HOA Voting Rules in New Mexico

New Mexico law now speaks to remote participation, though neither act prescribes an electronic voting platform. Laws 2025, ch. 62 (SB 72, effective June 20, 2025) amended the Condominium Act so unit owners may be counted toward a quorum when present "via simultaneous, remote electronic means" (NMSA §47-7C-9(A)) and so meeting notice may be sent by email with the recipient's advance agreement (NMSA §47-7C-8); the same act added remote electronic participation to the Nonprofit Corporation Act's voting, quorum and directors' meeting sections. The Homeowner Association Act goes further: the association "shall provide for votes to be cast in person, by absentee ballot or by proxy and may provide for voting by some other form of delivery" (NMSA §47-16-9(A)), and annual-meeting notice may be "delivered electronically" (NMSA §47-16-17(B)). The mechanics still come from your community documents.

The New Mexico Homeowner Association Act provides governance rules for planned communities, including a 10-to-50-day annual meeting notice that overrides contrary community documents (NMSA §47-16-17(B)), a requirement that the association provide for votes to be cast in person, by absentee ballot or by proxy (NMSA §47-16-9), and homeowner rights. It establishes a framework but leaves many election details, including the quorum percentage, to the association's governing documents.

New Mexico has many resort and seasonal communities (Taos, Ruidoso, Angel Fire) where homeowners may live out of state. Online voting through vote.direct enables participation from anywhere, with verified identity and secure ballot casting, essential for communities where most members cannot attend in-person meetings.

Quorum in New Mexico: The Condominium Act sets a default: unless the bylaws provide otherwise, a quorum is present if persons entitled to cast twenty percent of the votes that may be cast for election of the executive board are present in person, by proxy or via simultaneous, remote electronic means (NMSA §47-7C-9(A)), and a board quorum is fifty percent unless the bylaws specify a larger percentage. The Homeowner Association Act sets no quorum percentage of its own, so that number comes from the community documents, but votes cast by proxy and by absentee ballot are valid for establishing a quorum (NMSA §47-16-9(E)). An HOA incorporated as a nonprofit corporation falls back to one-tenth of the votes entitled to be cast (NMSA §53-8-16). 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 the Homeowner Association Act (NMSA §47-16-17(B)), and notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the community documents, written notice stating the time, date and location of the annual meeting — and, for a special meeting, the purpose for which it is called — must be delivered electronically, hand-delivered or sent by mail not less than ten and no more than fifty days before the meeting. Notice of board meetings, with drafts of any proposed policy resolutions, must reach lot owners at least forty-eight hours in advance, electronically, by conspicuous posting, on the association's website or social media, or by any other reasonable means the board determines. Condominiums follow the Condominium Act (NMSA §47-7C-8): not less than ten nor more than sixty days in advance, hand-delivered or sent prepaid by United States mail, or sent by electronic mail or an equivalent electronic transmission if the recipient agreed to electronic notice in advance, stating the time and place and the items on the agenda. 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.

New Mexico requires proxy voting to be available. Under the Homeowner Association Act (NMSA §47-16-9), the association shall provide for votes to be cast in person, by absentee ballot or by proxy, and may provide for voting by some other form of delivery. A proxy must be dated and executed by a lot owner, must allow revocation if notice of revocation is given to the person presiding over the meeting, and is valid only for the meeting at which it is cast; no one may be paid to collect proxy votes, and proxy and absentee votes count toward quorum. Condominiums follow the Condominium Act instead (NMSA §47-7C-10(B)): a proxy is void if it is not dated or purports to be revocable without notice, and it terminates one year after its date unless it specifies a shorter term. Section 47-16-9 does not apply to associations created before July 1, 2013 with fewer than thirty lots (NMSA §47-16-15(B)). Online voting replaces the proxy paperwork with a verified ballot the owner casts directly. 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.

New Mexico statute doesn't address electronic voting either way, so authority comes from your governing documents rather than from New Mexico Condominium Act (NMSA §47-7A-1 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.