HOA Election Compliance Checklist
A 7-phase, step-by-step checklist covering notice requirements, quorum rules, ballot secrecy, and audit trail documentation. State-specific notes for FL, CA, TX, CO, NV, MD.
State-Specific Quick Reference
| Florida | HOAs: §720.317 authorizes online voting once a member consents and the board adopts a resolution; the system must authenticate the voter, keep the ballot unaltered in transit, send a receipt, permanently separate identity from ballot where the bylaws require a secret ballot, and store ballots for recount. Members get a device check at least 14 days before the deadline, and notice of the board meeting adopting the resolution goes out at least 14 days ahead. Director elections themselves follow your governing documents (§720.306(9)(a)); challenges run 60 days. Absentee secret ballots, if your documents allow them, use the inner/outer envelope in §720.306(8)(b). Condominiums are a separate, stricter regime: a 60-day first notice of the election (§718.112(2)(d)5.a.), online voting under §718.128, and paper ballots that are opened and counted by an impartial committee designated by the board. That committee is a RULE, not a statute — Fla. Admin. Code R. 61B-23.0021(10) — and R. 61B-23.0021(10)(b) defines "impartial" as a committee whose members are not current board members, officers, candidates for the board, or their spouses. Committee members do not have to be unit owners. Election fraud is a first-degree misdemeanor (§720.3065, added by HB 1203, 2024). |
| California | Civ. Code §5105(i) (AB 2159, effective January 1, 2025) lets an association adopt an election operating rule to run elections by electronic secret ballot — except elections on regular or special assessments, which stay on paper. Members may switch voting method up to 90 days before an election (§5105(i)(1)(A)); individual notice of the electronic ballot goes out 30 days before (§5105(i)(3)(A)); an electronic ballot cannot be revoked once cast (§5105(i)(6)); electronic voters count toward quorum (§5105(i)(8)). One or three independent inspectors of elections are required either way (§5110(a)), and the system must confirm each member’s device at least 30 days before the deadline and permanently separate identity from ballot (§5110(c)(4)). |
| Texas | Prop. Code §209.0058(a) requires a written, signed vote for board elections, dedicatory-instrument changes, assessment increases, board removal, and any vote cast outside a meeting — and §209.0058(b) makes an electronic vote cast under §209.00592 a written and signed ballot. Notice is 10 to 60 days before a vote taken at a meeting (§209.0056(a)) and at least 20 days before the last day a ballot may be returned for a vote held outside one (§209.0056(a-1)). Secret ballots are optional and adopted by rule (§209.0058(d)), which also gives each candidate one observer. A candidate — or a relative within the third degree — may not tabulate or access ballots (§209.00594). Recount demands run 15 days (§209.0057(b)). |
| Colorado | CCIOA has no standalone electronic voting section. The authority is assembled: CRS §7-127-109 lets a nonprofit act by written ballot without a meeting, §7-127-108 lets members meet by telecommunication, and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (§24-71.3-107) makes an electronic record satisfy a writing requirement and an electronic signature satisfy a signature requirement. Quorum is 20% of the votes that may be cast for the executive board, or 10% for an association with over 1,000 unit owners, unless the bylaws say otherwise (§38-33.3-309(1)). Contested board seats take a secret ballot counted by a neutral third party or a volunteer committee that excludes board members and candidates (§38-33.3-310(1)(b)). |
| Nevada | NRS 116.31034 runs board elections by secret ballot and lets the ballot be mailed by U.S. mail or provided or made available electronically. Owners get at least 15 days to return it — that is a voting window, not a notice period — and no quorum is required to elect a board member or to open and count the ballots. Fraudulently altering an election outcome (falsifying, forging, counterfeiting or destroying a ballot, or casting a fraudulent vote) is a separate offense: a category D felony under NRS 116.31107, punished as provided in NRS 193.130. |
| Maryland | Real Prop. §11B-113.2 lets the board authorize lot owners to vote or give a proxy by electronic transmission, notwithstanding the governing documents, so long as the transmission verifies the vote or proxy was authorized by the owner. If your documents require a secret ballot and electronic anonymity cannot be guaranteed, electronic voting is permitted only where owners can instead cast anonymous printed ballots. Separately, 2025 Md. Laws ch. 512 (S.B. 758), effective October 1, 2025, requires elections for the governing body — the collection and counting of ballots and the certifying of results — to be conducted by independent parties who are not candidates and have no conflict of interest with any candidate. It was codified in TWO places, and citing the wrong one to the wrong board is the trap: HOAs are Real Prop. §11B-118, condominiums are §11-109(c)(17)–(22). Property management is not an independent party unless the association or its parent owns it, and a lot or unit owner may serve only if they do not electioneer and are not objected to by more than 25% of eligible voters. A retained vendor is expressly allowed: the association "may retain a third-party vendor or employ a commercial technology platform to conduct the election". The condominium section reaches only elections for a governing body other than the full membership of the council of unit owners, and it covers board elections only — not budget ratifications, amendments, rule votes or petition recalls. Contrary governing-document provisions are void and unenforceable. |
Always check your specific state statute AND your governing documents; the stricter standard applies.
This checklist has 47 items. Here's how many vote.direct handles for you.
Manual (paper ballots)
- ✗Print, mail, and track ballot delivery
- ✗Manual quorum count at the meeting
- ✗Sealed envelope processing by hand
- ✗Volunteer-counted results
- ✗Paper audit trail (boxes of envelopes)
$375 – $2,500+ per election
Plus 6–12 staff hours per cycle
vote.direct (digital)
- ✓Email/SMS ballot delivery with tracking
- ✓Real-time quorum meter, live updates
- ✓Identity verification → anonymous ballot
- ✓Finalized platform results, automatic tabulation
- ✓Hash-linked, tamper-evident audit export
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This checklist is general information, not legal advice. We recommend you do your own research and confirm anything you plan to act on. Every statute in the state reference above is cited by section so you can read the primary source yourself rather than take our word for it — that is what the citations are for. Election requirements also turn on your own governing documents, which we have not seen, and statutes are amended. For advice about your community, consult a qualified attorney licensed in your state.
We work hard to verify every citation against the primary source, but laws change and errors happen. If you spot an inaccuracy, email [email protected] and we will correct it. See our editorial standards for how these pages are researched and checked.