HOA Voting Rules in California

Yes, with one important exception. AB 2159 (Stats. 2024, Ch. 383, effective January 1, 2025) put the authorization in Civil Code §5105(i): an association may adopt an election operating rule allowing its inspector of elections to conduct an election by electronic secret ballot — except an election regarding regular or special assessments, which California still requires to be run on paper secret ballots. Civil Code §5110(c)(4) then sets what the system and the inspector must do: authenticate the member's identity, keep the ballot unaltered in transit, transmit a receipt, permanently separate any authenticating or identifying information from the ballot, and store ballots accessible for recount, inspection and review. The association must also give each member a method to confirm, at least 30 days before the voting deadline, that their device can communicate with the voting system (§5110(c)(4)(A)(iii)), and deliver notice of the electronic secret ballot 30 days before the election with instructions on how to access the system and how to vote (§5105). vote.direct is built for all five when you choose Sealed ballots: identity-verified ballots, tamper-evident submission, confirmation receipts, an exportable audit trail, and a ballot stored with no link to the voter at all — the roster records only that a member voted, the audit trail names who voted but never which ballot, and the box is shuffled at close. Standard Anonymous mode hides voter identity from the board, from published results and from exports but keeps the link in restricted storage for vote changes, proxies and recounts. If your election turns on §5110(c)(4)(B)(iv), choose Sealed ballots for that election (the California board-election template presets it) and confirm the rest of the procedure with counsel.

Yes. Civil Code §5110(a) requires an independent inspector of elections regardless of the voting method, and vote.direct does not replace that person. The inspector can be a member who is not a board member or candidate, or an independent third party. What changes is the work: instead of hand-counting paper ballots, the inspector reviews the exported audit package (verified voter list, timestamps, hash-chained event log, tabulation) and certifies from that. Note that the export is generated by the account that runs the election, so the inspector receives it from the association rather than logging in independently.

Civil Code §5120 requires election results to be reported within 15 days after the election. Results must be recorded in the meeting minutes and made available to all members. vote.direct generates results instantly when voting closes, with exportable PDF and CSV reports that can be distributed immediately.

Under Civil Code §5145, a court must void election results unless the association proves noncompliance did not affect the outcome. Election challenges in California are expensive ($50,000-$660,000 in documented cases). Having a cryptographic audit trail from vote.direct, with timestamped, verified ballots and tamper-evident results, provides strong evidence that the election was conducted properly.

Quorum in California: Civil Code §5115(d)(1) is the starting point: a quorum is required only if the governing documents or another provision of law require one, and where the governing documents do require one, every ballot the inspector of elections receives counts as a member present for quorum. For an association that is a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, the statutory default absent a bylaw is one-third of the voting power (Corp. Code §7512(a)). California now also supplies the reduced quorum itself: if a director election fails for want of quorum, the association may adjourn to a date at least 20 days later, and the quorum at that reconvened meeting is 20 percent of the association's members voting in person, by proxy, or by secret ballot, unless the governing documents already set a lower one (Civil Code §5115(d)(2); Corp. Code §7512(e)). The association must give general notice of that reconvened meeting at least 15 days ahead (§5115(d)(3)), and the 30-day notice under §5115(b) must warn members that a reconvened meeting with a 20 percent quorum may be called (§5115(b)(6)). Separately, Civil Code §5100 requires secret ballot elections for board positions, assessments legally requiring a vote, amendments to governing documents, and grants of exclusive use of common area. If a vote falls short, most bylaws allow the meeting to be adjourned and reconvened, often at a reduced threshold on the second attempt. Check your declaration for the exact procedure, because the fallback rule is usually in your governing documents rather than in statute. Online voting is the most direct fix: members vote from a phone or laptop instead of attending in person, and Vote.Direct tracks quorum progress live and reminds the members who haven't voted yet.

California's election notices are general notices under Civil Code §4045, not individual notices: an association may deliver them by any method allowed for individual delivery under §4040, by inclusion in a billing statement or newsletter, or by posting in a location the association has designated for general notices, and must deliver individual notice under §4040 only to a member who requests it. Civil Code §5115(a) requires general notice of the nomination procedure and deadline at least 30 days before any nomination deadline. Section 5115(b) requires general notice at least 30 days before ballots are distributed of the return deadline and physical address, the electronic-ballot deadline if the association votes by electronic secret ballot, the date, time and location of the meeting at which quorum is determined and ballots are counted, and the full list of candidates. Ballots must then be mailed by first-class mail or delivered at least 30 days before the voting deadline (§5115(c)). If a reconvened meeting is needed for lack of quorum, general notice of it is due at least 15 days ahead (§5115(d)(3)). Member meeting notice itself runs not less than 10 nor more than 90 days before the meeting under Corporations Code §7511(a) — 20 days minimum if mailed by anything other than first-class, registered or certified mail — and board meeting notice is generally at least four days (Civil Code §4920(a)). Your governing documents can require more notice than the statutory floor, never less. Count the notice window backwards from your meeting date before you open voting, and keep a copy of the notice and its delivery date with the election record.

Proxies are permitted under the Davis-Stirling Act, and the governing section is Civil Code §5130, not §5115. A proxy is a written authorization signed by the member giving another member the power to vote on their behalf (§5130(a)). An association may use proxies if its bylaws permit or require them, and §5130(b) is explicit that proxies "shall not be construed or used in lieu of a ballot" — a proxy does not replace the secret ballot, it authorizes someone else to cast it. Under §5130(c), any instruction directing how the proxyholder must vote has to be set out on a separate detachable page, the proxyholder "shall cast the member's vote by secret ballot," and the member may revoke the proxy before the inspector of elections receives the ballot. Duration comes from the Corporations Code: a proxy is not valid after 11 months from its date unless the proxy says otherwise, and never beyond three years from execution (Corp. Code §7613(b)). Online voting through Vote.Direct lets every member cast their own secret ballot, which removes the reason most California associations reach for proxies in the first place. Proxies exist mainly to solve an attendance problem. When members can cast a verified ballot online during a multi-day voting window, most communities find proxy use drops sharply, along with the disputes about whether a given proxy was valid.