HOA Voting Rules in North Dakota

North Dakota's nonprofit corporation law does more than tolerate remote voting — it provides for it. Unless prohibited or limited by the articles or bylaws, an action that could be taken at a members' meeting may be taken without a meeting if the corporation mails or delivers a ballot to every member entitled to vote (NDCC §10-33-74), and a ballot may be delivered by electronic communication to a member who has consented to electronic notice. Members' meetings may also be held solely by one or more means of remote communication, provided notice goes to every member entitled to vote and enough participate to constitute a quorum, with the corporation implementing reasonable measures to verify that each remote participant is a member (NDCC §10-33-75). The condominium chapter is silent, so unincorporated associations still look to their bylaws.

North Dakota condominiums follow NDCC Ch. 47-04.1. Other community associations follow their governing documents and the Nonprofit Corporation Act (NDCC Ch. 10-33). The state does not have a comprehensive planned community act.

North Dakota HOAs can modernize by adopting electronic voting through vote.direct. This provides identity-verified ballots, real-time quorum tracking, automated reminders, and results available immediately after voting closes, all accessible from any device, regardless of weather or distance.

Quorum in North Dakota: Most North Dakota associations are nonprofit corporations, and NDCC §10-33-76 supplies the default: unless otherwise provided by the articles or bylaws, a quorum for a meeting of members is ten percent of the members entitled to vote at the meeting. If a quorum is not present the meeting may be adjourned from time to time; if a quorum was present and members withdraw so that less than a quorum remains, the members still present may continue to transact business until adjournment. The condominium chapter (NDCC ch. 47-04.1) contains no quorum provision, so a condominium's quorum comes from its recorded bylaws. 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.

The condominium chapter (NDCC ch. 47-04.1) leaves meeting notice to the recorded bylaws. For an association incorporated as a nonprofit corporation, NDCC §10-33-68(4) sets the rule: where no other minimum is fixed by law, notice must be given at least five days before the meeting — or a shorter time provided in the articles or bylaws — and not more than fifty days before it. The notice must contain the date, time and place, must state the purpose if it is a special meeting, and must inform members whether proxies are permitted and, if so, the procedure for appointing one. Notice may be given by any form of electronic communication the member has consented to, including email or a posting on an electronic network, and is effective when directed to the address the member consented to (NDCC §10-33-75(4)). 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.

Proxy voting in North Dakota is opt-in. Under NDCC §10-33-77, a member may cast or authorize the casting of a vote by proxy only if the articles or bylaws permit proxy voting. The appointment may be a nonelectronic written appointment signed by the member and filed with an officer, or made by telephonic transmission or authenticated electronic communication, and it is effective when received by the officer or agent authorized to tabulate votes. An appointment is valid for eleven months unless a different period is expressly provided in it, and a proxy is never valid for more than three years from its date of execution. A member revokes a proxy by attending the meeting and voting in person, or by delivering a signed revocation or a later appointment to the officer who tabulates proxy votes. The condominium chapter (NDCC ch. 47-04.1) says nothing about proxies, so an unincorporated condominium association follows its bylaws. 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.

North Dakota statute doesn't address electronic voting either way, so authority comes from your governing documents rather than from North Dakota Century Code Ch. 47-04.1 (Condominiums). 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.