HOA Voting Rules in Nebraska

Nebraska's Condominium Act does not address electronic voting, and the Nonprofit Corporation Act does not use that phrase. But Neb. Rev. Stat. §21-1958 gives an incorporated HOA the mechanism an online vote fits into: unless prohibited or limited by the articles or bylaws, any action that could be taken at a members' meeting may be taken without a meeting if the corporation delivers a written ballot to every member entitled to vote, and approval is valid only when the votes cast equal or exceed the quorum that would have been required at a meeting. Your governing documents still decide whether those ballots may be delivered and returned electronically.

Validity depends on the current statutes, governing documents, notice, quorum, eligibility, voting method, and the facts of the election. vote.direct can restrict accepted ballots to roster credentials, tabulate platform ballots, and export records; it does not determine that every Nebraska requirement was met.

Yes. If your bylaws do not currently permit electronic voting, you can amend them through the process specified in your governing documents (typically a membership vote). Once amended, your association can adopt a platform like vote.direct for verified online elections.

Quorum in Nebraska: For condominiums the statute sets the default: under Neb. Rev. Stat. §76-867(a), unless the bylaws provide otherwise, a quorum is present throughout any meeting of the association if persons entitled to cast thirty-five percent of the votes that may be cast for election of the executive board are present in person or by proxy at the beginning of the meeting. For an HOA incorporated under the Nebraska Nonprofit Corporation Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §21-1961(a) sets a ten percent default unless the act, the articles or the bylaws provide for a higher or lower quorum. 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.

Under Neb. Rev. Stat. §76-866, a condominium association must meet at least once each year, and not less than ten nor more than fifty days in advance of any meeting the secretary or other officer specified in the bylaws must cause notice to be hand delivered or sent postage prepaid by United States mail to the mailing address of each unit or to any other mailing address the unit owner designates in writing. The notice must state the time and place of the meeting and the items on the agenda, including the general nature of any proposed amendment to the declaration or bylaws, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove a director or officer. For an HOA incorporated as a nonprofit, Neb. Rev. Stat. §21-1955 treats notice as fair and reasonable if members are told the place, date and time no fewer than ten days — or thirty days, if notice is mailed by other than first-class or registered mail — and no more than sixty days before the meeting. 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.

Nebraska allows proxy voting. Under the Condominium Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. §76-868(b), votes allocated to a unit may be cast pursuant to a proxy duly executed by a unit owner. A proxy is void if it is not dated or purports to be revocable without notice, it may be revoked only by actual notice of revocation to the person presiding over the meeting, and it terminates one year after its date unless it specifies a shorter term. For an HOA incorporated as a nonprofit, Neb. Rev. Stat. §21-1963 makes a proxy appointment valid for eleven months unless a different period is expressly provided in the appointment form, and never valid for more than three years from its date of execution. 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.

Nebraska statute doesn't address electronic voting either way, so authority comes from your governing documents rather than from Nebraska Condominium Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. §76-825 et seq.). Start with your bylaws: if they don't restrict voting to "in person" or "written ballot" methods, you generally have room to adopt online voting by board resolution. If they do restrict it, you'll need a membership vote to amend them. A good amendment explicitly authorizes electronic voting, specifies security requirements, and preserves each member's right to opt out and receive a paper ballot. Have your association attorney draft the language.