HOA Voting Rules in New Hampshire

Yes. RSA 356-B:39-a lets an association conduct a vote without a meeting unless the declaration or bylaws prohibit or limit it, and requires the association to notify owners under RSA 356-B:37-a and "deliver a paper or electronic ballot to every unit owner entitled to vote on the matter." The ballot must set out each proposed action, state the number of responses needed to meet quorum and the percentage needed to approve, and give a return deadline no fewer than 10 days after the association delivers it; approval is valid only if the votes cast equal or exceed the quorum that would have been required at a meeting. Ballots and tally sheets must be made available for examination and recount at the request of any owner who voted, immediately after the results are announced. RSA 356-B:37-b separately lets the association, its committees and its board meet by telephonic, video or other conferencing process when the declaration or bylaws provide for it.

New Hampshire condominiums follow the Condominium Act (RSA 356-B), whose §§356-B:37 through 356-B:39-a set the meeting notice, quorum, proxy and ballot rules. Planned community HOAs follow their governing documents and RSA 292, the chapter titled Voluntary Corporations and Associations — New Hampshire has no statute called the Nonprofit Corporation Act. The state does not have a standalone HOA act for non-condominium communities.

Many New Hampshire communities have seasonal residents who are absent for significant portions of the year. Online voting through vote.direct allows these members to participate in elections from anywhere, with automated reminders and a flexible voting period, essential for achieving quorum in seasonal communities.

Quorum in New Hampshire: RSA 356-B:38 sets the default. Unless the condominium instruments provide otherwise, a quorum is present throughout a meeting of the unit owners' association until adjourned if persons entitled to cast more than 33 1/3 percent of the votes are present at the beginning of the meeting; the bylaws may set a smaller percentage, but not less than 25 percent, or a larger one for associations with fewer than 25 units. For a small condominium the quorum is 3 persons or persons entitled to cast more than 33 percent of the votes, whichever is greater. A quorum of the board of directors is more than half its votes. If a quorum is not met for an annual meeting, the board must reschedule the meeting within 60 days and provide proper notice and proxies. None of this applies to a condominium comprised of time sharing interests. 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 RSA 356-B:37, I, the bylaws must name an officer who gives each unit owner notice of the time, place and purpose of a meeting at least 21 days in advance of any annual or regularly scheduled meeting and at least 7 days in advance of any other meeting; the minimum may be reduced or waived only for a meeting called to deal with an emergency, and the stated purposes must include any budget changes or any proposal to remove an officer or director. RSA 356-B:37-a governs delivery: the association must deliver any notice required under the chapter to any mailing or electronic mail address a unit owner designates, and if the owner designates none, by hand delivery, United States mail postage paid, or commercially reasonable delivery service to the unit's mailing address. The secretary must also prepare an affidavit, accompanied by the list of owner addresses on file, attesting that notice went to every owner on that list, make it available at the meeting, and keep it available for inspection for at least 3 years. 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.

RSA 356-B:39, IV allows the votes for a unit to be cast in person or by a directed or undirected proxy, and the choice between directed and undirected belongs to the unit owner, not the board. In a condominium association of more than 20 units, proxies cast by any one person may not exceed 10 percent of the votes cast, or less if the bylaws say so; in an association of fewer than 20 units, one person's proxies may not represent a majority of the votes. A proxy must list the name of the person who is to vote, is revocable only by actual notice to the person presiding over the meeting, is void if it is not dated or purports to be revocable without that notice, and terminates automatically upon the adjournment of the first meeting held on or after its date. The board must deliver both directed and undirected proxy forms with the meeting notice and agenda, each bearing a control number correlated to the list of owners then entitled to vote; proxies on any other form, or that do not correlate with the control list, are disregarded both for quorum and for voting. The board must retain all proxies for inspection by unit owners for at least 3 years. None of this applies to a condominium comprised of time sharing interests. 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.