a different company when you need to. It seems like the best case is what your HOA has going on: an HOA composed of owners, acting mainly as overseers for the professional management company that does that bulk of the work of managing the place. The HOA horror stories I've seen (and experienced) seem to involve HOAs which do their own management, so basically some busybody in the neighborhood who has time and interest gets voted in along with a few of his cronies, and then mismanages the funds badly.