HOA board elections require proper notice, secret ballots, and independent vote counting. Here's the complete process to run a compliant election.
HOA elections are one of the most legally exposed things a board does all year. Unlike routine operations — collecting dues, approving vendors, sending violation notices — elections touch the legitimacy of the board itself. A flawed election can be challenged in court, voided by a state housing agency, or used as grounds to invalidate board decisions made after the defective election.
The good news is that election compliance is not complicated. It requires following a checklist in the right sequence, with the right lead times, and documenting everything. This guide walks through the process step by step.
Boards sometimes assume that if the election result is clear — a candidate wins by a large margin, everyone agrees the right person was elected — the process details don't matter much. This is wrong.
A California community association discovered this in 2022 when an election was challenged not because of the vote count, but because the inspector of elections was a board member's spouse. The result was a re-run election, months of legal fees, and a board that had to operate under a cloud of illegitimacy during the dispute. The outcome of the re-run was nearly identical. The process failure still cost the association approximately $18,000.
The lesson: correct process protects the result. When the process is right, a losing candidate has no procedural foothold for a challenge.
Pull your bylaws and review:
Note: If your bylaws haven't been reviewed in more than five years, consider having a community association attorney confirm they're still compliant with current state law. Several states have passed election-specific statutes in the last few years (California SB 323 is the most significant example) that supersede older bylaw provisions.
The annual meeting is typically when board elections are held. Confirm the date with your calendar (many bylaws require the annual meeting within a specific window — e.g., between October 1 and December 31 of each year). Work backward from that date to set all notice and deadline dates.
Send a written notice to all homeowners announcing:
This notice can be delivered by mail, email (if homeowners have consented), or posting in a common area depending on your governing documents and state requirements.
Ask candidates to submit:
The candidate statement will be distributed with the ballot. Establish a consistent word-count limit so all candidates have equal space.
Compile the confirmed candidate list. At this point you should know exactly who is running for each seat.
The notice package distributed to all homeowners must include:
In California (under SB 323), ballots must be returned in a double-envelope system: the inner envelope contains the ballot with no identifying information, and the outer envelope includes the voter's signature and unit information. This preserves ballot secrecy while still verifying voter identity. Other states have adopted similar requirements.
This is one of the most commonly skipped steps and one of the most consequential.
The inspector of elections is the person or organization responsible for receiving, counting, and reporting ballots. In California, an inspector is required by statute. In Florida condos, an inspector (or inspection team) is required. In most other states, it is strongly recommended.
Who can serve as inspector:
Who cannot serve as inspector:
The inspector role protects the board. When a neutral third party counts the ballots, the election result has independent credibility.
Most states require that the formal meeting notice be delivered a minimum of 10–30 days before the meeting. Check your state's requirement and your bylaws — use whichever is longer.
If you distributed the full notice package at the 45-day mark (including the ballot), this notice requirement is likely already satisfied. If you sent only a preliminary notice earlier, now is when the formal notice with all required components must go out.
Keep proof of mailing. Use certified mail, a delivery service that provides delivery confirmation, or a mailing service that provides a Certificate of Mailing. In a challenge, you will need to prove that notice was sent.
If your community historically struggles with quorum, begin proactive outreach now. Quorum failure — failing to get enough homeowners represented in person or by proxy — means the election cannot proceed. Common approaches:
Before the meeting is called to order, verify that quorum has been achieved through in-person attendance plus any valid proxies. Have the inspector verify proxy forms.
If quorum is not met, the election cannot proceed. Your bylaws likely specify what happens in this case — a common provision is that the meeting may be adjourned to a specific future date (often 2–3 weeks later) where a lower quorum threshold applies.
If ballots were mailed in advance, the inspector should have them in hand before the meeting. At-the-meeting voting (paper ballots distributed at the door) may also be permitted by your governing documents.
The inspector tabulates the results. No one else — not the board, not the property manager — should be handling or counting ballots.
The inspector announces the results. The board president (or meeting chair) announces the newly elected directors and thanks all candidates.
Announce who won each seat. You are generally not required to announce the exact vote counts, and in some cases distributing detailed vote counts creates unnecessary friction. The inspector's official tally sheet should be retained in association records.
The meeting minutes must reflect:
Minutes should be approved at the next meeting and retained permanently.
If any outgoing board members had signing authority on association bank accounts, update bank signature cards promptly. This is frequently forgotten and can cause problems when checks need to be signed.
Some states require that HOAs notify the state or county of board composition changes. Florida requires that association-elected officers be reported to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation in some circumstances. California requires that community associations notify the Bureau of HOA Disputes of board election results. Check your state's requirements.
California's SB 323 (effective 2020) overhauled HOA election requirements significantly. Key provisions:
Failure to comply with SB 323 is grounds for the association's election result to be voided by the Civil Rights Department (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which has jurisdiction over HOA disputes in California).
Florida Chapter 718 condominiums are required to have an "inspector of election" for board elections. The inspector may be any person, association, or organization but may not be a candidate or a relative or employee of a candidate. The inspector role is functional — they are responsible for supervising the election procedure, tabulating votes, and announcing the results.
Insufficient notice. Sending notices less than the required number of days before the meeting, or sending them by a method not authorized by the governing documents, is the most common procedural error.
No secret ballot. In most states, board elections require a secret ballot — homeowners have the right to vote without their vote being identifiable to the board. Open-hand voting or any system that lets the board see individual votes is non-compliant.
Board counting its own ballots. Even if the board is scrupulously honest, having board members count the ballots for an election they may be candidates in creates an obvious conflict that invalidates the credibility of the result.
Disqualifying candidates improperly. Unless a candidate clearly fails an eligibility criterion stated in the CC&Rs (e.g., they are delinquent on dues), the board generally cannot disqualify candidates. Attempts to do so are among the most commonly challenged election actions.
Failing to retain ballots. Keep ballots and all election materials for at least one year (longer in California). If an election is challenged, the ballots are evidence.
Running elections correctly is a matter of checklist execution. The 90/60/45/30/meeting-day timeline above works for nearly any community's annual election. Set calendar reminders for each milestone, confirm your inspector appointment early, and document everything.
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